super,super simple poi

this is my 1st instructable, so pardon any unusual formatting.  I was looking at every poi instructable there was, but they were all very complicated, involving complex knots, or expensive materials. this one only uses 3 things: tennis balls, washers, and clothes-line.
I prefer the poi made with ropes as opposed to the ones made with nylons because the nylons wear out faster than the ropes do.       

Step 1 Cutting the tennis ball

So, you take the tennis ball, decide where you want the hole, and stab and widen the hole with a knife or scissors, as I did here.  If you are under 12, I would suggest you get an adult to help with this. Then you simply poke into the other side. repeat with other tennis ball   

Comments

[kharris11]

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for any avid contributors i will be sharing the advertising income depending on what they have submitted, if any of you guys fancy it hit me up on my site, if your not but you still like poi and fire spinning etc head over and check it out an join the forums :) much love http://www.aboveandbelow.org

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[St Jimmy]

Are you from New Zealand? I was getting a little worried there weren't enough real people on this site

[NOODLE!]

no i live in the US

[St Jimmy]

Oops. The US is cool. I've only ever been to San Francisco, although my family and I are taking a trip to Salt Lake City this January. The reason I asked was that here, poi are generally associated with Maori culture, Maori being the original settlers of this country. But I suppose such a cool thing would be bound to spread overseas, which is good

[NOODLE!]

they are a maori art form.

[iceng]

Always learning :)
Until a moment ago Poi only meant a bland pacific syrup like soup.

[NOODLE!]

its both!

[insomniaSAH]

This is actually pretty much EXACTLY what I did for my very first set of Poi - but I found that the ropes, after more than a few minutes use, would chafe and cause blisters where they rubbed up against my hands. Because I was a determined beginner and practiced a lot, the skin where my fingers join my hands soon became red and raw!

I've since found that the easiest way to make poi balls for practice and use is just to take some colorful tube socks (Target, dollar store, sports store, whatever) and push the tennis balls down to the very end.

Tricks like wraps and reversals seem to be easier to learn with sock poi as well, and they don't get tangled as easily as they do with rope.

Worse case scenario, you're spending about $4 more on starter poi :p

Happy Spinning!

[NOODLE!]

true, but the way i tie them to my hands make them very tight, so no chafing.
i should probably show a pic of the knot i use