Fire Clubs
Runninhunter
I am getting ready for a performance that I am going to be doing on
the 24th. I have thought about it and I think that the audience would
enjoy some fire club juggling. I have never juggled fire clubs before
so I am asking you:
1. What are the best fire juggling clubs? I dont want the best thing
in the world but I also dont want the worst club. I just want
something that will get the job done.
2. What fuel is the best to use?
3. How often do you have to change the wick on the clubs?
4. Is there anything else that you think might be helpful?
Thank you everyone!
Daniel Krenz
Runninace of youtube
Vince
do a show so soon with fire. It's not suuuuper dangerous to juggle with
torches, especially if you already have a pretty solid base with juggling
clubs anyhow, but not having any knowledge yet of working with fire (I
also assume you don't know a whole lot about fire safety either) etc.
You should probably learn more about all of the above and practice with
fire for a shile before you start doing live shows.
Most people either use Camp Fuel (white gas) or Kerosine (or a mix of the
two) which you can get at most hardware stores. Kero is a little bit safer
to work with because it's got a higher flash point and burns at a lower
temperature. You can actually put a torch out in Kerosine. (I've never
tried with White gas and don't intend to, but if you survive and it's
cool, let me know)
The downside to Kero is that it's not as pretty a flame as Camp Fuel and
it's pretty smelly, where as camp fuel is very bright and usually doesn't
have much of a scent.
Mixing the two as you like can give differnt levels of each.
Torches, if not properly shaken out also spit off excess fuel when tossed
around, which would be one of your primary concerns when doing a show.
Anyhow, if you want to know more about fire safety etc you can check out
homeofpoi.com. They have a lot of articles and tutorials.
Others may not agree with my level of precaution but I suggest it highly.
--
----== posted via www.jugglingdb.com ==----
Dave Law
"Runninhunter" <Runnin...@mail.com> wrote in message
news:7e8d9807-9fba-4c96...@a7g2000yqk.googlegroups.com...
1 As with all clubs, it's about personnel preference, without knowing where
in the world you are and what your choices are I can't really advise, but
avoid anything that's really cheap, the last thing you need is a club
falling apart on you.
2 Kerosene (Paraffin in the UK), is the most widely used but if your having
to ask then you probably shouldn't even be thinking about performing with
them.
3 Depends how well you look after them/drop them, but the wick can be
replaced and will last for ages if well looked after, dipped after use, put
out rather than left to burn out etc, but again if your asking that suggests
you don't have the experience to perform with them.
4. DON'T do it, at least not until you've had plenty of practise somewhere
else with someone on hand who is experienced, it can be dangerous, does your
insurance cover the use of fire props, do you want the risk of setting fire
to someone/something in your audience or surroundings.
There's a video on youtube somewhere showing someone fire juggling on stage
and it all goes bad, you'll be surprised just how quickly the stage goes up
in flames.
If you still insist on giving a go, or when your learning, have buckets of
water and preferably a fire extinguisher on hand and someone watching nearby
who knows how to use them, even when your confident have these to hand
because accidents do happen and besides if in front of an audience it
enhances the feeling of danger.
Sorry if that's not what you wanted to hear, but if you've never juggled
fire before 7 days away is just to quick, fire can be fun, but only if your
in control, get some practise in, learn the safety aspects and perform it
only when your totally confident and the relevant safety issues have been
considered.
Dave
Crawley Convention 14th - 16th August
www.circuswurx.co.uk/conv.html
Jay Linn
> If you've never worked with fire before, it might not be the best idea to
> do a show so soon with fire ...
<snip>
> Others may not agree with my level of precaution but I suggest it highly.
I don't agree with your level of precaution - it is inadequate.
Runninhunter, you would be an utter dolt to perform fire at this
stage. Don't do it.
Learning to perform safely with fire is pretty easy, and is mostly -
but not entirely - common sense stuff. You'd still be daft to think that
means it's okay just to blunder in with it though. Fools rush in where
angels fear to tread.
That said, let me address the rest of this post to Runninhunter, and
start by answering his questions :-
1. What are the best fire juggling clubs?
The ones you've had and used for a while and are familiar with.
2. What fuel is the best to use?
The stuff you have experience of handling.
3. How often do you have to change the wick on the clubs?
Infrequently if you know how to look after them. But you don't.
4. Is there anything else that you think might be helpful?
Yes. Don't do it for any audience until you have some experience.
As with the other replies I'm really not trying to spoil your fun, but
this idea is foolish to the point of recklessness and for your own and your
audience's sake you need to be told bluntly. Sorry. If you haven't got a
good comeback line to cover for the fact that you've just splashed hot
kerosene in your eyeball and are screaming in pain whilst your torches roll
towards the fuel canister, then maybe you shouldn't have started in the
first place.
Searching the archives for articles by Eric Bagai would be a handy
start, but in brief a little experience goes a long way. Personally I would
encourage you to learn fire juggling, but be super cautious about how you
approach the process, read lots, but for the sake of your own safety and
that of your audience, don't just wing it and hope it'll be okay.
Have fun.
--
Jay Linn
Semper eadem.
Runninhunter
Thanks for all of your negative comments. But sadly, you guys havent
even answered my questions. You all say practice before you use fire.
Well I would love to know what you think that I should practice with
(Question #1) I knew that I should use Kerosene, but I was just double
checking (Question #2) Thanks to Dave Law for answering question 3.
But all of you have said that I need practice before I preform. I know
that, but I just want to know what would be good clubs to have.
But thanks again for rudely shooting down my comment.
Daniel Krenz
Little Paul
>
> I am getting ready for a performance that I am going to be doing on
> the 24th.
Yay! Exciting times!
> I have thought about it and I think that the audience would
> enjoy some fire club juggling.
They probably would yes! Audiences are simple beasts.
> I have never juggled fire clubs before
Ooh! And you're going to learn a new prop and have it performance
ready in under 7 days? You're a braver man than I! A week really
isn't a very long time to learn the ins and outs of anything new.
I wouldn't even put a 3 ball trick in a show if I'd only learnt it
7 days ago. But I'm a wuss, what would I know?
Everyone else is giving you lectures about safety and wotnot, and
well, from the tone of your most recent post you're not interested
in that - fair play to you. I don't give a rats arse about my
personal safety or that of my audience either. So what if I set
my costume and/or the surroundings on fire? People love ambulances
right? Those flashing lights and sirens are *cool*
What I do care about, is looking like a tit infront of an audience
because I'm trying something I only learnt a few days ago and haven't
had time to adequately practice.
Still, you're super AWESOME!!! so that's not a problem for you.
> 1. What are the best fire juggling clubs?
Rule of thumb - don't spend any less than £20($30) a torch. Above
that pricepoint they're all good enough to do the job - below it,
some of them are, some of them aren't.
That may sound vague and wooly - but it's the best I can do unless
you can tell me which torches are available where you live from a
company which has them in stock and can get them to you in time
for your gig next Friday.
> 2. What fuel is the best to use?
Kerosene/parrafin/lamp fuel. They're all smokey as fsck though. But
you know that already and have warned the venue - so that's cool.
I'd stay away from the coleman fuel, and keep that for the firebreathing
you're going to try for the gig you've got a week on tuesday.
> 3. How often do you have to change the wick on the clubs?
I think, that during the 6 or so years I was juggling fire, I changed
the wicks perhaps once? Much has been written before about how
to fuel/light/extinguish/store your wicks - probably best to search
the archives for some of that advice.
> 4. Is there anything else that you think might be helpful?
Yes.
Plenty.
1 - Big list of things to be aware of:
wind, people, fuel safety, loose clothing, loose hair, poorly
controled audience members, first aid for burns, how to put out
a fuel fire, how to fuel your clubs without oiver-fueling them,
where your fire blankets and fire extinguishers are, the stage
hands, the ceiling (if indoors), trees (if outdoors), fuel spilt
on grass kills it, fuel spilt on concrete or tarmac makes it
slippery, your own limitations, light levels, hairspray, deoderant,
acrylic fibers and oh my god - what's that WOOSHING NOISE!
2 - People offering safety advice are not killjoys, or boring grownups
trying to spoil your fun because they're the secret holders and want
to keep it all to themselves...
They're trying to stop you (at best) looking stupid infront of your
audience and dropping a lot because you're rushing something into
your show without having time to practice it - or (at worst) burning
down the venue and ending up in hospital.
3 - You're not immortal
4 - From the tone of your posting, I'm guessing you're in the USA?
You do have appropriate public liability insurance which covers you
for fire performing don't you?
> Thank you everyone!
Thats ok Daniel.
Best of luck for your gig on Friday! If you decide to rush the fire
segment in, I hope it all goes well for you and you don't hurt yourself
or anyone around you.
However,
My serious, hand on heart advice, would be to BUY THE TORCHES and put
them in a show that you've got coming up 6 months from now. When you've
had a bit of time to get used to them, work out how they feel in
various light levels (quick hint - night time fire juggling sucks, Dusk
is your friend) and you'll know which tricks you can and can't hit with
them, and have some idea of what sensible safety precautions are.
Fire juggling is FUN!
Ambulance rides are less so.
-Paul
--
http://paulseward.com
Runninhunter
Dear everyone, I have realized my mistake. I'm not doing the
performance on july 24th, it is in august 24th. I now see why you guys
were so upset.
ManiacDrew
MAKE SOME CLUBS:
Go to the hardware store, pick up some 7/8 inch dowels.
Cut them to the length of your clubs. Sand the ends.
Make a notch in one end.
Wrap that end with a lot of cotton string.
USE THE CLUBS:
Go to a big parking lot.
Dip the clubs in the fuel.
Shake them off.
Light 'em.
Let them burn for awhile.
Bust out some simple juggling.
Learn.
You may not even like using fire. I typically avoid it,
but I use it like once every few years. Bad things can
happen, like the fire blowing out while performing, the
fire not going out after performing, things catching on
fire. Lighting yourself on fire. I've had all of these
happen over the years (really all in 1 bad show). But,
at most I ruined a pair of pants.
I think a little fire goes a long way. You don't really
need to bust out 5 minutes of fire. I do like 30 seconds.
MD
Brian Campbell
> But thanks again for rudely shooting down my comment.
Fire is dangerous stuff. It isn't all that hard to learn how to juggle
flaming torches; they're basically kind of crummy clubs that you can't
see all that well. Learning fire safety takes some more work, but is
still doable. But you need to be at a much, much higher standard when
dealing with fire than when dealing with any other prop. And you need
to spend time and effort learning fire safety, first aid, and the
like, you can't just learn to juggle the prop.
You cannot perform solo; you must have an experienced fire safety with
you at all times, to help take care of the safety aspects when you are
concentrating on the performance (of course, you need to be aware of
the safety issues as well, but you should also have someone dedicated
to that task). As such, the most important thing for you to do first
is to find someone who is both experienced with performing with fire,
and also has a good sense of safety (beware those who are experienced
with performing with fire but are cavalier about it; they may have
gotten lucky so far, but they are pushing their luck).
You and your fire safety should know first aid for burns, should have
practice operating a fire extinguisher for when you light the stage or
curtains on fire, should have a blanket and know how to use it for
putting out a person who is on fire, should have clean water on hand
for quenching burns, etc, etc. I am not myself experienced enough with
fire to give you a full list. But then again, you should not be taking
your advice on fire from people on the internet. You should find an
experienced fire performer or someone with experience as a fire
safety, and learn from them. You're going to need the safety for
performing, so you might as well find them now and talk to them about
this. And you're going to need insurance, and a fire marshall to
inspect the venue before you perform, and so on.
The reason people have been rather short with you is to emphasize that
this is dangerous stuff you're talking about. The phrase "playing with
fire" indicates toying with something very dangerous for a reason.
Fire can kill people. Juggling is relatively safe compared to other
fire arts (poi, while fairly easy to learn at first, are quite
dangerous when on fire because they can wrap around limbs and trap the
flame against your body, and fire eating and breathing are putting
flames right next to your airways, which are incredibly vulnerable to
burns), but there are still plenty of dangers. Please read up on some
serious fire accidents, and consider carefully the range of other
dangers, before you jump into performing with fire.
"Through a drug induced haze I saw a man hovering over my face. I
realized that there was something in my mouth (later I discovered it
was an intubation) but a drugged up girl on her back doesn't think a
lot about the guy over her with something down her throat so I tried
to beat him up. The next thing I remember it was about 3 weeks later.
Waking up to my mom holding my hand."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Station_nightclub_fire
"That's when I turned back. I went around back. There was no one
coming out the back door anymore. I kicked out a side window to try to
get people out of there. One guy did crawl out. I went back around the
front again, and that's when you saw people stacked on top of each
other, trying to get out of the front door. And by then, the black
smoke was pouring out over their heads"
While I see from your clarification that you're talking about learning
this within a month rather than a week, that still seems to be a
rather quick time get ready performing with a dangerous prop that
you've never picked up before. If you find a good safety, and practice
hard, and have a safe venue (outdoors, no curtains or other flammable
set pieces, concrete or asphalt or green grass), then you might be
able to get a very brief and simple fire juggling routine in.
Otherwise, I'd say hold off until you have a bit more experience, a
bit more safety knowledge under your belt, and can do a better show.
-- Brian
Vince
experience.