Make your own practice poi

Well I decided to give this a try too. But I ran into a rather big problem. I don't have enough money to order poi. But where there is a problem I will find a way around!
My mom suggested drilling tiny holes into golf balls, sticking those round mounts in them and attaching a cable. But that is just begging for some facial bruises. So we found a new and prettier way.

If anyone has any tips to improve this please share.

First, the tail.
This gives you the visual without the burn.
Method 1.
We used a triangle of bright, very light weight and floaty fabric. I think it might have been a silk blend.



Anyways. Your triangle needs to be about 13 inches high and about 7 1/2 base. Cut out two of these.
This can be varied depending on if you want a wider or longer tail.
After you cut it out then trim to your desired shape being sure not to take to much off so you keep around the same measurements.
I made mine wide at the base and then suddenly coming in near the tip.



Method 2.
Get your fabric and measure about 13 inches up and 5 across. Cut out rectangle and fold in half. From the non folded side cut across the middle to make half a triangle.
Repeat.
Now you have your two triangles.
Do this one more time to have four triangles.

Now for sewing.

For this you'll want a very small straight or zig-zag stitch. I used a straight one.

For method 1.
Fold your triangle in half so good sides are together. Sew down the open side leaving the bottom open so you can turn it right side out later.





For Method 2.
put your triangles wrong side together and sew, leaveing a inch more or less of un-sewn space on the bottom so you can turn it right side out.

Fold your ends in and sew them closed after turning the fabric right side out.



Weight pocket!
Now you need a little square space to hold what serves as sort of a ball of the end of your chord. This is actually just a weight inside a little pocket which I'll show how to make later.

Now this is probably the easiest step of them all. Chose a fun fabric and lay it out. Measure 7 1/2 inches wide and 3 1/2 inches across. Add another half inch or more if you need more seam allowance then just 1/2 an inch.







Now cut out your fabric. Fold in the edge of one of the long sides and sew a hem.
Now here's where it gets a little tricky.

Attaching your pieces.

You want to take your rectangle piece and line up the corner or it with the corner of your triangle piece with the hemmed edge on the triangle edge. Fold in the short side and crease to have a hem later.
Sew the rectangle to the triangle so that the bottom of the triangle and the top top of the rectangle are closed.
Hem your side and then close that up to make a pocket leaveing the bottom of the rectangle(the part that isn't against the triangle) open.



Adding weight.

This involves a lot of guesstimating so right now you may want to do everything else, take your almost finished practice poi and go to the hardware store with some safety pins.

Or you can just load up on washers.

Pick out some washers with a good weight. Not real heavy but remember that it can't be light. I'd say maybe about the weight of a golf ball.

If you want you can go to the hardware store and put a few in the weight pocket, close it with safety pins and spin it a bit to see how it feels. Does it spin in a nice circle? Does it stop right away if you stop spinning it?
Just get what's comfortable for you. You can always add more weight later.

Now you'll want to get some cottony fabric and wrap your washers in it. You can sew this or not. This is just to fill the pocket a bit and kinda guide the washers to stay together and so they don't tear up your fabric.

color=orange]I ran into a little problem here. My weights shift in the pocket and still moved to much. So Im trying this...
Wrap the fabric around it and sew it through the middle of the weights.
Anouther thing that may work is lining the pocket and fillling it with sand.[/color]
Finishing touches.

Hem the open part of your pocket and then sew it closed.

I hate to double post but the first one is getting a bit long and this is a step that some people may want to skip.

Now to make a cable for your practice poi.
You'll want to get some swivel interlock snaps. This can be found in any fishing section of Wal-Mart and similar stores.



Also found there is the wire you need. Tooth proof leader wire works best I think.

You'll need about 29 inches + 2 inch overlap. 31 inches should be good.

Thread the wire through the small circle at the bottom of the snaps and get about an inch and wrap it back around the rest of the wire.





You'll want to use pliers as this wire is stiff and hurts the tips of your fingers if you don't.

Also you can make wrists or finger loops. just cut out a rectangle long enough to wrap around your wrist or finger, Fold in half, sew, wrap around your wrist/finger, and sew so you can slip it on or you can use snap or Velcro to secure it closed.



You have to hand sew the ends of the cable to your 'poi' and your cuff

I'm going to try something else tomorrow that may work better then fishing line. Chain. Little less then 2 feet worth. I'll let you know how it goes.

Ooohh, I'll def try this out. I was gonna get some soft poi after Christmas for practicing, but if I can make them myself then fuck that

lol let me know how it turns out and if you have any other ways to do anything. ^^

Great tutorial! There are a bunch of other methods too, if you want to check them out, including the tennis ball idea.

I bought a set of poi from homeofpoi.com and they give you a beginner DVD with it:

http://www.homeofpoi.com/shop/productDetails/Bonus-DVD-Art-of-POI-COL2-and-pair-of-Ultra-POI

They have tennis balls, or something very similar inside of them. It's not the nicest thing to get hit in the head by, but it's not really as painful as you'd think. But what I like best about these poi I have is that the tail is removable. You just pull them off if they're getting in the way of your practice, but they're really good for seeing the lines you create, and to make sure they're smooth...once you get a trick down.

Also, homeofpoi.com does have some DIY too that might help you in your construction:

http://www.homeofpoi.com/shop/listcats/Parts-Custom-DIY

Thanks for the link ^^

Also, just edited the second post with something new I'm trying that may work better then fishing line.

Ooooh, I'll go link that in the Equipment subforum =)

Whoa, nice tutorial! I must try it, once my sewing machine starts working properly again.

For those of you who can't sew to save their lives, are just plain lazy or are not quite certain whether they want to put all this effort into something they might not use frequently: there's another method. A very easy one. Grab a pair of stockings (preferably some that don't stretch too much vertically, but any will do) and put some sort of weight in it. Beanbags work great, but you can use anything you want. I wouldn't recommend eggs though. If you want a trail you can add some ribbons

Start spinning!

You can also use tennisballs at the end of other balls that are heavy enough.

I'm going to start makeing more and selling them on Etsy. I think I've perfected how to make them. I'll post a link once I get the store up.