Flype, a fragile plastic film that you spin on a finger

I dropped into my local Learning Express yesterday, and saw this; they say they are one of very few retailers that have it. Comes from France. It's a credit-card-sized rectangle of thin plastic film shaped like a tray, which spins when you push it through the air, balanced on your finger.

They are  fragile so they come in a 3-pack. I think they were $5. There seem to be lots of videos of them on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDfKadWonYU

Quick, easy homemade juggling beanbags

I actually tried this method out for myself this weekend for the first time, in preparation for leading a bunch of cub scouts through this craft. It's really fast and easy, and makes beanbags that are excellent for juggling.

I first saw this via the Texas Juggling Society's booth at the recent Maker Faire here in Austin. I looked for other writeups on the net, but didn't see any that used the bottle trick I'll be describing below. A variant method using a plastic bag is here.

All you need are some balloons (9" or 10" round are good), an empty plastic soda/water bottle, some birdseed, sand or rice for filler, a funnel, and a measuring cup.

I used these specs: 1/3 cup birdseed per beanbag, and 9" balloons.

Steps:

Cut half the neck off one balloon.
Use funnel to put 1/3 cup of your filler in the plastic bottle.
Stretch the balloon's neck over the rim of the bottle.
Invert the bottle to let the filler slide to the bottom.
Squeeze the bottle to force the filler into the balloon.
Pull the balloon off the bottle.
Cut all of the neck off of a second balloon.
Stretch the opening and wrap the 2nd balloon around the first. It's not hard to do. Make sure the opening of the 2nd ballon is away from the opening of the first, so that tension will hold the filler trapped inside.
Repeat with a third balloon for strength and durability.

You can make a set of 3 balls in about 10 to 15 minutes this way.

Make high-quality homemade juggling clubs

The Texas Juggling Society had a booth at the Maker Faire this past weekend, showing homemade juggling props. Among these were examples of Green Clubs, which are clubs made mostly from recycled materials. Homemade clubs can do a lot to lower the bar to entry for aspiring club jugglers, as you can easily pay $30 per club if you buy professional-style clubs.

The Green Club design has a lot going for it:

• It's freely available
• The design has been refined over time
• It costs only about $2 for the parts you have to buy
• The construction methods have been refined. For example, the process includes cutting a tennis ball in half. I've heard lots of stories about people hurting themselves trying to cut tennis balls. This procedure includes instructions for how to mark and cut the balls accurately.

When you're done, you don't have a crappy-looking homemade club. You have a nice looking club with professional features:

• Padded bell for drops
• An air space in the handle to cushion catches
• Sized to match commercial clubs

If you're interested in juggling clubs, and feel at all crafty, give this article a look.

Super-cheap juggling knives

Last week I picked up three stainless-steel grill knives at Academy. They're shiny and they have long round handles. They were ridiculously cheap: $2 each. They had metal loops on the ends for hanging them up; I was able to remove those with pliers.

I anticipate that they'll make great juggling knives. I've been using grill knives that I got at Goodwill for about the same price, and those had flat handles that were not as nice to juggle, and the handles were wood. The contrast between the wood handles and the metal blades emphasized the long handles...I think the all-metal knives will look much more dangerous. They're certainly shinier.

Knives made and sold for juggling cost as much as $30 each, so I'm happy to try some for a lot less. I'd insert the usual pro forma disclaimer here...don't try this at home, kids don't do anything crazy like juggling a knife...but since I do it, that would be silly. Instead, I'll note that careful, close-up inspection of any knife actually juggled tends to reveal that it is quite dull, and that I plan to show my knives to a grindstone for that purpose, until they have an edge almost a millimeter wide. That's pretty dull, and yet still not something I want landing on an arm, a toe, or a face. Especially not mine. Also, it's really stupid to play around with a juggling knife over a laminate floor. Don't ask me how I know that.