hi, as it seems to be the right time of year for festivals i was wondering if there were any groups who could show me the ropes on how to twirl a flaming stick( and keep my eyebrows intact ), saw some neat stuff at sharrow festival and thought mmm that might be fun.

check out double u double u double u dot poiinthepark dot net sorry had to write it out but won't let me post addresses properly yet.

there is a gathering once a month in Encliffe Park and on Monday evenings in Greaves Park, so long as the weather isn't completely inhospitable. really friendly group of people but have a healthy respect for fire so you might have to wait a wee while before you play with fire but someone will be able to help with the basics.

hope this helps, i have only just started to spin poi and love it.

hey nigsmig!
I have been fire spinning in Sheffield for the last four or five years and would be more than happy to help you learn some skills.
It sounds like you wanna do fire-staff rather than fire poi....If you cant already do poi with tennis ball poi i wouldn't recommend starting with fire poi...it takes a fair bit of parctice to do poi and in the early days they have a habbit of going just where you least want em to go at the worst possible moment....Like on the top of your head or a little too close to your eyebrows!!!!

If you wanna learn staff moves have a look at ww.homeofpoi.com
They have got some really good vids on there that are sure to inspire. They have also got some reasonably priced but well made fire toys to buy.
Before splashing out I would recomend getting a good practice staff....fo this go to a hardware shop and get a broom handle.....they come in all sorts of lengths and thicknesses so jus have a play in the shop with a few different ones and see which feels better.For the ideal length of staff for you jus measure from your palm to your elbow....double that and that's ideal!
Next rent out a load of old school kung dvds and wait for the inevitable staff dueling scenes.....reccomend fong sai yuck (jet li) .....and get that slow-mo button going...you can see exactly how moves are done a lot of the time.
Finally....PRACTICE!!!! there's no easy way to learn it....jus do it!Ive bin doing it for years and im still learning new stuff.
If you ever wanna spin jus PM me and we can sort summat out.

Happy spinning

Spike

I've recently bought my boyf a fire diablo. Seems to go out a lot on one side though. What fuel is the best to use?

best fuel to use is definitely lamp oil. Sould be able to get it from craft shops. Failling that parrafin is pretty good. Happy spinning

just saw this thread and thought i should comment on the who and where in sheffield to learn to spin with funky people..

basically there are two uni clubs that run in the city, one for hallam and one for sheff uni, though our members come from both unis and all over the city (you dont have to be a student dont worry..). sheff uni's club 'the flying tepots' meets every monday at 7pm in st. andrews hall on hanover way, just a minute from the uni tramstop.. there's tea, pink wafers n biscuits and lots of friendly people always willing to help teach new people anythign they'd like to learn :-)

the other club, hallam's 'catch' meets at the same time on a wednesday down on the crompton walk in the city center (the lil alleyway of shops that goes between the crucible and comes out just after hmv..). its a similar scenario although there tends to be a few more jugglers and diabolists there, whereas teapots recently has had a fairly evenly mixed majority of staff and poi spinners and jugglers..

if it's fire spinning you're looking into or spinning outside in the fresh air all day long on a sunny saturday with good people, a few drinks and whatever else floats your boat, then there's no event like sheffield's own 'poi in the park'.. we meet every month, usually on the 3rd saturday, down in endcliffe park (by the hunters bar/eccy road roundabout) from about 3pm and things gone on until last man standing, usually around 11sh but now the summer's coming it'll be later..

for more information on any of these clubs either pm or mail me or visit the teapots forum. i gather i cant post up web addresses on here, so go to google and type in flying teapots sheffield, you wont have any probs figuring out which link to chose ;-)

incidently, we're running the next poi in the park this month on saturday may 20th, thats the saturday in a week's time.. anyone wanna come down and see what its all about we're always happy to meet new peeps, the more the merrier!.. :-)

peace n pineapples

si

Woo, think I'll buy meself a staff

Would a Bo staff do the trick for practise or is that a bit longer than yer average fire staff (Bo=72")?

Well I got bored and bought a bo anyway :o

a bo will help you to learn the basics definately, the weight and lngth of the wood will make it pretty versatile for a lot of staffing, tho obviously you wont be able to put wicks on it and light it.. if in time you want a larger one and your in the sheffield area dont go to the shops, i run a service making equipment of the staffing variety at a considerable discount for teapots and other sheffield spinners and id be happy to build you one custom to your needs, not to mention help teach you some staffing.

come on down to teapots or poi in the park and you'll find more than enough tecahing and inspiration to get your staffing going excellently :-)

Oo, marvellous - I'll definitely join in on one of those after my uni finals! A larger one? Isn't 6 feet enough? :D

6 feet is as large as you wanna go, the ideal length for a single staff is 5 foot (unless you yourself happen to be over 6 foot..) and then you can do pretty much anything with it without the fear of the bottom of the staff hitting the floor when you extend your arm out downwards.. but 6 foot staff will give you certain advantages learning, it will be a little bit harder to get the timing of moving the staff across your body right, but it means once you've improoved then a 5 footer will be much easier by comparison :-)

come on down to teapots some time after you finish uni.. the club will still be running after uni finishes, although it will be in weston park instead of the hall, same time, same day, and poi in the park runs all year round.. :-)

peace n pineapples

si

Yeah, I'm 6'2" so should be ok! Great, I'll pop down and have a summer of spinning stuff (or dropping stuff, anyway!) - just to check, is that 7-9 on Mondays?

tis indeed yeah.. we'll be in the hall till the last week of term, so this week, next week and then possibly the one after, not sure about that yet but ill update info before then, then its into weston park (behind the arts tower/library)..