ContactJuggling.org

3 inch acrylic balls for sale in in the UK

sclose — Fri Jan 11, 2024 5:49 pm

Author: sclose

Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2024 5:49 pm

Hello all. Long time since I've been on here. Good to see things are still going strong - more members etc!

For UK members - I'm looking for a supplier of 3 inch acrylic balls. I can find 75mm and 80mm balls but my balls are 76.2mm (or 3 inches). Does anyone know a supplier? Any help much appreciated!

Cheers
Steve

It's CJ Wiki Time: Wanna Review a CJ DVD or Book?

xdavidx — Fri Jan 11, 2024 5:16 pm

Author: xdavidx

Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2024 5:16 pm

when I go to the wiki site to read the reviews, some are up and some are in red, but it looks like in the history page that reviews have been added for those. Am I missing something?

EDIT- It also says on some pages that I have to be logged into to edit something, but I'm not trying to edit, just want to read.

UV light query

DeI2anGeD — Fri Jan 11, 2024 4:48 pm

Author: DeI2anGeD

Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2024 4:48 pm

Way to go, MacGuyver.

I used to have my entire dorm room covered in fluorescent blacklight bulbs. At least 3 20 inch bulbs at any given time. We used Tide to finger paint the walls, because it is -very- reactive. I like the wrist band idea though, I may have to try that. LEDs would be less of a hassle than hanging a 20" glass tube from my neck.

Practice Balls?

DeI2anGeD — Fri Jan 11, 2024 1:38 pm

Author: DeI2anGeD

Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2024 1:38 pm

If you want the feel of acrylic, then there are always the cheap noncrystalclear plastic balls. I believe renegade juggling sells them as "ClearCast balls" and Dube sells them as "Mars Acrylics". Each are about $25 at 3".

I use a 4" Renegade stage ball for practicing, since it's cheap and looks nice and doesn't break TVs. If you want the weight of an acrylic however, why not just by a cheap one and practice on concrete until you get a nice ugly scratch in it (or buy someone else's used! ), that way you stop being overly careful and you'll practice more.

Why do people want to hold the acrylic?

Nevermore — Fri Jan 11, 2024 12:22 pm

Author: Nevermore

Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2024 12:22 pm

[quote="Thorn"]Oh, and I'm usually on grass, too.[/quote]

So your more relaxed? j/k

Contact Media Reviews

lupine — Fri Jan 11, 2024 11:41 am

Author: lupine

Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2024 11:41 am

"Contact Juggling" By James Ernst.
1990, Butterfingers books.

Well, first let me preface any and all my remarks by saying
“I am a VERY new contact juggler”.
I was looking for a book to teach me the basics, and to compliment the online how-to videos that I’ve found. This was recommended as a good starting point. I bought my copy 6 hours ago, and I’ve now read it cover to cover twice.
So let’s have a look shall we?

First impressions from just picking up the book are unfortunate. It really looks like one of the Uni pamphlets or club newsletters that get bound up. I can’t say that I was impressed just looking at the outside. And considering the number of times we get told throughout our lives not to judge a book by its cover, you think I’d have learned by now.

The foreword and introduction are instantly forgettable. This is good because they are totally out of tune with the rest of the book. I suppose that it’s not a bad thing to have a little history and introduction, but I would think that a person going to the trouble to buy this book would already know what they were looking for. So now I’m 4 pages into this and wondering if I’ve just wasted a weeks food money.

Ah, but then we get to chapter one. The butterfly. And all of a sudden this book makes sense. The directions are clear, concise, and used in conjunction with the online videos allowed me to make significant gains, very quickly.
Just the videos can leave gaps in the explanations. Just the book would be quite hard to follow. When this book first came out in 1990, I can imagine people rewinding there copies of “labyrinth” back and forward over every scene with a crystal ball in it, comparing scenes in jerky slow motion to the diagrams in the book. Over and over again.
19 pages of very clear diagrams, with good detailed instructions to reference, certainly makes it easier to follow what happens onscreen.

Now bear in mind that my efforts at butterfly have so far resulted in a hole in the wall and a traumatized cat. For me to now be able to do jerky, ragged one handed butterfly moves with either hand is a significant improvement. By the time I got to reading chapter 3, isolations, holds and rolls, it was clear that this book could be a valuable resource.

Once again the instructions for isolations were solid, clear, and if you were looking at a how to video as well, made a lot of sense. The grips and stalls were well thought out, and presented in an order that allowed you to progress through them one by one, seeing how they would all link together. Another wining chapter I thought.

Except for one or two things.

You get not quite 2 pages of instruction for body rolls… that seemed a little strange considering what a large part they seem to play in most of the routines I’ve seen.
Why such a small section on body rolls I wonder? And it got a little stranger as I moved into chapter 4, other tricks.
Other tricks was 5 pages long. That’s it. 5 pages.
To cover every other single ball move you can think of. Except it doesn’t because most of the one ball routines I’ve seen have a lot of material not covered here.

My book was 92 pages long including the appendices, the introduction, the glossary, and the hi’s and byes. With only 60 pages actually devoted to contact juggling, and 19 of those used for butterfly, I guess you run out of space pretty quickly. The whole section on multi ball only covers about 15 pages of actual text (discounting blank pages and titles) for 3 chapters. That’s not a lot of room to cover the vast multitude of sins that is multiball contact.

I’m going to admit to fading out a little here.
I only have one acrylic ball, a couple of not so good plastic ones and a bunch of tennis balls, so I wasn’t going to get a lot out of the multiball section yet. Once the rest of my loot gets here at some distant future time, that will change, but for now I just read through it. And once again, it seemed to be quite clear. Not something I think you could use as your sole method of learning, but a good compliment to other teaching methods.

And then it all fell to pieces. Chapter 8 was other objects. Not enough pages to properly cover single ball stuff, but enough left over to do tray, plates, knives, and sticks…
Why?
Sure, it was interesting. And I liked seeing how it was done. But it’s not why I bought the book. And it just got worse with the appendices. This book was written in 1990, and obviously the interest has grown to the extent that good quality acrylic contact balls are cheap(ish) and readily available (with a bit of hunting). The section on materials is hopelessly outdated. And I mean so far outdated as to be useless in most cases. This is then followed by the second appendix, three ball cascade and devil sticks.

Considering how well thought out the instructions on butterfly and transfers are I was surprised at just how bad the section on toss juggling was. It was completely unnecessary, a waste of space, and is covered more competently in a myriad of other books. Same for devil sticks. Done before, done better, not needed.

And last but definitely least, the third appendix, understanding juggling. It might just be me, but I think the whole exercise in this section was to try and stop his students from asking again and again about the weird way he separates his juggling styles. Reading it through made sense (sort of), but was it so important to tell us all this that you used 8 pages to explain why rolling a bowler hat down your arm should be taught at the same time as rolling a ball down your arm? It’s a book on contact juggling. Why not keep it that way?

And so I reached the end of the book. 92 pages long including everything, of which 56 were really good, useful, detailed instructions. And the rest was junk.
God that sounds harsh. But it is true that I am now seriously considering just removing all the pages that are totally unnecessary and just keeping the rest. At half the size, I could carry it with me and look at it when I get stuck on a move. That would be great. And seeing as how it’s bound with one of those uni pamphlet plastic spines, it would be so easy to do a well.

I guess that when it comes time to sum this thing up, I’m going to cop out to a certain degree. I’m going to look at when it was first released. I’m going to look at the fact that it has never been revised. And I’m going to look at the fact that it is one of the only books on contact anyway.
Basically I’m going to forgive it all its many, many problems solely on the grounds of how good and useful the pages on butterfly and their variations are.
If you have access to the internet (and you do, or wouldn’t be reading this), find some of the excellent instructional videos that are floating around this site, and watch them with this book open to the relevant pages. You’ll find those pages easily enough, they’ll be the only ones left in your copy after you pull out all the junk.

The making of acrylics?

Colin — Thu Jan 10, 2024 8:13 pm

Author: Colin

Posted: Thu Jan 10, 2024 8:13 pm

I further guess it is not extruded acrylic rod.

using two balls at the same time

su-nami — Thu Jan 10, 2024 4:04 am

Author: su-nami

Posted: Thu Jan 10, 2024 4:04 am

its true david i got the ed welcome too, but now i think hes just grumpy on the outside an all soft an squidgy on the inside
the key is searching the forums first, he likes it when you do that

Drew is Michael Moschen in disguise!

Drew — Thu Jan 10, 2024 3:46 am

Author: Drew

Posted: Thu Jan 10, 2024 3:46 am

OK, so they fixed it now

Victoria Juggling Convention - quick question

ForestCloak — Thu Jan 10, 2024 1:37 am

Author: ForestCloak

Posted: Thu Jan 10, 2024 1:37 am

Sweetness =D I'll hold off on buy all that juggling equipment I want Thanks!

Searching Threads

Somnilocus — Wed Jan 09, 2024 4:40 pm

Author: Somnilocus

Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2024 4:40 pm

This is the best place to come and learn and discuss CJing. At times it does seem like some of the veteran .ORGers get easily frustrated with the less experienced. There aren't a lot of "CJing" forums, it'd be nice if everyone felt welcomed here.

Although I completely understand the frustration in being asked something you answered fifty times before. It's annoying, but hey, it happens on every single forum. P:

All you can do is make an FAQ or FAQ directory, remind people to try the search function, blah blah.. and even then it will still happen. Everyone asks questions, it's how you learn. Everyone's asked someone a question that they've already answered a million times before. It happens, that's how conversation works. It'd be nice if everyone searched, because most often, you can find the answer you were looking for and then some... but not everyone does, and hopefully after a reminder or two, they'll start giving it a whirl. ;P But let's face it, it's a discussion forum, and if we cleared out every bit of duplicate information, we'd be left with about 20 topics and the forum would die.

Quote:

But, how many different ways are there of saying: 'You buy contact balls from Oddballs in the UK'?

The problem is, though, that there are 1802 topics and 19246 posts to go through in the main forum alone. Often times things get brought up in random threads due to off-topic discussions or the main question leading to another. Then there's the search feature--if someone searched "contact balls" or "where to buy contact balls," that really wouldn't help them anyway. Every single Thread that included the words "buy," "contact," and "balls" would come up--and god knows there's a lot of those.

If there's a question that often gets asked, it should be added to an FAQ, then you can just direct them there through a link in your sig? Maybe? Or somethin' like that. I dunno, either way, there's no point arguing about stuff like this; this is a great little community--hippy love, come on my peoples. D:

No one get offended by anything I just said, because I didn't mean it that way, and I will beat the crap out of you if you do, because I love all you sweet little munchkins.

1st 4" Acrylic

daisylou — Wed Jan 09, 2024 4:25 pm

Author: daisylou

Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2024 4:25 pm

w00t...joining the 100mm excitement... i just ordered my UV 100mm from Dr Bob - £28 inc postage - barjin excitement...

(thanks mot for adding the bouncy smilie....sometimes it really is the only way to express how excitable i sometimes get *chuckle* )

strange feeling

Look!_This_Chånges! — Wed Jan 09, 2024 1:48 pm

Author: Look!_This_Chånges!

Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2024 1:48 pm

yeah, that'll be the adrenalin rush from the 'Oh shit! It's falling!!' followed by a very loud noise, when you were doing so well in not dropping it, and now people are looking at you....

Dreadlocks + HeadStalls...

hippypete — Wed Jan 09, 2024 11:11 am

Author: hippypete

Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2024 11:11 am

oh if you do can we see before and after pictures:P ?

Chest rolls lets talk.

silver — Wed Jan 09, 2024 7:59 am

Author: silver

Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2024 7:59 am

ah the joys of having self image altered.

back against a wall? how's that going to work? my chest is a sheer vertical rack of bones. right?

wrong, it would apear i've a magic ball attracting shelf across the top of my chest that i never new about or consciously used. kewl.

ta for a fab, though evil, excercise, given me a new track for my chest rolls and probably saving my lower back all sorts of stress. also points out lots of other things i hadn't realised i was doing.

now to get some semblance of control...........

Looking for people to start a juggling shop

eccentricguitarist — Tue Jan 08, 2024 4:13 pm

Author: eccentricguitarist

Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2024 4:13 pm

I have had a little homework myself on starting a business the cheapest way I have found is to get a tax ID and register a name then you can sell anything you want according with the laws in the county that your in. While thats going on I could find whole sellers so I can buy in bulk which of course makes the individual pieces cheaper. I have thought of flea markets, kiosks at the mall, and the internet, but the internet is what I'm trying to stray away from. I could rent a building but that is getting into the expensive range and right now I just want to see how successful it could be.

CJ injuries

Shiruken — Mon Jan 07, 2024 6:42 pm

Author: Shiruken

Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2024 6:42 pm

I guess I indirectly injured myself... I was playing with my new ball and I dropped it on a plate that was in my room (I don't know how it got there.) Then I stepped on the plate!

But my hands do seem to cramp up after I have been playing with it for a long time.

Starting over again

hippypete — Mon Jan 07, 2024 11:17 am

Author: hippypete

Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2024 11:17 am

im with su-nami on that, its how i do things
with everything
should always learn everything with both arms in both directions
helps with freedom of movement

Do I have the courage?

hamamelis — Sun Jan 06, 2024 1:36 am

Author: hamamelis

Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2024 1:36 am

Hm.. I bet there's no official rules about it, so give people the chance to object- other than that, play!

Oh yes- and don't break anything

yeah baby! plus assorted other celebratory comments.

hippypete — Sat Jan 05, 2024 8:06 am

Author: hippypete

Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2024 8:06 am

its easyier to learn cradle to palm first. the cradle 2 cradle is a real annoyin one to get especially for a new person to the world of CJin

Sizes - Inches vs mm

Drew — Fri Jan 04, 2024 4:09 pm

Author: Drew

Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2024 4:09 pm

http://www.core77.com/blog/education/not_metric_6600.asp

Neutral

xdavidx — Fri Jan 04, 2024 3:00 pm

Author: xdavidx

Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2024 3:00 pm

isos or palm spinning, although that usually relaxes me and I get even more tired and start to drop the ball doing that.

Sizes and Weights

xdavidx — Thu Jan 03, 2024 7:03 am

Author: xdavidx

Posted: Thu Jan 03, 2024 7:03 am

size and weight is personal preference. Personally I love my 4" MB Stage Ball. It's incredibly light, but I've gotten used to it. I think the size makes up for how light it is. I couldn't see using 3" light ball but that's just me. I'd suggest a light stage ball to learn with

1) It's rubber and can take one hell of a beating
2) It's rubber and won't break you or your house
3) When you do finally move to a heavier all such as an acrylic it's like the ball is glued to you because the weight keeps it right where you want it. It almost feels like cheating to go to a heavier ball after playing with the stage ball

Skill Level V's Entertainment Level

su-nami — Wed Jan 02, 2024 5:23 am

Author: su-nami

Posted: Wed Jan 02, 2024 5:23 am

I have found when performing the audience doesn't always get the technical stuff. at the dublin convention last year we where doing our usual fire show and there was a lot of poi then ronan got up and did some crazy (and beautifull) stuff that is well beyond my abilitys but he got exactly the same reception from the slightly confused non juggling audience cos the jugglers where going crazy about it. i find the same with contact its all the same to a non cjer they just see the illusion, they dont' see technical or non technical, so i would always go for simple stricking tricks when performing and try the more technical stuff when playing for myself. oh and happy new year.

Contact Juggling and Tai Chi

SenseiStrange — Mon Dec 31, 2024 1:39 pm

Author: SenseiStrange

Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2024 1:39 pm

If you are still in Greensboro....

Dojo
Aikido of Greensboro Aikikai (single)
Address: 1 YWCA Place; Greensboro, NC 27401
Country: United States
Instructors: Jory Liebman, 3rd dan
Phone: (336) 375-0048
E-mail: aikido@aikidoofgreensboro.com
URL: http://www.aikidoofgreensboro.com
Style: Aikikai
Affiliation: USAF
Admin:
[?]

Last Updated: October 31st, 2024
Dojo
Greensboro Kodokan Aikido Dojo (single)
Address: 4915 Guilford School Road; Greensboro, NC 27410
Country: United States
Instructors: Jay Speetjens, 4th dan
Phone: (336) 855-9931
Schedule: MWF 6-7:30pm; Sa 10-11:30am
E-mail: baddogi@yahoo.com
URL: http://www.aikidogreensboro.org
Style: Aikikai
Affiliation: Kodokan Aikido, Okazaki Japan
Dojo Images:
1.

Admin:
[?]

Last Updated: May 1st, 2024
Dojo
Myoshinkan Aikido Dojo (single)
Address: 3704-B Boren Drive; Greensboro, NC 27408
Country: United States
Instructors: John LaMont, 5th dan
Phone: (336) 218-1033
URL: http://www.geocities.com/myoshinkan
Style: Aikikai
Note: John Lamont is a registered sex offender in the state of NC.