SteamPunk Juggling equipment

[Bracer]

Unfortunately I do not have it yet, for those of you excitedly entering, expecting some marvelous pictures of ingenoious circus stuff.

I was wondering if anyone could think up ways in which one could SteamPunk any kind of circus equipment. Balls, clubs, rings, diablo, staff, poi, unicycle... anything.

Ideas?

[JMARS Design]

We are currently working on just this sort of thing and more for a Victorian Steampunk Magician's stage show.

~Doctor Grymm
www.SteamGearLab.com

[Bracer]

Well then, if you need anyone to do some circus based performance, you know where to come!

[SteamKit]

Sounds like an interesting show! As for equipment, I bet it wouldn't be hard to make juggling clubs based off old indian clubs. For a unicycle, have you ever seen the multiple wheeled variety? You could certainly replace a few of the wheels with a gear and chain and belt drive system that's as interesting to watch go around as it is to watch you not fall off!

-Kit

[JMARS Design]

I certainly will, infact I will also pass on your information to one of my other clients at www.talentbaby.com. The site is in the works but it will have a need for acts like yours, and helps to get performers gigs.

Cheers!
~Doctor Grymm

[Ambie]

Ah, I love juggling.  As for steampunk theme:

Top hat and cane tricks would need little in the way of modifications.  Although any goggles on hats would need to be attached and one would have to adjust for the off-center weight.

Stealing or sharing bits would be fun.   Adult renagade shows could be done with mixed couples and costume changes.

I have been playing with contact juggling a round (sphere) watch.  (Quartz movement of course.)  Trying to learn it well enough to do as a bar trick. 

Any sort of belt tool could be added to a juggling club trick.  Juggling heavy hammers would excite the crowd as they would hope for blood or smashed body parts.  Passing with "deadly" tools would be fun too.

Cigar boxes could have pictures and/or words pasted on them that have a steampunk theme.

Themed skits could be constructed: workshop madness with tools and parts flying about, street urchins playing keep-away with a stolen hat or watch (passing that is), a "construct" that assembles itself out of juggled bones, etc.

Fire tricks could be added (e.g., using the workshop theme, a prop could 'catch' fire in the middle of a sequence and add thrills). 

Depends on how much money and time one has; like all juggling themes.


I could go on but I must run. 

[AtomicTroop]

Balls, clubs, rings, diablo, staff, poi, unicycle...

*AHEM* Don't you mean... Diabolo? (Sorry to nitpick but... I am... a... diabolo...er... or something...)

But on topic, I thought about punking my fire diabolo but I never got around doing it. Mostly because I didn't get enough inspiration.

[Keithe]

Balls, clubs, rings, diablo, staff, poi, unicycle...

*AHEM* Don't you mean... Diabolo? (Sorry to nitpick but... I am... a... diabolo...er... or something...)

But on topic, I thought about punking my fire diabolo but I never got around doing it. Mostly because I didn't get enough inspiration.

How do you like your fire diabolo? I was impressed to find out they existed, but sadly I have a lack of locations to play with flaming juggling props.

How about rings that look like large gears. I could see an interesting passing routine.

Also I have been trying contact juggling with a billiard ball. I need much much more practice though.

[Bracer]

No disrespect to you, but saying Diabolo instead of Diablo, dear sir, is like saying Hallo'oween instead of Halloween. At least it is in my experience. Though apparently the spell checker recognises neither. However, I shall say Diabolo from now on for you.

And adding wheels to a unicycle, you say? Presumably making it no longer a unicycle? Or have I missed your point?

And yes, the gears idea is very nice, I like it a lot! Thank you, it's quite doable too.

Ambie, have you any idea how difficult top hat tricks are?!? Plus mine is foldable, so it would be very tricky to add things to it as it is.
I have also heard tell of cigar tricks. You get a small peice of wood made to look like a cigar and throw it around, catching it in your mouth etc.

Any ideas for bals though, anyone? That's the main brain teaser. How to make a ball SteamPunk.

[Alptraum]

To make a ball steampunk...
you could be simple and just give it an aged brass finish - it all depends on the material and whether it is a rigid stage ball or some sort of beanbag...
If its a beanbag I would do an aged brass paint job in some sort of dye that would not affect the playability of the balls.. with a beanbag like a thud, the coating that is put on the outer skin could cause some paints to run and some paints to take like it was a solid surface - like an acrylic spray paint. another problem with using anything but spray paint is  that if the surface of the ball flexes when it is caught or dropped the paint will crack.
If it is a rigid stage ball, everything becomes a lot easier - there are no fibres to mess up the paint job, so you could easily apply the same effect as we are trying to achieve above.
As for things other than the paint... I would put two or three brass bands (or something lighter with a brass paint job) with the heads of rivets glued to them around the ball.
if you were to do something like that, you might want to have more contrast on the ball so that the different bits are easily visible... you could do an old, rusted gunmetal iron colour on the ball and an aged brass on the band etc.
It would be difficult to add gears however, because they would have a tendancy to cut into your hand. Then again, to counter this, you could wear a pair of cotton archivists gloves as part of a stage costume (along with tailcoat, waistcoat etc..)

[Bracer]

Alptraum you've just given me an incredible idea!
Why go for the rustic mechanical side of SteamPunk when one can make a decidedly SteamPunk juggling ball through the use of Victorian designs. How beautiful would a ball be were it to have this texture?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

In two colours?

I shall have them done A.S.A.P!

[Prof. George of Chaos]

Good gods man, are you forgetting the traditional aesthetics of the medium?!

The face of the matter is that for most of the history of the circus things were looking pretty dashed on theme from the outset. You certainly have a rich tradition to play with, and because of these common visual elements you can very possibly start from, oh, I don't know...a fairground ghost character? Or someone timeslipped? Switch some of the glorious, garish circus colours out for sepia or black and white and you'll look like an old photograph of a circus performer.

A couple of years ago I thought about a Barnstormer style unicycle act, too. Standard Aviator costume (cap, scarfe, goggles & bomber jacket) and near-acrobatic, perhaps arm-extended, mounted antics. I suppose if you can mamage club (or knife) passing while riding this could tie into an arial-dogfight bit of plot.

The circus makes it really easy to anachronize, and you can make any kind of world you like under the Big Top.

Dashing back to that idea about a workshop routine and things getting set "accidentally" on fire, I believe some fire-juggling balls have been developed...

The old exercizing clubs they used to use in schools are turned wood, and I'm reasonably sure they are where club-juggling came from, so obviously they have a certain visual appeal to them.

If you're willing to go Victoriental there's the option of decorating poi after the style of those wonderful parade-dragons, and perhaps even having one as a character in your show introducing the poi act (among other things).

Again my mind jumps back the the visual elements of a laboratory. I imagine there are certain quite clear and either spongy or bouncy rubber balls around nowadays. They could be presented as bubbles from a foaming-over beaker with some curious properties...

[Alptraum]

if you need a tutorial, try here:
http://www.jugglingdb.com/compendium/skills/equipment/making/balls/barnesybags.html
I will keep my thoughts to myself on that choice of fabric...

[Bracer]

You do not like it?
Well any opinion you have I would be glad to hear, so long as it is voiced as such. It does so anger me when people reffer to something, a genre of music for example, as rubbish presenting it as a fact.

And thank you for the link, it is appreciated.

[Dr. Munro]

I rather liked the fabric myself :S  Oh well...

[Alptraum]

I am deeply sorry if I offended you, I was not saying that it was a bad choice of fabric, merely that it is not in keeping with the style that steampunk (as I know it, correct me if I am wrong) revolves around. It is certainly different from usual, even though it is in keeping with the period of time..
edit: I was not presenting it as a fact, it was merely a generalised statement.
Sorry.

[Mark Finn]

It seems to me that a faux leather (like distressed pleather) or something along those lines would be the single most obvious thing to do. If you really need the extra "oomph" to sell it, you could judiciously apply "brass rivets" or other such decorative objects to each ball.

I think a nice-looking aged leather (or appropriate substitute) would look very swanky.

[Keithe]

Another fabric option for juggling balls is crushed velvet. I picked up these at a show and they are great to juggle with...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Other ideas for what they are worth -
Plastic labware (beakers, flasks, etc).
Absinthe bottles juggled like in the movie Cocktail.
Cigar box manipulation.

[Bracer]

I'm not offended at all, I don't recall ever being offended on this forum with it's charming community.
And it is beffiting to the era and, in my opinion, still quite SteamPunk. If you saw a lady wearing a Victorian dress you could say she looked SteamPunk even if only slighty and maybe more just Victorian, but still SteamPunk.
So the same applies to most Victorian styles, no?

[Lady Penelope]

I like the fabric and think it fits the era.  However, unless the print is actually smaller than what it seems to be in the picture, or else the balls are larger than the red velvet ones pictured elsewhere, I don't think such a large floral print would display to full advantage on such small (hand-sized, I presume?) pieces of juggling equipment.  I would think that either a smaller print or a solid color (though perhaps in a sumptuous velvet or damask?) would work better due to the size of the juggling balls.

[SteamKit]

And adding wheels to a unicycle, you say? Presumably making it no longer a unicycle? Or have I missed your point?

Actually, there are multi-wheeled unicycles! The trick is to stack the wheels, so there is still only one. Pretty much all they are is a frame with an odd number of wheels touching each other vertically much like gears would but operating on friction, creating a rather tall unicycle without a chain drive. Gotta use an odd number of wheels though, lest you feel like operating it backwards. The idea with the gears would be to replace the wheels with great big turning...gears, creating a big gnashing drive that powers all the way down to the bottom. Lots more fun and steamy to look at than a chain.

-Kit

[Bracer]

Ah, ingenious. The main ...difficulty, is that the larger your wheel the easier it is to use, but the larger the wheel in this case the higher you are. But I shall find some way around this.
I have never before ridden a giraffe unicycle and have only had mine since Christmas, and use it mainly for traveling.

And yes, Lady Penelope, I see your point about the design. I shall be sure to make it visible enough.

[Em]

Perhaps a set of rings resembling gears?

[Alptraum]

I think that that would hurt rather to juggle..
but if you were to have some sort of thick, padded glove it would be fine... say a fives glove?

[OldProfessorBear]

These chaps were my Great-Uncles Frank and George (they died before my mother was born):



Just for possible inspiration ...