Levistick

just found this video on youtube.. ive played with this idea before, but didnt know it was a thing. but they always already are somewhere in the fire universe..

does anyone know anyone who does this? i found a site in sweden that sells them, gonna try make one first if i can get the weight right.

http://www.salza.se/inspiration.php

[image]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMVDsZrxQ7w[/image]

My son has a non-fire one.
Normally they are on elastic so I am interested to see what he used as the wires.

hmmmmm....*calling to son to find his*

these are stolen from magicians normally called a wand non fire ones use invisible thread and fire ones can use a blacked kevlar string or flexible on flammable wire I started learning this 2 years ago at play and have seen a proper magiacain one where the exess string is on a weight in a hollow tube so when the thread is released the weight sucks the string almost al the way in. great fun
I couldn't use one on elastic as the stretch would be weird lol

Mynci, I found my son's last night and it is really weird.
The elastic makes it alot more like a yo-yo than the wand (my magician friend has one as well, and I forgot about it until you mentioned it, no fire for his tho).

Neither one has the chord on both sides like the one in the video seems to.
Have the magic ones you've worked with had two lines going into it?

i think the one in the video may not actually have a string on either side.

A lot of the ones i have seen actually have a big loop that is attached to one point in the middle.

This means you can put both your hands in and slide them appart and it will look like two strings.

We just got a wand..

They're really fun to play with and if you have a poi background and can stall really well, they're pretty easy to control.
They attach to one hand, but the trick is to move two hands around to make it look like it attached to both, then people wonder how it can go around your body etc.

Ours have cotton thread.

No, the video only had one string, you can tell by the fact he always leads with right hand, and can go over his head, but btb, he has to unspin.

Great toy, I only got introduced to it this month.

Our is not fire, it's from the flowtoys shop i think, for UV shows... Silver and shiny with a black invisible thread.

Just playing with it at uni made people stop and stare.

Here, Prisna
It really is the use of the other hand that mades the difference.
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=ygKnWcWkpTQ

the 3 I had before they were robbed were just a piece of wood a hole just offcentre and thread through the hole and tied in a big loop so you could use both hands.

Magicians oneonly had 1 hole though.

Ours here is what Mynci describes but on elastic. That takes alot of work to get it to do what we want.
The hole is also centered so it stays more horizontal than vertical, but it does some great stalls and retractions.

The stick is flame patterened and the end are "heads"
It's a start

Yup the flow toys on is the one i have and they are so loverly.
It only has one string but you'll find if you take the clear bead thing of the string it can open in to a loop this makes it possible to use bothe hands for a bit or to swap hands.

Any who they are lots of fun and always get a great reaction.

rad
thanks guys, i tied some string to one of my pixies the other night and had a go, really awkward with two hands. then neon dave showed up which was loverly in itself, but he had a bit of englandshire knowledge to share with me on 'wands'.. ill check out the flowtoys, and try one hand ed, and get back to you

Yup it is def awqkward with two hand but it can be good for switching. Two tips sombody gave me for makeing it look smooth and magic were

1. make sure you don't bump either end. Bumping the end will make it wobble and ruin the illution. (probbaly not going to happen as much if it is on fire any way)

2. move your spare hand as if it is actually the one with the string ,this helps create the illusion of it having no strings.


Also have you checked out the video on flow toys? if not you defenatly should that girl is amazing.

I'm buying one from salza, and a "fire fly" which is their version of the "fire orb."

I was going to buy two wands but I wanted an orb for a while, and two kind of kills the illusion, although it has it's own function as a different kind of toy, so I may get a pair in the future.

I'll give a review of my experience when I receive them.

I visited Salza when I was in Scandinavia in August and purchased several things from them including the levistick.

You will find that the levisticks will have one hole (entry and exit) for the loop.

I've played around with it on and off, and have yet to light it, but it is a lot of fun. the challenge as highlighted in previous posts is keeping the stick vertical while you manipulate it and also using your free hand to give the illusion that both or no hands are required.

I've yet to figure out any smooth entry/exits for the levistick (i.e. going from twirling the levistick like a normal pixie staff to using it like a levistick), but that will come once I'm able to use it well.

I have found that you can transfer from holding the top of the stick right at the tip to levitating it pretty easily but this would probably not work on the fire variety.

I have really been getting in to the levistick since uber. Have been using a flowwand for the last year or so, but bought the salza brass levi a couple of weeks ago. Have a second one on the way (hopefully arriving today/tomorrow), they are a really nice weight and im impressed with the quality.

Brenn, I have the same problem as you trying to transition from one style to another. Only smooth(ish) way I have really found is to hold the levi in the opposite hand to which it is attached to, then taking up the tension with your arms as you release it. Throw in a pirouette or some sort of flourish and it seems to keep the illusion of floating out instead of jerking. Any other suggestions?

Until further notice my exploration of the levistick has been suspended.

My levistick broke in half today

Does HoP not have something similar?

HoP Fire Orb or am I getting my wires crossed?

Sorta similar on the account of having to do with the illusion of something floating but different methods.

I suppose tutorials aren't needed for this kinda thing? Cause I don't see any anywhere

I played with one last weekend and loved it.

I think it's a bit limited but the cool thing is, if you already poi, you're about 10 minutes away from being decent to good at it.

It's basically single poi in the horizontal plane and stalls. Or, at least, you can have enough fun with single poi in horizontal planes and stalls to keep you busy for a while.

In all honsety, if you watch this video and play for 10 minutes you're on your way...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zR8V03Gjho

Do you have any suggestion on which colors look best? Your endorsement is enough for me.

I decided to go for the brass model purely for the extra weight. I find the heavier models alot easier to keep on plane and for stalls etc. Was also worried about how the lighter models might react with a breeze. Only fear I have with the brass is the heat transfer as I am intending on doing some doubles stuff with them. Will be lighting mine up tonight hopefully so can get some real experience with them.

Might try and get a few photos of it before i light it up tonight, might come in handy for anyone considering getting one.

Completly agree about poi skills transferring to levi, alot of common ground between them. Although even if you have no experience with any object manipulation it seems to be one of the easiest toys to teach. Took my salza to a family dinner last night, within 10 minutes my 8 year old brother was addicted to it and already getting all the basics in forward and reverse.

Seems like a very suitable toy for kids in general, quick to learn, low danger, basic material requirements and well...a heap of fun!

Oh and brenn... what happened?

I was contemplating the LED ones as well.

Any news on them?

I'm intrigued about your report on Brass vs. Aluminum. I was leaning towards aluminum for some reason. But brass seems to handle better.

Also, the levi stick I was playing with this weekend was using kevlar string which kept breaking. Is that the same stuff that your stick has? It must have broken 4 times in the 20 minutes I was playing.

Yes, a full report please.

Wondering why/how that happened. Again, I'm thinking of buying one and would certainly steer away from something that easily breaks in half.

Hmm.. i have one and from the look and feel of it and the way you have to handle it you would have to try pretty hard to break it during general use. I suppose the string could wear through but that is probably to be expected like with a diablo.

That said it would not be hard to break or bend it by accident when you are transporting it or storing it. Thats why i keep mine in a little postage tube with a few other delicate props.

I am yet to experience any of the LED levi's, only seen the photos on the salza site. I have personally not had the best experiences with that style of LED. For that reason alone I am not really interested in buying a set. I know that Prisna from flowtoys currently has her own LED levi (couple of photos on their site). Last I heard they were hoping to move it in to production sometime next year, will also apparently be an upgraded version of what she is currently using.

So i'm just sitting back waiting for something to come out basically...

I probably should have mentioned that I tend to stray on the heavier side for most of my toys. Need to get get some other hands on to these and get some other opinions.

Yes mine is using the kevlar string. They do come with a little pamphlet explaining it wears out and that you should regularly check etc... Will have to check to see if i had an approx amount of burns. They also supplied some replacement string for about five replacements. I admit I am slightly concerned of it burning through, but if you are vigilant it should be fine. In terms of practice, I have been using mine on the original string for two weeks now, it appears to have some wear (a bit fluffy, nothing more) but doesn't appear to much of a concern. I have a spool of the HoP string somewhere, so will probably move on to that once i run out.

Replacing the string appears to be a simple procedure, but hard to say since I haven't done it yet.

Just dropped by home and lunch and postage slip is there! Woohoo! Now just have to wait 3 hours before I can go collect it, i'm sure that time will fly by

We bought a flowwand a few months ago and I have had two glow wands and two fire wands from salza quite recently.

I tock my glow wand to common Ground and everyone seemed to think it was effective.

Going from a flow wand to the glow wand was a bit difficult... Flow wand seems a bit more stable, stays vertical easier while the glow wand does tilt very often and you have to be gentle then more forceful then gentler again to avoid the tilting.

Also, since the flow wand is so thin, the string (two strings) which come from it are quite thin... while the glow wand is a lot thicker so that the strings that are coming from it are further apart, and therefore there is a wider area that you can hit the top of the stick to the string.
I combat this by spinning the wand first so the strings are wrapped around each other, and are therefore thinner and harder to hit.

Also, the Glow wand's string is a lot longer so it is possible to put an entire hand, or two hands in the string in a noose...

Flow wand I put one finger in a noose.
Putting it around one hand means it can spin easier above your head without hitting your other fingers...
I was also told that with an entire hand in the loop (the string is around four fingers below my knuckles, but not including my thumb...) it means my fingers can make more movement and be more 'magical' and expressive, while before when the flow wand was around my middle finger, there was less finger movement possible...

We have a problem with one of our glow wands in that the leds change colour rapidly, but at different speeds (noticable when you co-ordinate them and after a bit they are no longer in time...) Though I think this may be an individual fault rather than overall...

I'd love for it to have Concentrate type controls so I could vary the speed of colour change or have a single colour... but these are the only glow ones we found on the market...

Any questions, just ask

Wow! Fantastic reviews and explanations. Thanks guys!

Which brand levistick did you find the leds to be colorchanging at different speeds? (it actually would be tougher to coordinate them to change at the exact same speed I'd think...)

I guess my questions should be more fundamental.

Which fire and which non-fire wand should I start out with?

Can you give me a sense how to chose between metals of the salza site? And is it the salza leds that you have experience with?

I'm thinking of ordering a fire and LED from salza but would love more info before I order.

Thanks again!

Don't quote me on this... but I think salza are the only ones out there with LED levis atm.

Personally I would be putting my vote towards a flowtoys flowwand. They are a very friendly levi and I find it slightly more forgiving than the fire ones. I believe they also have a UV tipped version at the moment, I will be ordering one next wednesday to replace my old one so can give a full review then. Lent out my old one to someone in August for a week and haven't seen it since...

Also the flowwand I would imagine you wouldn't need to be as worried about bending.

With the firewand, once again have only had experience with brass so hard to compare. What I will say is that not one person who has used mine has complained it has been too heavy. That includes being used by my 8 year brother, friends girlfriends, etc... and they have all had no issues getting the basics. Obviously though, still haven't felt it fully fueled up but I don't think its going to make a huge difference with the size of the wicks and the drag. Didn't get to burn last night, storm came in straight after dark, BAH!

Will send you a pm about my LED experiences.

Took a whole heap of photos of the new equipment yesterday. Just need to wait until I can get a copy off my friends camera and will throw them up in my gallery.

Great to see some interest in this toy!

Does anyone know much about the availability of the materials to make ones own levistick?? Its what... fibreglass tubing, a small weight, end caps and fishing line, isn't it?

Whats the availability of fibreglass tubing of that size??

That should be just about it, has anyone made one with success?

I know a few people who have attempted but no one ever seems to really have success.

Alternative to fibreglass with end caps, could probably be an aluminium design with wood cores at the end. Might be easier to find than fibreglass.

Would also love to know where to get suitable fibreglass though, could be used for a huge range of toys...

Good idea on the aluminum design... Brass could work, too. I don't see any reason why the design for fire ones wouldnt work with non fire ones... just needs a bit of weighting added in.

I had success mucking around trying to make some out of things i had in the shed. I made one from a piece of threaded rod and a piece of dowel which both worked quite well. I didn't put any weight on the ends.

I also made a fire one out of the threaded rod which worked quite well though because i only had enough Kevlar for one wick i had to attach the string higher up on the rod.

Hmm, indeed, threaded rod wrapped in colourful tape might do well.

I probably should have mentioned, with the brass salza ones they only work one way. I haven't checked yet to see whether that is because of an offset hole or slightly more weight at one end, but if you hold it just by the string the stick will always have rotate to have the same head at the top.

Either system would work as well as one another, I daresay. Though I think I'd rather the weight so I could feel how it topples over if I'm going to incorporate spins into it at any point.

Anyone got any comment on that?

Yeah my LED one is from salza.

I thought it would be easy to co-ordinate LEDs.. shouldn't they come in different frequencies. We bought two so our other one changes at the same frequency... I don't know yet whether we'll try to change it or whether we'll just use that one, knowing it looks different.

""I probably should have mentioned, with the brass salza ones they only work one way.""

Don't ALL levisticks only work one way??

I would suggest that beginners get a flow wand because it's lighter and easier to use...

But the salza fire and glow ones are very good... Though if you buy a fire one and then use it without experience you could burn the string...
The glow ones, I guess I newbie could pic it up, I just found it much easier to learn on Flow wand.
Sadly flow wand wasn't enough for our shows, which are done in the dark.

Sorry made that post while I was at work and fairly rushed, should have thought more before typing

Wasn't really aimed at anyone in particular, just seemed worth throwing in if talking designs.

haha, i totally have a love/hate relationship with those postie slip things.

wow im so excited everyones so in love with levi.. ok well maybe just tones BUT yeah rather have gotten into it since first (and last) post by me.. i got the flowtoys one - which i HIGHLY reccommend its by far the best thing that every happened to me. i picked it up rather quickly and totally agree its easy to pretend to be good at but then challenging when you run out of ideas, im sure u guys know what i mean. am thinking that spinners that have a more movement based focus will be for the win with the levi..

how does the fire levi go tones? cmon i want some youtube action..
and brenn did u ever get to light yours up? and bummer ps!

My order with salza has had no response. No email confirmation and I sent them an email later and got no response to that. I'm curious about whether or not I'm actually going to be seeing a delivery any time soon. I'm a little annoyed about it.

hehehe

Haven't had a chance to light them up and get any footage yet because of that other little project I have been working on, BUT i should have something up in the next couple of weeks. Also know that as soon as I light them up my practice time will be cut back drastically because I won't be able to play indoors (Still haven't had my flowwand returned after 8 WEEKS! Was meant to be two days...grrr)

Totally agree about the movement aspect, yutas movement class has come in very handy. Seems like the more you can move and keep the audiences eyes trying to track you, the more effective the illusion.

With any luck will get a copy of those photos tomorrow...

Alrighty I did get a response now. They apparently didn't get my first email land I apparently didn't get their confirmation. Sweet so I will hopefully get my new props...MORE LEVISTICKS FOR EVERYONE

Just got it!

Lots of fun right off the bat. I got the aluminum one, seems really light to me, I'm sure fueled it'll be different, but right now it's lots of fun and moves very smoothly.

Glad to hear it worked out in the end!

Went out again last night to finally try and get mine lit up only for this to happen...
http://livenews.com.au/Articles/2008/10/21/Golfballsized_hail_as_storm_rocks_Brisbane

Apparently some natural force is determined to stop you.

Yeah I am getting a bit sick of it to be honest

Have finally got those pictures up in my gallery for anyone interested in buying/replicating

There will be photos and video of me in November for certain, as I'm gonna be playing at a big Halloween party. If I can find a camera in my own home that's worth the effort, I'll take some pictures of mine, and the firefly I got. Maybe I'll wait until I get the swing flags from HoP and just do all my toys at once...

Whatever.

Soon all the same.

Just ordered two levisticks. It's been that kind of day.



We'll see how I progress from there.

Haha, good luck! I like simple routines which is probably why I only wanted the one. I wanna dance more than swing it around.

So far my experience is that first 2 days went swanky, I got it swinging, figured out how it works all that jazz. 3rd day, for some reason, I just kept twising the strings and it was just agonizing. This is a toy that I think will plainly take some work. Should be rewarding though.

Yay! My flow wands arrived just before a fantastic party on Saturday Night. I'm glad I got two! Molly and I spend most of the night dancing about (to horrible music) but having a great time.

Of course, I've been practicing and she just picked it up and was 10 times better than me! She's got a great style and I pride myself on being style-free in all artistic capacities.

Maybe Santa will bring me some fire wands.

I'll have to reflect this week on some simple tips. Maybe we can start getting geeky with this toy. My first observation is that it's 95% presentation, but there are many concrete things you can do to improve that.

YAY LEVISTICK! YAY FLOWWAND!

Very much presentation. The moves you can do with it seem very limited anyway. At least while maintaining the illusion. I find MOST of the work is in dancing etc.

Other than just building more comfort with it, I'm trying to get used to switching hands with it, so I can give the illusion a little more life.

OOhh. swapping hands... new trick to try!

It is a fun thing to play with.
It's a lot easeier if you remove the little clear plastic bead.

my first levi video..
it was pretty windy so this is most of the footage i took
promise ill be more control less shite next time..

Levi Levi Levi

Good hand switching can allow the stick to go the whole way around your body. I haven't done it in front of a mirror but I would imagine helps the illusion.

Also...

I already ruined my stick!

Second night burning it some fuel got on the string. It barely touched flame it just deteriorated rapidly...Now while I was spnning it oddly so it might have flopped to the side when I pulled my hand out of the loop.

So I'm gonna need to buy some kevlar string and grip tape.

I'll probably get a normal one sometime though in my quest for both hot and cold performances.

LOL @ "hot and cold performances"

i'll have to figure out how to make one.. those things look like a lot of fun.

There is another thread about that exact topic.

I bought myself one for Christmas & I haven't put it down yet...oh dear stars this is far, far too much fun. So many movement possibilities, indeed! I think I'll tack it into the performance that our juggling club is doing in a couple of months...I can lose track of time playing with this <3

Pardon the double-post, but newb session number one! This wand is just so much love <3 even though half the time I look as if I'm not sure what to do with it. Oh well, more practice later. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXMvp5h2DqE

Well, I made one, and it is a fun diversion.

Of course, it could have been better (the cord kept twisting up) but it was ok.

*wonders when HoP will have one of these for sale* - for the less skilled craftspeople who can't make them for themselves, such as myself

Point_Blank: When I see my girlfriend (who I made it for) again, I can take some photos if it would help.

Basically need a length of dowel (I used about, tape to decorate, some string/cord/fishing line etc and possibly some prestik or a few coins/washers for weighting it.

Drill a small hole through the middle of the dowel. Wrap the whole dowel in tape and put the cord through the hole. Fasten it securely. Give it a whirl. You can probably just wrap more tape around the bottom if you need a bit more weight, other prestik is nicely adjustable. There should be very little difference.

I also added some embroidery thread tassles on the ends for the look of it.

I just went and got me a flow wand Cost a fair bit for delivery but I just got my travel expenses for college and thought it would be a brilliant new toy for me to play with, cant wait!

Aston, that'd be great if you could get some photos, but I have to ask, what is this prestik of which you speak? I've never heard of it.

Is a reusable putty to stick things to other things.

From wikipedia:


Hmmm.... Did not realise it was RSA only....

Will get some pics up asap.

anyone have experience with the DIY? I have been experimenting with cheap wood dowel but I cant keep the stick vertical. The string is 1/3 from the top.

Is this a problem with technique or construction?

Get it closer to the centre?

My string is barely off-centre (+-1cm) with a bit more insulation tape at the long end to get it balanced.

Also, the string may twist up which will prevent it from being vertical anyway.

has anyone actually tried measuring the difference in weight from one end to the other, when balanced across the exact middle?

Thanks for the tip. I'll try moving the hole much closer to the center and see if that helps.

When I get hold of mine again, I keep forgetting to get it from my girlfriend, I can get some weights and measurements up.

any luck on the photos and specs?

We bought a flow wand and a glow and fire wand not soon after from salsa.

We just modified the glow and fire wands because they were very off balance and quite unusable. The glow wands would not stay vertical. We've moved the holes by 5mm now and they are both much better.

In fact I performed for the first time with the fire wand on Saturday night. I'm very glad I didn't burn the string!

Though - how has everyone else blackened the string? Marker? Because it wasn't that invisible...

Agreed, the salza string is easily visible.

I mean kevlar is pretty much your best option for this, unless you trust yourself not to get heat near the string.

I didn't have balance problems, but some times it did just seem to be unwieldy. It was my only wand so I have nothing to compare to.

New flow-wand video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsWtMDGv2ow&feature=channel_page

But I'd like to work with fire now...

/wanders off in search of kevlar

I have a very nicely balanced Dancing Cane from a magic shop. there is only 1 hole and the string's attached to a weight so it drops down the inside of the hollow tube when the cane is in the hand meaning you don't have any loose string. there is a really nice magicians glowing cane but it's $99. I've yet to find a good fire one. but I am planning to build one if I can can get around to buying some kevlar thread. I'll probably blacken mine with dye by unrolling it and leaving it in a bowl then winding it back up.

Hey, we've started using the levistick in our performances now, fire and glow. But the problem is, you may do a flawless performance ten times but then that one time you knock it against the string/yoursef and it goes wobbly. Anyone got any tips for recovery/making it look like you meant to do that?

There are a few moves that involve low hortizontal spins

But you'd need to touch it to make it spin and then correct it to make it vertical again?

how do you hold the string? should be 1 large open loop from the stick just looped over the thumb. It's probably harder with fire on the ends to recover as you cant do stick isolations with end grabs, however if its going awry move you non-holding hand to the string and get it in the L shape between your first finger and your thumb and draw the stick to the middle of your un-looped hand.

Any spin "should" eventually turn into a flat wall plane (there may be a bit of contact with the hand and the stick but keep it gentle and it won't make things worse) and as it reaches your hand it should turn into a really cool effect with the stick appearing to spin on your flat palm facing the crowd (like your stopping traffic). It can then be caught in the middle and you can continue with the floaty stuff by gently releasing the stick again remembering to allow the string so slide passed your thumb.

the other alternative is to get your other thumb through the loop and pull your hands apart horizontally, but that way is much harder and I normally just get a horitonally spinning stick between my hands rather than a vertical one, it may depend upon your type of stick / string attachment too, mine is hollow with a padded weight so the string retreats back into the shaft of the stick when close to my hands, so the excess string isn't visible.

I suggest practicing recoveries of the things that normally go wrong, try different ways to recover, the probelm with a levi stick is as you say any mistake can ruin the illusion completely. you can always lower to the floor then do a levitation back to your hand. check out videos by david mann for some move ideas.

[url=]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fth11-UHkJY[/url]

omg that must have been one of the sweetest levistick performances that I've seen, Mynci



OOOOOOOOOOOOOh creativity at work

I also have the tutorial to learn every move in that performance the best move for tricking an audience is in the video below. the hands behind the back hover move. easy to do but need great timing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UA_crI8VN7k

And It can be done with fire a great way to confuse people who know it's on a string as if done well and not very long they can't work it out quickly enough.

and if you want the daddy levistick the best lookiing one out there:

http://www.magicworld.co.uk/magic-shop/catalog/Dancing-Red-Cane-Lighted-p-218.html

if you want to learn, look for Dancing cane tutorials they have so much more than levistick.
Another good tip is to regularly change the hand you use so people get confused. they see it and say "its attached to his/her hand" then when you change they get a seed of doubt and always come up and ask how it's done

do you know any store in europe tha i can order a levistick or fire flow wand?

check this one
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdq7_Op5nhY&feature=player_profilepage

do you know how can someone construct something like that?

Hiya

You can get fire ones here:
http://www.salza.se/category.php?c=37

or you can make your own, they are quite easy.
Aluminium tube
kevlar wick
Kevlar thread / string

just make the hole a fraction above the balance point (centre of gravity).

i still haven't understand where the string is going and how you use it!

It is basically a stick with string going through a hole just off centre. i,e,


_______________________________________
.........................|
.........................|
.........................|
.........................|

The string is doubles in a loop. People chose to put different parts in the loop. Some people put both hands, this limits the moves down. Most people put ne hand/finger/thumb in and then hold the other hand nearby to create an illusion that it is controlled by both hands.

So you pick it up, find out which end is more likely to head down, stick it up vertically and start 'swinging' it side to side. Its very much like stalling poi side to side. You can't just swing it because then it doesn't stay in the same plane.

After you have the basic stall sidwe to side move you can bring it around your head or behind your back and between your body and your hand.

Basically the trick is to keep the stick vertical and to not hit the string with the stick (as this will make it wobble and fall over)

Best thing to do is find someone with one and practice for an hour to get the feel of it. *nods*

You should have 1 loop of string through the whole in the middle, then tie a knot as close to the stick as possible leaving 1 large loop, this can go over the thumb and extra wraps around fingers are used for moves like horizontal leviation or you can use your ring finger to open the loop wider from the thumb so you can transition to the other hand.

I'm thinking of trying to make a golw one using concentrate glow units from my staffs, I just need to get some tube short enough and get the hole right. if i do it i'll pop up a video

Ms Vanity - Search for "dancing cane" many nmagic shops will have cheap ones to learn with

well video's not perfect but was only a quick job.

Here's a bit of the tutorial I have for threading the cane

http://s41.photobucket.com/albums/e267/Mynci/Vids/?action=view&current=threads.flv

Please don't look at the other videos as they are years old I'm better than that now

if anyone wants any other videos I have the whole David mann tutorial so can chop it into managable peices if you ask REALLY nicely it's about 700Mb in total, but shhh it's a secret

edit

Maybe I should mention - File is .WMV because it was much smaller so will need windows media player compatible video player

Edit, Actually scrub that THink it's FLV oops

I'd love to get some more ideas on intermediate and advanced tricks. I feel like I'm plateauing a bit. Molly and I went out and ... umm... what's the verb? Spun? Floated? Sticked? Stuck? on Trancegiving Eve and had a great night. I know it's quite a bit of dance to make it look good, but I'm sure there are some learnable "tricks" as well. I've been looking at youtube vids but haven't seem much that's really inspired me.

Went to an outdoor psytrance party over the weekend and got some glow sticks that were about 2 inches shorter than the length of the flow wand. With a bit of tape and a couple of mins messing with the placement and you've got a levi glowstick to trip out the punters till the wee small hours. Good times

I've got a few tricks I'm working on with these but I just never seem to have enough time to dedicate to it. I'm working on some cross overs between levistick and double staff though video to follow when I get access to a decent camera.

I'm looking forward to seeing that. I did find some inspiration on youtube.

Hello I live in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and was wondering if anyone knew where one could purchase a LED Glow Levi-Stick within canada ? Or Which is a good brand to go with ?

dunno about in Canada but the best glow levi stick I've seen for sale has a link above

Hi! I've been wondering: is there any established move terminology for levistick? How do levistickers discuss moves and such?

Many thanks!

The only terminology I can think of is the fact that non-magicians call it levisticking - whereas magicians call it a dancing cane. there are names for dancing cane moves but nothing specific that I have seen for Levi stick.

hi everybody! I never realised that there is such a lively levistick discussion going on here...great!!

as for the intermediate/advanced inspiration...try to work with different lengths of the thread. it's a bit tricky to work with in the beginning, because you have to figure out how to balance the stick for each length, but it's totally worth it, great effect!! so you basically have one long thread and wind it up around your fingers from time to time. (or use your free hand to catch the thread and create effects with that...)
one of my fav videos as an example ;):



other than that I think it's always worth it to just experiment with the space around your body...for example try to bring moves you already know behind your back etc...I'm currently working on that, as you can see here in the first few seconds:



as for the terminology...so far I never heard of any official names for certain "moves" or anything like that...and I actually think that that is a good thing because it leaves so much space for creativity

thanks for the videos, havent seen that one if Fine... it is great almost techy levistick.. if i dare go there

i do some flow wand (levistick) in my latest vlog. i use a really long tether so i can do some rope dart style moves with it. hope y'all like it!

I just got my flow wand about a week ago and absolutly love it so far, having a little trouble making my free hand look good ha ha, Im not too fond of having a black string though is there a different string i could use that wont be as visable during the day?
Ness

that looks like it would be very fun to watch

these things are so much fun!

A new burner-friend let me borrow his flow wand because the string was broken and he hadn't rethreaded it.

Seriously such a fun toy, and as stated before, if you have skills with poi, levi-stick is a pretty easy step to take.

I seriously covet one of the new flowlight wands although I've not quite managed to justify the expense to myself (yet).

http://www.flowtoys.com/product.php?productid=108&cat=8&page=1

oooh finally glowy wand goodness... but $200 dollars for a 6 light wand, Really, thats $20 more than an 8 light staff about £130.

still may well buy 2 though

Extra tech keeping it all together I suppose...

if you order it / them soon you get a charger and 6 batteries per wand: if they're any good that'll more than cover the $20.

(justification getting better)

hello fellow flowwanderers
I have a couple of questions I was wondering about...first of all, any reviews on the flowtoys ledwand yet? how do you like it and how heavy is it (approx.)?? I am planning to order one of them sometime in the future(...) ...would be great to know what you guys think about it.

what kind of string do you guys use for your flowwand/levistick? cause mine breaks on a regular basis even thought the string I use is supposed to be very strong....so I am basically looking for an alternative

Am no expert, "dancing feather" the questions for LED and such need to be answered by those guys

What kind of string are you using now?

only if your string keeps breaking I'd suggest a thread made from kevlar... but there should be other alternatives, like Nylon or "Tiger Tail" (the stuff often used for making necklaces, it consists of a few very thin plastic coated strings of metal and quite hard to break).

But I could ask my friend who's into ls here in Berlin... btw there is a meet every tues and sunday in the VP Friedrichshain

I use a couple of different types, normally a magicians invisible thread (which is not very strong but is very invisible) or an invisible thread strong but can reflect light as like fising line (A clear plastic) or just a good strong black nylon thread.

I think clear thread would work the best as my one has black thread which can be seen in certain landscapes

@FireTom I am using a "nomex" thread...I think it is similar to kevlar, just a little softer, black and not quite as sturdy ...I have a kevlar string for my fire levistick and so far it didn't break ..not only once...but it's too visible for my liking during the daytime..
I would love to come to your gatherings in Berlin one day..I'm living in the south of germany though...but will definitely stopp by on my next trip to Berlin ...sometime in the future

thanks for the tips everybody..I guess I just have to try out several threads to find the perfect one for myself
I like the idea of an invisible thread ...isn't the plastic uncomfortable though for your fingers/hand?

im Süden? Naja, da musste dann wohl bis EJC 2011 warten nee, gibt ja noch Leute in München, so... aber Berlin is schon megaklasse - grad im direkten Vergleich...

Maybe just color the Kevlar thread black? Spraypaint or Marker?

sorry, it's blocked in Germany because of copyright issues.

gonna watch your vid when I visit my brother in switzerland ...am so curious about the video!!!

here is my new one:


so excited to see so many flowwand videos go online these days!!

OMG! Ur crazy!!!!! I'm an experienced flow warrior and I had a hard time figuring out which hand the string was attached to! Will post video of myself momentarily

Me with my trusty flow wand. At the end I lose my concentration and my connection with the force But for a literally "Made for this post" video its not bad

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OhtAXklYgs

Greetings from Ohio!
I've been playing around with my wands for a short while now, I just absolutely love them. The flow-wand (or levistick) stole my heart in an instant. I have two basic wooden practice wands, and a red LED and fire wand from salza gear. The LED is a lot heavier than the others, and takes a bit getting used to.. but I love it non the less. I'm starting to post vids on youtube, but I only have a little right now. It's a little sloppy, being my first set of footage anyway. Hope you enjoy Fire footage soon to come!

*Mowglii*

Your hand movements are perfection!!!
You've really got the illusion down! I've been working on it,
but also working in the dance aspect of it, for fire dancing.
Kudos! You're great!!!

I have a flow-wand and I want to replace the string it came with to longer string so that I can do more sting manipulation moves.

How do I go about replacing it? What string do I buy, how long should I make it and is there a special way to tie up the finger loop area?

I also have the flowlight-wand as well =) I love it sooooo much but I want to practice with a longer string on my normal one before I go about changing the string on the flowlight one =)

I love my Glow-wand as well!
alright, this is how I would suggest going about string replacement..
for regular and glow wands, I use the clear, almost fishing line-like
thread.. you can get it in the beading section of any craft store. I
enjoy using it because it doesn't wear and its easy to untangle. For
my firewand I use Kevlar thread. When replacing it, it's basically like
threading a needle. The LED gets tricky because the whole thing is hollow,
but luckily (with mine at least) you can see right through it and
navigate. lol. For solid wands/firewands, if it gives you any problem, I
usually just push a needle through the hole first, then take it out and
put the thread through, it helps alot. I also don't use a fingerloop. I
just tie it together at the length at I want, and put it through my
thumb. I've found it ALOT easier to switch hands this way, but it's not
ideal for vertical illusions, such as making it crawl up your hand.
Length wise, I usually keep it at the same length, my middle finger can
just barely touch the tip of the wand. I've found this extremely
convenient, control wise. The only time I use a longer thread is when
I'm using the firewand, for obvious reasons.

hope that was at least a bit helpful

a regular nylon thread should do to replace your flowwand string...
length wise it really depends what you like. you can just experiment with different lengths and see what works for you. my current levistick string equals the length of the stretch of my arms and you can easily do wraps with it and stuff. but I slowly worked my way towards this length cause the levistick / flowwand reacts differently to different lengths..balance wise ..have fun with the long string!!!

thank you Mowglii ...video feedback is awesome to work on the illusions...mirrors would be even better *hehe*
and yeah I also noticed that I have to focus more on dancing with the fire wand cause when most of the hand manipulations are just not visible when the fire starts to die down

Hey guysss. New rusty footage! Me experimenting with spins, and how long I could go without getting dizzy and falling off that cliff!!!

Still waiting for fire footage. *sigh*

well if the spinning isnt enough im pretty sure that outfit is going to help boost the views through the roof lol

jk jk much respect

amazing video, beautiful back drop and Great work with the levistick!

Nice.

Nice to actually see some levistick.

Interesting cliff as well. (Absolutely serious....)

haha quite true--

Ive never actually seen one of these things before 0.o

Its just attached to the one hand right?

DUDE! Im glad im not the only one who completely missed "levistick" spinning.

I saw this video yesterday (link below) and it was the first time id seen or heard of it before...i felt like an idiot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fn-KQSuqf9I

really cool though

If I could pry myself away from poi id probably be very interested in this so called "levistick".

lol

It is pretty sweet

Im still uncertain of its mechanics though...
I suppose its time for me to do some research

Something like this would be great at a festival
can you make these?

yeah actually i take them with me to all the festivals!

I just made a new one actually, they're not hard to construct.


and, glad you like the outfit?? lol.. the pants i'm wearing are sort
of like chaps... but they're fire resistant. they're great for summer
because you can wear your shorts and not have to worry about getting
burned. I make them and sell them to fire friends at festivals and
stuff like that. Very handy!!!

Fire resistant would be useful

Do you mind if I ask how you make them?

Do you use fishing wire or something?
Does it have to be a certain weight? 0.o

i make them with foax suede or leather, and i have a special
spray for fabric that is fire resistant. Downside being you cant
wash them very often, BUT I sell the spray with each pair of
pants. And the string I use is a very thing light twine, used
for beading, but fishing wire works all the same, and for the
firewand I use kevlar string. it doesn't have to be a certain
weight really, its all about balance, object manipulation, and
the placement of the string must me about a half inch off center.
the part of the wand with less length being the top.

Ah I see-
well thank you <3

<3 ^_^

Levi-stick basics are dead easy if you can actually poi already. It is a lot of fun to play with though.

It sounds it- I might just have to make myself one

here's sth experimental and a little caotic
let me know what you think!

Has anyone done any expiramenting with the fire versions of these to see if you can incorporate Fire Breathing elements.

I'd be worried doing that, that you would cause the string to catch as you would be spraying burning fuel over a kevlar string essentially making another wick - the string would be quite obvious when it's burning.

You could of course do a stall with the stick vertical in front of you and not moving and your hands to the sides and breathe across the top of the wick as my little diagram below shows -

both thumbs in loop pulled tight to either side. you can then isolate the levi stick and keep your hands moving in a circle around it (in the wall or front plane) or pull to the sides and breathe over the top.

This doesn't work if you use the double levi method of actually fixing the string to your finger with a tight loop, it only works if you have a big free/open loop that you can swap hands with.

O
O----I----O
hand - string - levi - string - hand

Picked up levistick last year or so, then got bored with it. It's remarkably easy when you actually get the gist of it. Fun to dance with though!

So this year I thought I'd try something slighty different.

Firstly: double levistick. It's a lot more technical, and you can't keep the illusion going as well. It's too obvious that they're on strings (though I did work out a way to switch the two levi's mid flow, that was pretty cool and confusing).

Secondly (and more interestingly): Long string. Rediculously long string. A loop about one and a half times as long as me, but placed over the neck. It opens up sooooo many more options. You can put a bodywrap on and normal levi, rope dart it, neck or arm wraps, and it all keeps (if not enhances) the illusion. You can even confuse people who know how levisticking works, since you can swap hands (or let go completely) so naturally it doesn't seem like you're doing anything that different.

So. Yeah, If you're a bit bored with regular levi, string it so you can stand with one hand in the air, the levi on the ground, and the string looped over your thumb, place the string around your neck (or shoulders, they work too) and get your weird on!


P.S: Try to use thin(ish) thread or fishing wire. if it gets tangled you want the string to snap before your neck does!

tazende I really like that video, and the music works brilliantly with it! Can you tell me is that a very long single loop that you're working with? I especially like when your arms are out wide and you spin round whats the secret there?! also at the start when the stick turns and you catch it, thats brilliant

thank you burningoftheclavey
and yes, it is indeed a long single loop I'm working with ...the length of the string is about the same length as the stretch of my arms. for short string stuff (like the spin at the beginning) I have it wrapped around my right hand and for the long string stuff, I either have the string placed around my neck or use my left hand too. I made a short tutorial on my string length etc. a couple of months ago..maybe that helps?!.. length of my levistick string
and yeah for the arms-spread-out-while-spinning-around move, I have the string placed between my neck and my left shoulder..so in this video for instance at 0:56 I use my left hand to put the string into position while I let go of the string wrapped around my right hand (to get the full length). and as soon as I am in this spinning motion, I can let go of the string held in my left hand and the wand will just stay were it is and I can do with my arms (almost) whatever I want....does that make sense??

I'm looking to buy a good quality fire levistick. There is no way I can make one myself, but I would love love love to have one!

I know my way around the regular stick/wand and now want a fire one! Can anyone direct me to a good place to get one? <3

I've not tried fire levisticks myself and have no plans too - what I know I've picked up from the facebook levistick group, you might get more info asking there;

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=wall&gid=110295508990752

As far as I know the only people selling fire levisticks are Trick Concepts and salsa.de

Some people have posted re having problems with Trick concepts but the levistick users seem happy with them. Trick concepts have a fire at each end which makes the balance easier (otherwise it changes as the fuel burns) Salsa's has a fire at the top only which IMO looks better.

(Sean of flowtoys makes them, but only for Prisna to use - he reckons that getting them properly balanced is too much work to be worthwhile for a commercial product).

Actually, you have that mixed up. The one wicked wand comes from Trick Concepts and the two wicked wand comes from Salza. I recently ordered the Salza aluminum wand and will report back after some practice if anyone is interested. I've heard of balance problems from at least one girl on YT, I'm hoping I can get used to it. =)

One of the biggest problems with fire flow wands are once you add the fuel, the weight distribution changes.
So you have to adjust your chain to compensate.
Friendly Fire. A Toronto fire spinning company, has come up with one that has an adjustable chain.
A video of it just went up on their site.

I thought of a possible variation, sort of blended with a fire orb: put the stick on a double ended string, or two loops, one on either side. Not sure how this will affect balance and such.

Anyone got tips for balancing these things? I appear to have gotten lucky with the first one I did, and am having trouble replicating that success with another one.

first vid since 2009 (I haven't practiced much since 2009 ;_; ), feedback welcome! definitely much faster than usual, but I was dancing to that specific song...cathartic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nTR832IEzo

next goal...doubles!

salzagear has the best fire wands in my opinion. i have used three of them so far, only reason for replacing them was on one incident, it was stolen (boo!) and another was run over by an RV. (double boo!).

took a while for them to come in the mail though, its a swedish company.

xoxo

So i'm in the beginner/ intermediate range of Poi and levisticking and have always wanted a flow wand but could never really justify the $$. Enter the Lightning Wand... I was walking around at a festival and saw a couple spinning these around and was amazed. I asked them about them and they told me they were less than $40 that the company (Monkey School) had a tent at this festival. I picked one up at there shop and I love it! When I got home I tried to do some reasearch and they are a new company, they have a youtube channel here http://youtu.be/aRpioZWpPrM I sent over an email to ask about different colors, they responded they only have blue for now but will be rolling out a red, green, and white very soon. Check them out, I'm so glad I did. Happy Wand-ering!!