Juggling balls (Part 1)

Warning: this post may provoke puerile giggling.

Last May, the excellent Bob tried to teach me to juggle. He lent me some balls for the day, and of course I immediately lost one. Now I seem to have recovered from those unfortunate associations, and have been learning to juggle for a couple of weeks. The results are surprisingly marvelous! (YouTube vid. Beware of ball hitting computer at the end...)

These balls are quite heavy, for two reasons: a) it makes them easier to handle as a starting set, and b) the fact that they work my hands/arms is a motivator for practicing. This set is made from latex gloves, filled with (dry) Quikrete. The bag coverings make them easier to handle and much more durable.

Materials: satiny bag, latex glove, Quikrete (and an empty medicine bottle for scooping)

Tie off the fingers.

I used maybe 4 scoops per ball; these photos are of a replacement ball (I lost one), and it ended up larger than the others because I didn't remember how much grit went into the old ones.

Hefty!

Satin-y! (Inside out, so it'll end up pretty. The bag is about twice as large as we need, so I twisted it around and stretched it back over itself, à la breadbags.)

Drawstring pulled tight and knotted; the last step is to tuck it into the fabric so the ball doesn't catch on things.

Final bonus: these make a very satisfying "tup" noise (now that I can actually keep them going without dropping them frequently).

Part the Second coming sometime, in which we explore the more effortful way of making these things...