Are you as in love with hooping as I am? I took a class a few months ago in San Diego and was hooked immediately. Of course, I then decided I needed to combine hooping and slacklining, which meant the need for more and hoops in different sizes. There are great places online to buy hoops (including this one), but if you want to make your own this is the post for you.
Supplies:
- 3/4 inch plastic tubing – 100 psi or 160 psi depending on how heavy you want your hoop. This tubing is used for irrigation and can usually be found at stores like Lowe’s
- A ratcheting pipe cutter. You could use a saw, but this only costs about $12 bucks and cuts like buttah
- 3/4 inch male-to-male connectors
- Tape
*A note on tape*
There are many types of tape out there and you’ll find they have various benefits and drawbacks. Here’s what I’ve found so far:
Electrical tape: It’s pretty cheap, easy to find, and comes in an array of colors. It’s stretchy, which makes it easily conform to the hoop, but it also makes it a bit harder to maintain an even wrap.
Duck tape: Again, cheap and easy to find. And now you can find duck tape in all sorts of colors and patterns, which is great. Some people don’t like duck tape because it leaves a sticky residue when you pull it off. This isn’t really a concern of mine because I figure I’ll always keep the hoop taped and can always use a product like googone to get off the sticky if it becomes a problem. I used duck tape and just split it in half to make it thinner – it went on nicely and was pretty easy to work with.
Sparkle tape: These just make the hoop shiny and pretty – yay!
Gaffer tape: This tape peels off cleanly, provides grippiness, and comes in a bunch of colors. The drawback is that it isn’t easily found in stores (you can easily order it online, though). I actually haven’t wrapped with this yet, but have used hoops made with gaffer tape and the grippiness definitely makes it a bit easier to hoop with.
Decide how big you want your hoop. You actually want a bigger hoop if you’re a beginner because the weight and size will make it easier to hoop with. Most beginners start with a diameter of about 42 inches, which means a circumference of about 132 inches. Did I lose you with the flashback to high school math? Hoops are sized by diameter, but you need to know the circumference to know how long to cut your pipe. Or you can skip the math (I did!) and just hold it up to yourself. If you’re a beginner, you want the hoop to reach to your navel when it’s standing on the ground. If you want more info on hoop sizing read this.
Insert your connector. Depending on your type of connector, you might need to use a hair dryer to warm the end of the tube in order to insert the connector.
Slide the other end on the connector, thereby creating a circle.
I like to place tape over the connector joint for extra security.
Now it’s time for the decorating fun! The initial placement of your tape is very important. You need to place the tape at an angle so that it swirls around nicely. Pay attention as you go around that you don’t have any wrinkles or gaps, because this will affect your spacing. It will get easier as you go and you’ll start to get more even spacing.
Time for the second color. I used duck tape as the first tape and electrical second (but, of course, there are endless tape combos possible).
Ooh it’s so shiny! Sparkle tape is very important, in my opinion, in making the hoop look awesome and complete. A little trick if you’re new to taping evenly – take it in the opposite direction. I sparkle taped in the opposite direction, which means I didn’t have to worry about perfectly aligning the sparkly tape with the other tapes. You can use as many different tapes as you want, but remember that tape will start to add weight to your hoop.
And now you’re ready to hoop to your heart’s content. Or you can jump on a slackline and spin hoops on your arms! As you can see in the picture below, Baylor is quite unimpressed:)
If you have any questions, just let me know and happy hooping.
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