A few months ago I wrote a post about my adventures in trying to find the correct ingredients for assembling a hoop, with the catch being that I live in Canada.  Sure, we have free health care, but our access to commonly used hoop-making items SUCKS.   Along the way, I know I’m not the only one who has had to improvise and experiment to find other materials or clever ways to obtain those materials to make my own hoops.  The original post is here, but I wanted to add a couple of tidbits of info, so I figured a new post would be the way to do that.

First of all, as suggested by another hooper back in the original post, superpex, or pex (the terms seem to be used interchangeably) is another great material and it seems to be readily available at your local hardware stores - Home Depot, Rona, and even Canadian Tire.  So that’s a huge bonus.  Pex is the stuff that is white on the outside and black on the inside.  It’s also very rigid in comparison to the black pvc tubing that most hoopers are used to, which has its perks and its downsides.  The biggest downside that took me a while to adjust to is the unforgiving nature of it.  If you whack yourself - well, it hurts.  The ouch factor definitely increases.  And when you’re a klutz like me (see previous post) that means a few more bruises and bumps.  On the other hand, it’s incredibly responsive.  The lack of flop factor makes it great for quick breaks and current changes.

The problem with pex is that there isn’t a connector that is readily available to fit inside the tubing.  You won’t be doing the old style heat and insert method with a pvc connector.  We finally worked out a way to assemble the pex hoops that seems to withstand heavy hooping - I’ve been using this one particular hoop for about six months now and it is showing no signs of wear or warping, so I feel confident in sharing it with others as a potential way to make your hoop.  When using the 3/4 pex, I use a 1/2 inch pvc connector, which you’ll notice is actually too small for the inner diameter of the pex tubing, and will slide in and out of there far too easily.  I give it a wrap with a piece of duct tape, to make it really difficult to get into the hoop (but more importantly, really difficult to get out!).   Once the connector is inserted, I ensure its stability by countersinking a screw into each side of the joint.  I drill the holes prior to putting the connector in, and once I’ve added the screws, they’re completely flush with the hoop itself.  Voila - you have a hoop.  Once you’ve taped your hoop, you’ll be hard pressed to find the original joint - which is a good thing!

The other thing I wanted to mention was procuring tape for your hoop.  Sure, Identitape is the mecca of hoop tape and I have ordered from them and I *am* happy with their products and customer service, but their shipping methods cost about as much as the tape itself, and that just won’t do.   I’ve been very happy with any of the orders I’ve made through an eBay seller named Paper Street Plastics.   Their selection is nowhere near as impressive as ID’s, but they do have glitter and holo and iridiscent tapes, and their turnaround time was nothing but impressive, and more importantly, I didn’t have to hand over my firstborn child and my liver to the UPS guy at the door.   This doesn’t solve the question of gaffer tape, however.   Through a few phone calls, we were able to find a local lighting/production company that doesn’t have a retail storefront, but does stock a huge variety of gaffer and spike tapes for use in stage productions.  Walking into their room full of tapes for the first time was AWESOME.  Ok, so it was just a big closet, but it was a big closet full of spike and gaffer in every color you could imagine.  So, depending on what city you’re in,  you should be able to track down somebody who sells this stuff.  It just might take a few phone calls and some patience, but again, it will save you on those wretched customs fees!

One of these days there might be a photo tutorial, but that would mean making more hoops, and I’m running out of space!

April 3rd, 2009 | Tags: hoopdance, hula hoops, making a hula hoop | Category: daily living, as it were | Subscribe to comments | Leave a comment | Trackback URL