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How to Make Flower Sticks

Flower sticks are traditionally known as devil sticks. They are used for juggling and have been part of the circus arts dating back 3,500 years. A set of flower sticks consists of three sticks: two side sticks and the middle stick called the baton. The basic trick performed with these three sticks is called the pendulum. In this trick, the juggler keeps the baton suspended in mid-air by touching it with the two side sticks. Once you've made your set of flower sticks, you can begin practicing this trick and others.

Things You'll Need

2 wood dowels, 5/16 inch
1 wood dowel, 1/2 inch
Tape measure
Hand saw
1 roll hockey tape, black
1 roll hockey tape, white
Scissors

Instructions

- 1
  Cut the 1/2-inch dowel to a length of 2 feet.
- 2
  Cut the two 5/16-inch dowels to a length of 22 inches.
- 3
  Unroll a long length of black tape and let it spin around itself so the sticky side is facing out. Start wrapping this strip of tape at the end of one of the 5/16-inch dowels and continue to wrap in a spiral fashion along the full length of the dowel with the sticky side of the tape facing out.
- 4
  Cut the tape off at the end of the dowel. Flip the dowel around and start taping in a spiral fashion back down the dowel in the opposite direction. Repeat this wrapping of the tape sticky side out until the dowel is completely wrapped in tape with no wood showing.
- 5
  Repeat Steps 3 and 4 for the second 5/16-inch dowel.
- 6
  Finish off the two 5/16-inch dowels by wrapping white tape--sticky side down--around one end of each dowel to create grips.
- 7
  Wrap the 1/2-inch dowel as you wrapped the 5/16-inch dowels, but only wrap the black tape the full length of the dowel one time in each direction.
- 8
  Do a final wrap of the 1/2-inch dowel using the white tape with the sticky side facing toward the dowel. Wrap the dowel the full length to cover up the black tape underneath.
- 9
  Wrap some extra white tape at either end of the 1/2-inch dowel. Make the ends a bit bulbous in appearance. This creates a subtle counter weight, which is one of the secrets to making flower sticks work.

Wooden Toys