hey, i was wondering.....how does the very basic japanese whip work?
apart form c.cradels
Unfortunately, Japanese whips or slack whips are difficult to explain in words. It is much easier to give a demonstration. If you were at the EJC in Ptuj there was a great workshop on slack tricks by a Czech diabolo player (Rezi?). I shall attempt a description of the two basic slack whips. (From a right handed view point). 1. Slack whip to trapeze:- From an open string (Normal position) - Lift diabolo upwards gently. Diabolo should NOT leave string. - Bring right hand stick into the string on RIGHT side of diabolo from above. - This should form a loop of slack string around the right hand stick. - This loop travels over the top of the hand stick and catches the diabolo around the far cup. - The diabolo should now be a trapeze position. 2. Slack under whip - Lift diabolo upwards gently. Diabolo should NOT leave string. - Bring right hand stick into the string on RIGHT side of diabolo from below. - This should form a loop of string around the right hand stick. - This loop travels under the hand stick and catches the diabolo around the far cup from underneath. - The diabolo should be in a position that looks like a trapeze, but isn't. - Throw the diabolo over the top of the left handstick and let the string drop off the right hand stick. - You should now be in a right backside position. I hope that this is useful and makes some sense. These tricks are much easier to learn from somebody showing you, so you should go to a convention or a local club and ask someone to show you. The first thing that you should practise is making the loop and understanding where the loop is formed. A good way to practise this is to take just the sticks and string and try making the loop around the right stick and catching it over the end of the left stick. This puts you in the Cat's Cradle position. Once you get the hang of making the loop, try doing it with the diabolo on the string.As for string length, I'm sure whatever you usually use will be fine. It would probably be harder with a very short string, but any reasonable length should work.Hope that this helps. If you have any further questions, feel free to ask. Good Luck, Nick.