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Colour Changing Rings

Steven Ragatz - 12th February, 2001.
Use thin, adhesive Mylar on one side as it will last longer than paint and will not crack with the ring flexes. You can get this stuff from a sign shop or an art supply store. Air-flight rings, or ones like those, are good because they are light and can accept the added weight of the Mylar.

Don't use the juggle-bug rings unless you want to destroy your hands. The rings are REALLY heavy and made of brittle plastic - certainly no good for more than three. The color changing rings from Juggle Bug were not one of Mr. Finnegan's better products in my opinion.

Of course, next you will be wanting to know how to do the color change trick? There are two ways that I know of to do it in the cascade: One, you catch the ring with your hand rotated 180 degrees out, and flip it around to expose the other side. The other way is to reach on the inside of the ring as it falls and catch it by the top, inside edge, rather than by the bottom, outside edge. The advantage to this way is that you don't have to change the hand position, as it is always in the "karat-chop" position, but you do have to be able to slip the hand into the ring opening to make it work. I have seen jugglers better than I do extensive color change routines with five and seven rings using both techniques, so try them out and pick one.

If you want the color change to be really dramatic, learn it with both hands at the same time. It takes half as long.

There are also several tricks that will give you a color change for free:

A half shower with one hand throwing flat to the front.
A pull-over onto the head and pull it off with the other hand
A catch on the foot, flip the ring 180 degrees, and kick back into the pattern

Any of these, an many more, will cause the audience side of the ring to change.

If you want some more expert advice, get in touch with Dick Franco or Dana Tyson - both have been on the newsgroup at one point or another and both have done extensive color changing ring routines. I am sure that either of them would be more than happy to give advice if it were politely solicited.

Steven Ragatz