How to Make Flaming Juggling Balls

This is a project for my High School Juggling class finals. Im going to show you how to make relatively cheap flaming Juggling balls. I'm only going to show you how to make one of the Juggling balls, so you should multiply everything by the number of Juggling balls you want. To Juggle these balls you will need fireproof gloves. If you want cheap ones I suggest using these gloves. If you end up using the cheap gloves you should keep the top glove damp and have a bucket of water nearby to relieve heat buildup.

Note: I am not responsible for you hurting yourself while using or making this object. I strongly suggest you use a fire or heatproof glove and keep a bucket of water nearby when using the juggling balls.

Materials
• Ball
• 2 T-Pins
• 1 Tennis Ball
• 2 tbsp Salt
• 2 5”x9” Pieces of Foil
• Glue

Wick
• 1 5”x9” Piece of Denim
• 1 Tbsp Salt
• 4 Tbsp Borax
• 1 Cup Water
• Tiki Torch Fuel

Tools
• Scissors
• Ruler
• Knife
• Funnel
• Lighter
• 2 Bowls
• Chalk
• Flat butter knife
• 1 tbsp measurer

The core of the juggling ball is a tennis ball weighted with salt and protected with tin foil. To weight the tennis ball you need to make a smal slit in the ball just big enough for the funnel to go through. Then you get the tablespoon measurer and pour exactly 2 tablespoons into the tennis ball using the flat butter-knife to make sure the salt is flat and level with the top of the spoon. After that you should pull the funnel out and glue the slit shut with superglue. When the superglue is dried you need to wrap it in two layers of tin foil. I suggest using two sheets of  5”x9” tin foil but you could re-measure if you don’t trust me or want to use a different ball. Put on the tin foil by wrapping the long end around the ball and then folding the short edges down on the sides. To secure it compress each tin foil layer with your hands until it hugs the ball tightly.

To make a cheap wick you will need to put one tablespoon of salt, four tablespoons of borax and one cup of water in a bowl and stir well. Place the piece of denim in and swish it around a little. If you want to have multiple pieces of denim in the bowl at one time you might need to add some water to cover all the wrinkles. Leave the denim in the bowl overnight or for twelve hours, then set in a warm place to dry. I used denim because it held the fuel really well but you could use another type of relatively absorbent fabric as well.

To assemble your Juggling ball put on the denim wick by wrapping the long end around the ball and folding the short edges down on the sides, then securing them with two t-pins. To light the ball dip it in tiki torch fuel, shake it out a little and light it. I used a small plastic frisbee as a dipping dish. Make sure you are wearing fireproof gloves when you light it. These balls burn with a pretty large flame for a pretty long time. If the flame ever goes out and the wick is not falling apart you can dip them in the fuel again and relight them. If you want to Juggle for a really long time you should make some extra wicks to take with you.

Me testing the Juggling balls