Juggling Club Harness

I am a juggler from Montreal, and like most financially challenged young people, I'm... financially challenged. This has done nothing to dampen my obsession with flinging fiery things around, but it does make an impact on what juggling props I can buy. One thing I noticed was at least lacking, at most unheard of was a juggling club harness. Such a fantastic device could enable a juggler to carry clubs outside of the spatially-poor duffle bag, or serve as a handy carrier from one side of the Renaissance Fair grounds to the other. It can easily be adapted for more than three clubs or torches with a simple addition of holsters.

• Power drill or leather punch
• 7\32 drill bit
• Old leather belt (mine was 1 1\4" wide)
• About 2' paracord or strong cord
• Carabiner, clip with a spring, or a large hook
• Lighter
• Measuring tape or ruler
• Scissors or a knife
• Leash swivel OR elastic cord (optional)
• Juggling Clubs, (what else?)

That's it, really. Have at thee, you'll figure it out. Just kidding, guys.

I started out by measuring the circumference of the ball of my clubs, which came to about 4 1/2" .

I slimmed that measurement out by about half an inch to let the stem of the club sit well in the harness, but not big enough to let the ball slip through with any amount of jostling or pulling.

Once I had the belt the length I needed for the harness loop, I cut out the strip for the holster.

I have three clubs, so I cut three identical lengths, one for each club. Due to the drawstring nature of the harness, you could up the number of loops to about five or six, depending on your preferences.

Now we come to the hook and clip, which draw the holster together as well as attaches the whole harness to your bag or pack.

I tied one end of the 2' of paracord through the loop at the end of my hook and melted it shut with a lighter. Then, I put that whole thing aside. Don't worry, it'll be back.

Back to the leather, drill or punch two holes at each end of the strips of leather. Make sure the holes are big enough to push the paracord or strong cord through with minimum difficulty; not too tight, but snug. For example, when I pull my cord through the holes, I can feel the ridges of the cord passing by. If you are not using leash clips or elastic as an extra safety latch, you'll only need to drill one hole at each end

Take the paracord\hook device and, with the hook end on the left, thread the paracord through the top hole drilled in each end of the leather strips so that they form an arch. Thread all leather pieces in this way. You'll end up with something resembling a series of waves.

To use, lay the harness with the strings upward so that it looks like waves. Place the clubs in each of the holsters and pull on the tail of the cord like a drawstring.

If you are using a leash clasp or elastic cord for a safety clip, now is where you thread it through the bottom set of holes, exactly like the paracord. Tie it firmly, and burn the ends to seal them. FIRE!

How you seal it actually requires NO KNOTS. Complete the circle of cord by threading it through the hook\clip loop. Then, thread the cord through the hook's loop around again, going the same direction as the first time. Pull on the tail to bring out the slack.

That's it! Now the whole device can be hung or clipped on almost any surface, be it your chair, locker, bag, belt (I guess), or Christmas tree, if you're into that sort of thing.

Thanks so much for reading this. Hope you have a great time making it. Took me six or so podcast-lengths to figure out the quirks of the harness, but I got it in the end. This is my first Instructable, although I have used countless ones made by fantastic others for years. Cheers for any constructive comments! To any fellow jugglers out there, Âllo from Montréal!