Club Obi Wan

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I know these aren't Indy-related whips, but this is the kind of work that I like to do using kangaroo hide. These whips are going to a rodeo performer from Florida who has a red and white costume.

-Adam Winrich, www.winrichwhips.com

Hey Adam,

Well they're not the usual colors that I would use for myself, but those handles look really nice. Nice work, my friend!

Jim

Well done my friend. That is craftsmanship at it's finest.

Jerry R

Beautiful!! Stockwhip handles really let you get creative. That's one lucky performer.

Fine work indeed. They look simply flawless, well done!

Respect to you, sir.

Dave

Adam,

They are really nice looking. The only thing that sticks out is the fact that one is shorter then the other. But what the heck do i know.....ive only ever made 1 stockwhip...dont listen to me. That pattern work is really nice. the red and natural work really well together. Matched pairs must be very difficult to accomplish. do you need to cut everything at the same time?

Adam

Mola, the whip on the inside track looks shorter because it has less distance to travel. I'm pretty sure if you lined the two whips up perfectly they'd be the same length

probably correct.

Adam

Both crops on the whips are as close to 20" long as I can get them. To make this pair, I made each whip side by side. I cut and paired each lace to match the corresponding lace on the other whip and made what compensations that I could when the thicknesses of the hides didn't match up as well as I would have liked.

For the handles, I first built both handle foundations, then cut two sets of white strands and two sets of red strands, then pared all the strands to have a matching taper, then braided one handle, then the other, tied one knot on the knob, then did the other, .... well, you get the idea.

Thanks for the compliments. I don't have pics or prices for pairs like this on my website, so in case anyone wanted to know, the performer who is getting these is paying $550 for the pair. I hope it's not against forum policy to disclose prices.

-Adam Winrich, www.winrichwhips.com

Those are good looking whips. I've never worked with white kangaroo before. Mola mentioned it was natural. The white and red is hard to keep from bleeding. Still good work.
They look very short. What are the length of the thongs?
Who is the performer?

I am performng at the MLB All-Star Game Pre-Event celebration this evening. Wish me well. My wife wants me to get Mike Piazza's autograph. Yea, right....

Robert Duke www.DukeWhips.com

The lashes are only five feet long. The performer is Mike Wooldridge, www.cowboymikewooldridge.com. I made them for his two-handed routines.

Yes, the colors in the handles did bleed a little, so the white in the handles is a slight shade of pink. I tried wiping off the excess dye in the red strands before plaiting, but it didn't make a difference. I asked David Morgan about this problem after I had made the whips since he sourced the white 'roo hide. He suggested that I might try sealing the red set of strands with something before braiding. When I started braiding the handles, I thought that the extra dye would come off with the extra braiding soap, but no such luck. If I do red and white again, I might shellac the red strands before putting braiding soap on them.

Jerry R., when you make your red and white target whip, be advised that the red might bleed into the white. If anything, it wouldn't be as big a deal in a bullwhip since you won't have any solid white plaiting to contrast the red and white plaiting.

The white kangaroo that I worked with seemed more supple than the other 'roo hide that I've worked with. I understand that it's tanned differently and there are no oils in it, so in some way this probably accounts for the difference in feel.

-Adam Winrich, www.winrichwhips.com

Robert Duke wrote:I am performng at the MLB All-Star Game Pre-Event celebration this evening. Wish me well. My wife wants me to get Mike Piazza's autograph. Yea, right....

Robert Duke www.DukeWhips.com

Robert, that is very cool. Hope everything went well. I am sure it makes you the only one on the forum that has performed at the All-Star game. I personally never made it. I guess the consensus of opinion was that I couldn't hit a baseball far enough. But, I tried. How did the mission to secure the autograph turn out?

Robert Duke wrote:I think most of the players that were in the game like Piazza were in the stadium. I was next door where there was a great big Texas sized party for what I'd say were ballplayers, managers, owners and such. Some were former all-star greats, but I didn't recognize too many of them. I did see Dave Winfield and went over and talked with him. He was very nice and shook my hand.

At one time I was doing some tricks for the crowd and I saw an entourage coming my way with all kinds of security. A minute later I realized Bud Selig, the baseball commissioner walked by.

I saw most of all the team mascots as we all played around. The Texas Rangers mascot is a horse and he roped and tied me up, the cowboy. Now that's a switch.

Robert, were you in the GRB? i was at the fan fest yesterday and asked around about a hall F, and nobody seemed to know... they looked at me funny when i told them i was looking for a "cowboy doing rope tricks"
haha

It took me a while to find Hall F too... it was a big party on the 3rd floor. I'd assume VIP... fanfest was on level 1... also Hall F was above Halls A & B...
you really can't see it....