Creating your own hoops is a fun, cost effective way to always have enough hoops for your practioners. The hoops in this lesson are your basic “black tubing” hoops that are great for on body hooping (waist, shoulders, chest, legs), or for toning up and working those arms!
You will need several different tools to make your hoops
First thing you will want to do is figure out what size hoop you want. For adult sized hoops, you will want the hoop to come up to at least the belly button. Remember, the larger the hoop, the easier it is to keep it up. Your best bet is to have lots of different sizes for your practioners to choose from. So if you want the diameter of your hoop to be 42” (a typical adult sized hoop), 42 X 3.14 (Pi)=131.88, rounded up to 132”, this is how many inches of tubing you will cut.
Your next step is to connect the two ends of the hoops together. This can be a bit of an art, and may take a few hoops to get it down. Luckily, making hoops is so fun and addictive! To get the connectors in, you will have to heat up the end of the tubing, either with a hair dryer or an old, no longer in use, electric kettle. You can often find these at yard sales, etc. So working with one end at a time, heat up the tubing (I do about 80 seconds with the hair dryer, 25 with the kettle), and push the connector half way in. Do the same on the other end, and ta da! You have a hoop! At this point you can pick your tapes and get as creative as you like.
You will need several different tools to make your hoops
- Most important is the tubing of course. Depending on where you live, you may be able to find it locally, or you may have to purchase online. It's typically sold in 100ft coils, which can make about 8-10 adult sized hoops. Tubing comes in multiple different sizes, but what I've found that works the best is plastic coil tubing, 3/4”, 160 PSI. This size is large enough to have a good weight, ensuring success in keeping the hoop up on the body, and is still narrow enough that it's able to be used for hand hoop moves. Here is a link to the tubing at Lowes Home Improvement Store (https://www.lowes.com/pd/ADS-3-4-in-x-100-ft-160-PSI-Plastic-Coil-Pipe/3514724)
- A pipe cutter. These are available at any hardware store or online. Pipe cutters give a clean, accurate cut, and are very easy to use. (https://www.lowes.com/pd/IRWIN-1-25-in-Multipurpose-Pipe-Cutter/1000668139)
- Connectors. These are the gray or blue, plastic small tubes that connect the two ends of the hoop together. Sometimes the easiest to find connectors will have a piece of plastic in the center that you'll have to cut/dremel off. Make sure to wear a mask before you start! (https://www.lowes.com/pd/Apollo-ABTC34/5012921779) You want your connector to be the same size as the tubing, 3/4" for 3/4" tubing.
- Tape. This is the fun part! Get creative, you can use athletic tape, duck tape, electrical tape.
- A tape measure
First thing you will want to do is figure out what size hoop you want. For adult sized hoops, you will want the hoop to come up to at least the belly button. Remember, the larger the hoop, the easier it is to keep it up. Your best bet is to have lots of different sizes for your practioners to choose from. So if you want the diameter of your hoop to be 42” (a typical adult sized hoop), 42 X 3.14 (Pi)=131.88, rounded up to 132”, this is how many inches of tubing you will cut.
Your next step is to connect the two ends of the hoops together. This can be a bit of an art, and may take a few hoops to get it down. Luckily, making hoops is so fun and addictive! To get the connectors in, you will have to heat up the end of the tubing, either with a hair dryer or an old, no longer in use, electric kettle. You can often find these at yard sales, etc. So working with one end at a time, heat up the tubing (I do about 80 seconds with the hair dryer, 25 with the kettle), and push the connector half way in. Do the same on the other end, and ta da! You have a hoop! At this point you can pick your tapes and get as creative as you like.