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At the beginning of July I went on an 8-day writing retreat to finish the current book project (or come close to finishing it). I brought my regular hoop (32” diameter, 100 psi, 1” tube diameter) just so I could take some hooping breaks to clear my head. I knew there’d be other folks at the property but I figured I wouldn’t be giving lessons, so I didn’t bring a beginner’s hoop. Duh. Of course I wound up giving lessons, to at least 6 adults and 6 kids. And the adults struggled more than they should have, using mine, while I demonstrated using a kid-size hoop that I found up there.
These people were so warm and generous, and enthusiastic about hooping (despite the frustration of learning with a smallish, lightish one) that I resolved to make a bunch of hoops to gift to their community.
It’s been a long time since I made hoops, so I spent a day snuffling around on hooping.org, reading the discussion threads in the hoopmaking section and re-reading the tutorial by Jason, aka the Father of Hoopmaking.
Logistics: I am a city mouse who lives a car-free existence. I do have a membership with the car-sharing service Zipcar, so it occurred to me to rent a car to pick up supplies. But by the time I figured in the likely minimum of $40 I’d spend on the Zipcar, plus the possible frustration of running to Loewe’s or Home Depot only to find they didn’t have what I needed, I decided I would just order materials online and have them delivered to my doorstep in downtown Oakland. Fellow City Mice, and Country Mice: I can heartily recommend this option. (Tip: Bulk up orders by combining your order with friends’, in order to get the lowest carbon footprint.)
Someone had posted a couple helpful links for online tubing on hooping.org. I ended up going with the 100’ coil of 1” diameter, 125 PSI tubing from Ideal True Value hardware. It cost $34.99 plus shipping, which was about ten bucks on top of that. This would turn out to be enough for 10 beginner hoops, in varying diameters at about an average of 37″.
(A note for newbies: the PSI refers to the thickness of the wall of the tube. That’s important for the water pressure for which this irrigation/plumbing tubing is actually intended. The higher the PSI number, the heavier the hoop will be. 100 is a little light for the ideal beginner’s hoop, in my mind, although you can just use an extra layer of tape later to add weight. 160psi is very solid. But 125 is right in the middle, and seemed perfect.)
I got the ¾” insert connectors online as well. They cost $0.59 each, and I ordered seven, thinking I’d only have enough tubing for 6 or 7 hoops (oops). With shipping they came to just over eight bucks.
Then, for the most whimsical part of the material acquisitions, I took a virtual trip to identi-tape.com. The motherlode of hoop tapes. They have actually responded to the hoop community’s patronage by featuring all hoop-appropriate tapes in a list of links, AND they’ve adapted the length of the rolls to easier finish multiple hoops (which, of course, depends on how much tape you use per hoop…but there is nothing more frustrating than running out of tape before finishing a hoop.)
I still had a nice selection of vinyl tape and gaffers (the fabric tape that allows the hoop to “stick” to your body better) leftover from my last hoopmaking orgy several years back. But since then I’ve become more aware of toxic chemicals and materials and Stuff. That vinyl tape in all the shiny colors that we all love so much? Uh-oh. Vinyl means PVC.
And here’s what PVC means:
During PVC’s multi-stage production, chlorine gas is used to produce ethylene dichloride (EDC), which is converted into vinyl chloride monomer (VCM), which is converted into the PVC. This is a horrifically poisonous list of ingredients: Chlorine gas is so toxic that it has been used in war; EDC is extremely hazardous; and VCM is a known human carcinogen that causes a rare form of liver cancer and also damages the central nervous system. Many studies have documented high rates of diseases among workers in vinyl chloride production facilities, including liver cancer, brain cancer, lung cancer, lymphomas, leukemia, and liver cirrhosis.
PVC’s production process also releases a lot of toxic pollution into the environment, including dioxins. Dioxins are a group of noxious toxic chemicals that persist in the environment, travel great distances, build up in the food chain, and then cause cancer, as well as harm to the immune and reproductive systems.
Additionally, because its pure form PVC is actually a brittle plastic with limited use, further chemicals, or additives, needed to be mixed in to make it pliable and expand its uses. These include neurotoxic heavy metals like mercury and lead, and synthetic chemicals, like phthalates, which are known to cause reproductive disorders and suspected to cause cancer. Since most of these additives don’t actually bond to the PVC at the molecular level, they slowly leak out, a process called leaching or off-gassing, into our environment and our bodies.
Sorry to be all Debbie Downer on your ass. But isn’t it better to be an informed consumer?
So this time before ordering anything I checked out identi-tape’s page of information on their RoHS compliant tapes. RoHS means Restriction of Hazardous Substances, like lead, mercury, hexavalent chromium, cadmium, and VOC solvents. After reading all about it, I wound up ordering a couple rolls of fabric/ gaffers tapes, 2 rolls of glitter tape. The only vinyl-like tape I ordered was two rolls of the RoHS-compliant harness tape, which also meets the even-stricter child-focused CPSIA standards. It’s not perfect but it’s a sight better, and the more we express our preference for safer tapes, the more they will make and offer safer tapes. 
The final thing I needed was a ratcheting pipecutter. I know enough hoopers and hoopmakers that I figured I could borrow one from friends, which I did (thanks Rich!). You can also use a handsaw or some tough garden shears, but I recommend getting a proper cutter for safe, even, clean cuts.
Now I just needed to sit back and wait for the stuff to arrive at my door.
About a week after I placed my orders, the stuff started arriving. First the connectors, then the tapes, and finally, delivered literally right to my door on the sixth-floor of my building by the nice Fed-Ex man, the tubing (image #1). Within ten days, I had everything I needed.
I took the ratcheting cutter in hand and started cutting the lengths for the hoops. (Image #2) I made some closer to 40” in diameter, and some closer to 36”, and one that was 34” just for variety. The most important thing about cutting the tubing is getting a straight, flat cut—precisely perpendicular—so that the two ends fit together without a gap. (If your cut is at all slanty, the two ends won’t sit flat against each other, which means you’ll have a gap in the surface of the hoop.)
While doing my cuts, I heated a pot of water on the stove. When it was steaming, I dipped one end of a cut length in the water (image #3) for about 20 seconds to soften the tube so it would accept the insert connector. A sigh of relief as the connector fit perfectly inside (with some light persuasion from a hammer- image #4). Because I’d ordered everything online from separate vendors, I’d been worried the parts might not match.
I stuck the other end of the tubing in the hot water, and brought it down over the exposed end of the connector. See how my knuckles and fingers are white with the exertion (image #5) of pushing the ends together? You want as little of a gap at the connection point as possible so you have to put some muscle into it. But be careful! The plastic tubing retains its heat for a while. Don’t let your kids do this part, and if you’re heat sensitive maybe wear some grippy garden gloves.
Finally, I took some vinyl tape and went around the seam a couple times. (image #6) Voila! A naked hoop, ready for taping.
I was about to say—and now for everyone’s favorite part. But I’ve actually met a fair number of folks who say they hate the taping part because it’s so futzy. I guess it depends a little on how much of a perfectionist you are.
There are several nice discussion threads and tutorials on hooptaping.
So. For my first hoop, I decided to use up some of the white 1” gaffers I had on hand for a first layer (images #7 +8). I don’t really like this tape so much: I prefer narrower widths (ie, ¾” rather than 1”), because the narrower the tape, the more control I seem to have over it while wrapping, and the less likely I am to get wrinkles. I tend to stand while taping, keeping the vertical hoop steady with a foot or between my legs, so I have both hands free. I pass the roll of tape back and forth between my hands, hugging the tape to the angle of the hoop, and feeling along the bit I’ve just put on to keep it smooth and wrinkle-free.
I decided to do a second layer with the same white tape since the uncovered space (naked black tubing) was too wide to be covered with ¾” tape. (Image #9). It came out a long way from perfect—see image #10 for the closer-up shot showing all the gaps and wrinkles! (It looks better from afar, image #11.) Thus, I’d advise you to not use your favorite tape on your first hoop. Every subsequent tape job gets smoother, in my experience, as you get a feel for how to pull and maneuver the tape into place.
I took a ¼” purple vinyl tape to cover up the remaining bits of black (images # 12 + 13). This stuff goes on super fast and easy—very gratifying. And so my first homemade hoop was completed.
The next one I made used a 1” orange “camouflage” fabric/gaffers tape as the base layer, with a ¾” orange vinyl tape as the top layer. The camo tape was wonderful to work with—very forgiving. I liked the way the “tiger” hoop turned out so much, I made an extra one for me to keep!
Then I did some in blue/black/grey color schemes with 3 layers of tape each, criss-crossing the 2nd and 3rd layers.
Finally, I felt brave enough to deal with some glitter tape (pink) which I combined with ¾” pink harness tape and ½” grey gaffers. Basically: if you’re using a fancy reflective tape (mirrored, prismatic, glitter, etc), you want to put it on first. These tapes have very little give or stretch to them, so you can’t pull them into position the way you can the fabric (gaffers) or vinyl-type tapes—not to mention they have a backing that you have pull off as you’re unrolling the tape. They are more likely to get little bubbles and wrinkles in them as you’re laying them down. (Wrinkles are not only unsightly, more importantly they can actually hurt your skin, especially your hands, as the hoop rolls over you.) These tapes also become brittle at the edges as time passes, and are likely to flake off/lift off the hoop. So you put them down first and cover their edges with a layer of either gaffers or vinyl.
Do try this at home.
