Thought about it alot and decided to give my hand at string making. VERY pleased with today’s experiments, fails, lessons learned, and successes. I will never buy another “yoyo” string again! I can now make strings as good as some of the best Ive bought in the past. Im so stoked. Heres a quick peek!
Check out the r/stringmakerz on reddit to help get started making your own. Im so glad I did. I know its not for everyone, but I really enjoyed the process. And the outcomes I found were excellent.
Im really impressed with it so far! I used 11 foot, prestretched before twisting, 5 pass, 100% maxi-stretch, 13 inch reduction. Thats my sweet spot. At least for today
I prefer the 4.2 second blowtorch method, myself! Speaking of strings I may just have to try the Maxilock Stretch stuff, sounds interesting. Was having lots of fun a few years back with my own strings…
My latest batch was made from Wooly Nylon (name brand) and neon poly mix. 5 poly, 2 wolly. They came out very nice indeed! the wooly is SOOOO much stretchier and fluffier than the maxi-lock stretch. I have not made one, but I think that a 100% wooly would be like a rubber band! Stuff is nuts!! Where as that Maxi lock Stretch is excellent by itself. Testing in progress now.
Also found one other brand/type of textured (wooly type) nylon that ill get into soon. JoAnns crafts had a buy one get one free on threads so i kinda went ham (not the best decesion, since im unemplyed at the moment and money is very tight) but I just enjoy making strings alot.
Being currently on disability with lots of time and no money, this string making idea has captured my imagination… was their a particular tutorial you started from?
I can actually, but I could never sell them as cheap as Kitty does. Maybe If i commissioned robots to make my string with the lowest quality threads, then I could match em but talk about startup cost!! (like 6k to get that ball rolling).
I saw that 5-in-one-pass rig. But I cant help but think that quality is being sacrificed. I like having every inch of thread pass between my fingers. I know there are no tangles, bunches or knots. I also know that different threads (even colors of the same threads) stretch differently. Having the string pre-stretched properly is a key part of my process, and the biggest problem in making a static rig. Where it folds is a different spot for each type of string. Maybe if i was smashing out hundreds of exactly the same kind, but I dunno.
I did like his concept of having multiple spools and minimal passes. but the way he spun them up, and the relaxed them, im not so sure about. Id like to compare one of his to one of mine. Just to see.
That would be an interesting test to compare them side by side.
I think some of the string differences would work themselves out as the string seats itself after a few throws, but I could see how using different colors would change things.
You could use the same basic idea to do one string at a time and that would work well I think.
I made string for a brief period, but the thing I most ran into was sourcing the thread.
I could never find thread that was the right color and quality.
I did end up contacting large suppliers to see if I could finally get what I want, but then things got crazy in the real world and I started running low on free time.
If you are interesting in that type of thing, I think I still have some contact info though.
Heres a quick peek!
Im so glad I did. I know its not for everyone, but I really enjoyed the process. And the outcomes I found were excellent.
