Fire breathing

[Rage]

So I decided I want learn to breath fire. We had a link with some info on it on the old site.

Does anyone remember the links or have any info.

[Lady_Lily]

Can't help you with links, but knowing a few of the people out at fest and having talked with them on this particular subject, I suggest you talk with them and learn face-to-face, definitely much safer and the people out at Minnesota are really great at what they do.

[Rage]

I have been trying to get ahold of Asbestos (Dane) from taste's like burning. He hung around with my brother back in High School. I haven't as of yet been able to get ahold of him so it might wait till fest.

I think LD is is just going to carry around a fire extinguisher and have the 9 and 1 already dialed when I start working on this. Good thing I already put her on my life insurance policy......

[Random Girl]

No.  And that is all I am going to say on the topic.  No.

[PurpleDragon]

Do yourself a HUGE favor and before you think about attempting it, you find yourself a good teacher.  (Just because someone can do it, does NOT mean they can teach it). 

I studied other performers for a couple of years before  one approached and offered to teach me. I worked with him extensively going over the basics of safety and the like over and over again before we started discussing fuels and the like.  Eventually I got to breathing and he trained me on several differant styles.  I have since added some of my own and improved on those he taught me. 

[Blushing]

http://www.homeofpoi.com/lessons_all/teach/Library-Fire-Breathing-Introduction-Fire-Breathing-11_52_194

Pele has some fantastic stuff on her pages ... and a bounty of reasons why NOT to play with fire breathing.

I spoke with Listo of Tribal Circus about fire breathing last weekend ... one of the drummers at faire has been learning/practicing. He told me that he would answer any questions etc. only AFTER I did my "homework," and Pele's site was where he suggested I start.

Note: Tastes Like Burning is at Colorado; Wilsome said at the begining of the season that Asbestos recently became a dad, so he wouldn't likely be visiting Colorado, I'm not sure about other faires.

[Rage]

PurpleDragon, Thats why I posted the thread. I am not going to even think about this until I find someone good who I feel I can trust.

Harem Pants: My daughter said the same thing.....I won't burn off my face. I planned to ask Dane who I should talk to, him and Dan would not want to teach me.

MBM: I have mastered the art of eating hot food. The hotter the better.

Blushing: Thank you, I will check out the post. Wow thats cool about Dane! good news.

I have wanted to learn to breath/blow fire sense I was young. There are reasons I didn't learn before. LD thinks I am nuts but I am so..... I also want to learn contact juggling. 

[DeadBishop]

I was all gung ho about wanting to do this too, until a friend almost died from chemical pneumonia while fire breathing.  Accidentally inhaled a small amount of fuel after a big blow.  His lungs were full of chemical burns.  Spent a couple weeks in intensive care.  And no, he wasn't an amateur.  Had been doing it for years.  Hasn't done it since.  Sobered me up from the idea to just hearing his story.

So yeah, if you really want to pursue this, learn everything you can from a pro.  And then learn more.  And don't stop.  You're life depends on it.

[temper]

I'm going to say "what they said" about Fire Breathing -dangerous, full of ways to go wrong, consider carcinogens and aspiration as well as burns. I won't even try it.

That said:
Learn from a pro
Practice your spitting first with water. If you can't spit in a "cloud" this may just not be for you.
Try putting ultrapure in your mouth, this made some people throw up (thus ruling out fire breathing)
Always have a spotter with a wet towel and a burn kit.  Some troupes only do this trick with goggles on for safety.

I have seen two fire breathers set themselves on fire-the first had second-degree burns.
The second we caught in time but he had no facial hair.
Home of Poi is a good place to network. There are many, many fire troupes out there-another resource would be to join tribe.net. If you do, I am
http://people.tribe.net/a7f58716-ad54-43cf-a48a-a88fdbd71f66
and have a pretty exhaustive listing of forums for fire users.

This is not something to take on lightly and I hope you have worked with less volatile fire tricks first.

[Rage]

EDIT: Funny enough I was writing this when Temper posted. I fully understand what Temper has said. I may not even go to the point of blowing fireballs. There are many other much safer ways to play with fire <-- ok that make no sense to a sane person.

I used to do some tricks with fire. Mostly using non-dairy creamer which is amazingly flammable. A friend of mine burned his hand pretty bad and I managed to burn all the hair off my face when we used a mixture we had read about and a large mason crock.

I was going to write don't ask, just imagine 4 teenage boys playing with fire and I decided it would be safer to just tell....lol... 

The trick I had figured out was a transfer. I would blow non-dairy creamer from my hand into the crock and it would bellow up in flames and then stay light. We always put it out right away so we didn't break the crock. Well I got to close and the bellow up engulfed my face. How I manged not to burn all my hair off and not get severely burned is beyond me. My friend Allen decided to improve the trick. Yeah he didn't. The crock shattered. He got the mixture on his cloths. He got burned when he tried to use his hand to put out the fire. Not a good idea. 

Yeah it was dumb and I don't suggest anyone attempt anything we did. Was it fun oh yes it was very fun. Very dumb but fun non-the-less.

If I do this I am going to get a good teacher to show me.

ANOTHER EDIT: You know I have done some fireworks shows with my uncle. My future son-law and his father do the fireworks shows in Owatonna. My daughter love the fireworks and love to set them off herself. Not sure if that safer or not.

[renren]

Good luck and be safe!

[temper]

ANOTHER EDIT: You know I have done some fireworks shows with my uncle. My future son-law and his father do the fireworks shows in Owatonna. My daughter love the fireworks and love to set them off herself. Not sure if that safer or not.

Fireworks scare the bejeebus out of me LOL

[Rage]

I'm not scared of much which makes me wanting to play with fire even stupider (in my mind at least). I think I might be talking myself out of this...lol...

So Temper I found this on a Wicked Jester T-shirt:

Adversity is like a flame, it melts the weak but it tempers the strong.

I like the saying. Some things that happened recently, this thread and your name made me think of it.

[Random Girl]

Harem Pants: My daughter said the same thing.....I won't burn off my face. I planned to ask Dane who I should talk to, him and Dan would not want to teach me.

This is exactly why I say no.  The boys are good guys, but they don't teach just anyone, and it isn't elitism it is a liability because for every person they teach they are inherently responsible for anything that happens.  Therefore it is a rare breed that they will actually teach.  Both have flat out REFUSED to tell me anything.  And the other fire boys have followed suit.

One of these days I will tell you the tale of the poor kid that Dan brought back to SS one night BY HIS EAR because the kid had been blowing fire right next to the greenman without being trained and without notifying anyone.  Dan was PIIIIISSSSEEEDDD.

[Will Gamwell]

One of these days I will tell you the tale of the poor kid that Dan brought back to SS one night BY HIS EAR because the kid had been blowing fire right next to the greenman without being trained and without notifying anyone.  Dan was PIIIIISSSSEEEDDD.

Ironic!  Dispatch and I were just discussing this young ...person yesterday.

Sean