Phillip's Galleries

Slings 1

I call these "slings" -- OK, go ahead and laugh...

That’s enough...you can stop snickering now. :-)

I call them "slings" because of the way I work them. They are lots of fun.

Slings

Quilts

Inspired by a set Ryan Spady uses in pictures for his profile.

In my version of the design, I wanted really strong colors, so the patches are light blue, olive green, gold, and purple. It was a challenge finding colors that would work together and with the stitching and still have plenty of contrast. These flags took hours to sew.

This set looks beautiful in the daylight. Light passes through them easily, but they have enough color to see the design.

I didn’t expect them to be anything special in UV, because only the thread would be visible, and I figured they wouldn’t stand out. I was wrong! When I took them to a club, WOW! These babies are incredible! All the other flaggers at the club stopped and stared--in motion, the stitching looks like a spirograph design. Someone mentioned that the flags look like green lasers on strobe setting. I was simply amazed. It’s been awhile since I was so entranced to see a pair of flags spin.

Thanks, Ryan, for inspiring me to create this set!

Flying Sparks, my new lighted set.

This was the first time I’d even flown the set, and I was really pleased with how well it flew and how nice the lights looked in motion.

Batwings

After I made the Quilts, I had enought material to do another set. But I really wasn’t up for that much sewing so soon.

Greg Evans has a set called "Green Apple", with a funky shape that look great in motion. Each of the wingtips has a weight in it, so the flags whip through the air like a giant set of fans.

I decided to try something similar. My version is made of several differently colored panels, with an outer edge of neon yellow. All the stitching is neon as well.

I love the way this set came out. They look amazing in motion, and have a fun, funky lateral torque because of the shape and the four extra tipweights.

This set takes a lot of muscle to fly, but Greg can really make them sing. Seeing him spin them, I knew they were meant for him.

Firestick Flags

Since I first started making my own flags, I’ve been intrigued by the idea of self-illuminated flags. I’ve created several different types of flags that are lit in various ways.

This is my tenth or so "lit" flag design, and it’s about my most successful. The sets fly very much like normal flags, which of course was the intent. The lighting effect is spectacular on stage.

This was also the first time I created flags for a group performance. They’ve worked out pretty well!

The flaggers were all wonderful and had a great time--sharing, encouraging, and working together to make a great event even better.

The audience responded extremely well, cheering and applauding and letting us know they enjoyed our shows.

Flamenco

This set started out as a pocket-sized 5mm tie-dye set. I wasn’t happy with the way the dye job came out, so put it away for awhile.

Months later I was working on a job and came across some neon string.

"Ah ha!" I thought, "This string would look great in motion, if only there’s a way to make it work!"

After some brainstorming during workouts at the gym (and several puzzled looks from other people who wondered why I was gesturing so oddly), I happened on the idea of creating fringe with a neon border. (Hey, I get a lot of interestineg ideas at the gym. And some of them are even about flagging!)

It took a bit of thinking to figure out *how* to sew fringe, and this is the result. They look *stunning* in blacklight. The fringe creates a great strobe effect.

These flags have much more personality than most sets. Their odd shape causes them to "want" to be played a certain way. They don’t flow like normal flags at all, but once you feel how they want to move, they are a lot of fun.

Silk Poi

I created my first set of silk poi many years ago, looking to simulate the idea of fireballs without setting the club on fire.

The first time I used them, people came up and commented, "Golly! They look like they’re on fire!" Well, that’s nice to hear!

I went on to create lots of these sets, refining the tie-dye to get good silk "fire" and the tweaking the poi design to flow fast and easily.

I don’t use these much anymore, because I can get a better "fire" illusion through silk flags. Ok, the real reason is that I’m only so-so with the poi and I don’t like whacking myself in the head and tender parts.

But they’re fun to pull out every so often. Something different to try!

Suspended

Quicksilver

This set takes the "suspended" idea to the max. They should look good in daylight, and really trippy in club lighting. They are also pretty interesting to fly!

Silk fire poi flags