Fucking stilts.

...so I decided that I wanted to firedance on stilts again for the Procession this year. I spent a lot of time and effort finding various stilt-related bits to use, including some medical foot immobilizers that looked perfect for improving the ever-problematic calf-ankle stability. So far, they've gone through three or four modifications, and they still aren't working right. I've tried both with the stabilizers and without, and looked at several online sites for stilt-making, taking the best features of each design. So far, not go. Naturally, I'm pissed off. I could just Let This Go in the Grand Tradition of Last-Minute Projects, but instead I think I'm going to Take It Personally in the Grand Tradition of Last-Minute Projects.

Now, one could argue that, strictly speaking, I don't *need* to be 10 feet, 2 inches tall just to make a good impression, and the fact that the lift on these stilts is almost twice the highest of any other's I've made would certainly account for a lot of the torsion drama occurring around my most-hard-to-repair joints. If *all* else fails, I may start taking off a few inches at a time to see how much that increases the (relative) sanity of the situation.

Considering how little other prep I've got done for Flipside this year, things aren't looking good. Hopefully a little mod that Circus Boy Tym showed me will save the day.

Fixed it.

Fabulous, and Thank You Circus Boy Tym! I added some braces that cross the front just below the knee, like on the set that Tym built for me years ago, and I was at least able to take a few steps without the aid of the tree. There's still some fine tuning to do, but overall I think we're good.

I'm still not certain about the height. It will depend on how much stuff there is to hold onto. At 10 feet, it's hard to even hold someone's hand so I can remain stationery. If I lost a few inches, it might be easier. Luckily that's a fairly trivial on-site mod.

Being 10 feet tall...

...is pretty cool!

I'm fighting the urge to call my hastily constructed, 10-foot-tall kung-fu warrior with a 7 foot flaming pole arm China, but I think I'm losing...