Kurt Aceous

Replacing Black Pyrate Grip! It was time to replace the grip on my Ninja Pyrate contact staff. It had worn down to the carbon fiber tube in spots! Grateful to have learned from @mirrapirate61 who replace the same grip on a prop at a flow jam last year. Black Pyrate grip is two parts: 1) 1/16in Foam Underlayer; 2) Black Overgrip. Both are self-adhesive. Step 1 - Remove the old grip: This turned out to be somewhat difficult as the grip was super stuck - the foam underlayer easily broke into pieces of all sizes. I first took off the tape that sealed the ends, and the middle marker strip. Then I peeled the grip off starting from one end and working toward the other. Both the overgrip and the underlayer came off together for the most part. To my surprise, underneath both layers was what looked like a layer of clear packing tape over the carbon fiber tube. I believe the clear packing tape helped release the grip a little easier, but I’m not sure of that. If anyone knows what this is and why I’d love to hear. Anyway, I almost got blisters in my thumb and fingertips trying to remove the residual foam. Then I decided to try to use duck tape to remove the residuals, and to my delight it worked! Step 2 - Put on new grip: I used a caliper to measure the diameter of the staff, then multiplied by pi to get the length of the diagonal cut that starts the wrap - it works perfectly - thank you math! Anyway, I noticed I had to be careful with the foam underlayer - if stretched too far it will break. I put on the overgrip the same way, first measuring the diameter of the foam covered staff, … The tricky part is getting a nice close spiral the entire length - requiring patience and care. I used hockey tape to seal the ends (for fire staff use high-heat silicon tape), and cut 1/4in strips for the white center marker and the red end accents. Contact Staff: @ninjapyrate Ninja Pyrate: Contech Staff - Training 57in length, 5/8 diameter carbon fiber tube Black Rubber Pyrate Grip Solid Rubber Ball Ends, 2.75in 7cm diameter Weight: 1lb 8oz, 0.678kg #contactstaff #regrip #flowarts #performanceart #diy

Shadow Lord! I’ve been so inspired by the recent release of Maul - Shadow Lord. In Episode 6 Maul has a practice sequence with his double-bladed lightsaber. About mid sequence, he tosses the saber, turns around, and catches it behind his back! This is the first blind toss I remember seeing in any star wars show (I may have just missed some). Blind tosses are my favorite so I am totally Maul’ed out! In reality I became Maul’ed out that epic instant Darth Maul ignited his second blade back in 1999 when Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace came to the theatre! In this reel I had to throw in a blind toss to celebrate Maul’s practice session. I also threw in a few other moves to challenge the Shadow Lord! Perhaps we can be unlikely allies! So much real inspiration comes from my IG connections and I’m super thankful how this part of social media works! Combining cosplay and flow arts clearly has been a passion lately and it is not letting up!! My flow arts journey began 4.5 years ago fueled with @michelle.c.smith @freestyle.staff tutorials! Immediately I made connections with IG Flowmies - and last year with in-person Flowmies! Double-Bladed Lightsaber: @ultrasabers Phantom V2 36in 92cm UltraEdge Midgrade blades; Length: 90in 229cm; 2lb, 7.75oz 1.13kg #maulshadowlord #freestylestaff #contactstaff #flowarts #performanceart

Fishtail Jesus Fishtail This trick sequence was on my long list of things to practice and it was moved to the top when @amiramh posted her work on it yesterday! I practiced a lot yesterday and didn’t have a satisfactory success, but know that’s what it takes. Today while hiking with the dogs we took a break at this beautiful spot and I gave it a go. After about 30 or so attempts this beauty came through! I know it needs polish but at the moment I’m just basking in the success! It felt so fine! @solomanastasiia64 posted this same trick just a little bit ago so we must be in sync! Contact Staff by Kristina @derpgear : 60in (152cm) length, 5/8 (1.6cm) diameter carbon fiber tube; Goat Grip; Weight: 1lb 2oz (0.51kg) So grateful for all my IG pals, and the flow arts communities both local and IG! My @freestyle.staff journey started 4.5 years ago with @michelle.c.smith online tutorials! Red Rocks Amphitheater can be seen in the background from this site! #freestylestaff #contactstaff #fishtails #flowarts #performanceart

Jedi Force Dash! Happy May the 4th! This was totally unplanned! But I know you would do this! So we’re walking the dogs on a trail near the highway, dressed as a Jedi on May the 4th, and we come across this speed sensor that actually senses people’s speed on the walkway next to the highway!!! So what would you do! WHAT WOULD YOU DO!! YOU TOTALLY WOULD!!! When there are no cars on the highway coming from the speed sensing direction I test out my Jedi Force Dash! Clocked in at 11 mph (18 kph)! Wookipedia: Force Dash - “The increased speed of the Force-user enabled the individual to perceive and react to the world and the entities around them in slow motion, allowing them to dodge attacks easily and attack more quickly with greater accuracy. While powerful in short bursts, overexertion of the ability could quickly drain the Force-user of their energy for a brief period of time.” Of course I slightly pulled a muscle doing this, and hopefully some rest and force healing will make it go away soon enough! Double-Bladed Lightsaber: @ultrasabers Phantom V2 36in 92cm UltraEdge Midgrade blades; Length: 90in 229cm; 2lb, 7.75oz 1.13kg Jedi/Sith costume I made and documented in story highlights entitled “Jedi Costume” #maythe4thbewithyou #starwarsday #doublebladedlightsaber #forcedash

Two-Boots! Why? If you have been watching Star Wars: Maul - Shadow Lord you know exactly what this means. I am a huge fan of the show and pretty much everything about it! ‘Nuff said (no spoilers)! Hiked to this other-worldly place with Jedi/Sith cosplay and double-bladed lightsaber, and as I was spinning I could envision this massive Star Destroyer arriving overhead! … or was it real! The arrival of the Star Destroyer kicks off Star Wars Month! Happy 501st! Combining cosplay and flow arts (and video editing tricks) is a passion - clearly!! So much real inspiration comes from my IG connections and I’m super thankful how this part of social media works! My flow arts and lightsaber spinning journey began 4.5 years ago fueled with @michelle.c.smith @freestyle.staff tutorials! All the lightsaber tricks in this reel are from those tutorials! The community of Flowmies, cosplayers, and Star Wars fans both IG and in-person has been tremendous! Double-Bladed Lightsaber: @ultrasabers Phantom V2 36in 92cm UltraEdge Midgrade blades; Length: 90in 229cm; 2lb, 7.75oz 1.13kg Immense admiration from the SW graphic artists to create the epic and magnificent worlds beloved by so many! Star Destroyer - Star Wars: The Force Awakens #freestylestaff #lightsabertricks

One Hand! I think its a good idea to train with one hand, as so many Jedi Knights and Sith Lords have lost limbs to lightsabers: Luke Skywalker, Anakin Skywalker, Mace Windu, Count Dooku, General Grevous, … I enjoy the challenge of putting a sequence together that uses only one hand, a sequence that includes tosses and rolls, some of which may appear as if the hand is changing - but it is not! I wasn’t planning on posting this content (working toward a longer one-hand combo) but the combination of props, tripping over my own prop, and this Imagine Dragons song sold it! So much real inspiration comes from my IG connections and I’m super thankful how this part of social media works! My flow arts journey began 4.5 years ago fueled with @michelle.c.smith @freestyle.staff tutorials! Immediately I made connections with IG Flowmies - and last year with in-person Flowmies! Lightsaber: @ultrasabers Archon V2.1 36in (92 cm) UltraEdge Midgrade blade - Obsidian Sound; 1 lb, 9.54 oz (0.724 kg) Contact Staff: Ninja Pyrate Contech Staff - Training Length: 60 inches (152cm) Staff Diameter: 3/4in (1.9cm) Grip: White Silicon Ninja Grip Weight: 1lb 10.24oz (0.744kg) #freestylestaff #contactstaff #lightsaberspinning #flowarts #performanceart

Sharknado! Inevitably, Shark Happens! When fishtails are learned, body spins follow, then … fins-a-flying!!! This is an EF-1* Sharknado! What category is yours? *Enhanced Fujita (EF) Scale Damage Intensity - number of spins EF-0 Minor - 3 spins EF-1 Moderate - 4 spins EF-2 Significant - 5 spins EF-3 Severe - 6 spins EF-4 Devastating - 7 spins EF-5 Incredible - 8 spins This is a southern hemisphere Sharknado as the spins are clockwise. In the northern hemisphere the spins are counterclockwise. Contact Staff by Kristina @derpgear : 60in (152cm) length, 5/8 (1.6cm) diameter carbon fiber tube; Goat Grip; Weight: 1lb 2oz (0.51kg) So grateful for all my IG pals, and the flow arts communities both local and IG! My @freestyle.staff journey started 4.5 years ago with @michelle.c.smith online tutorials! #freestylestaff #contactstaff #fishtails #flowarts #performanceart

Fishtail Body 360s - Full Set @amiramh recently kicked off 1-Minute-Monday challenges and several of us have evolved one of her challenges - perhaps to the point of insanity 😜! This started as a reverse fishtail challenge Amira posted March 16, then @solomanastasiia64 threw in 360 body spins in a March 17 post. Inspired to take it further, on March 20th I posted a story with reverse-fishtail body-spins both directions followed by a 180 body spin to switch to forward-fishtails body-spins … and didn’t complete the full set back then. Worked on this from time to time and all morning on a hike today, and finally landed it later at home! It’s abbreviated somewhat with one cycle of fishtails between each body spin, but its a full set nonetheless! I find it a very fascinating and helpful exercise that helps further lock in fishtails and fishtails with body-spins. For me it’s really not finished until I have learned it both hands, which I work simultaneously and haven’t landed the full set yet with the non-dominant hand - yet. Contact Staff by Kristina @derpgear : 60in (152cm) length, 5/8 (1.6cm) diameter carbon fiber tube; Goat Grip; Weight: 1lb 2oz (0.51kg) So grateful for all my IG pals, and the flow arts communities both local and IG! My @freestyle.staff journey started 4.5 years ago with @michelle.c.smith online tutorials! T-Shirt design by Tortagraph at TeePublic: Geometric Frog #freestylestaff #contactstaff #fishtails #flowarts #performanceart

Contact Levitation Wand! Just recently received my 1st contact levi wand! This precision wand is a @derpgear Kristina design and build, AND customized to the customer’s desires! This is her Pharaoh wand, and I went with Kristina’s suggestions on length (28in) and weight (8.5oz) in the context of my height and desire to do both short and long string. She adds a free personalization decal and was thrilled she could create Anubis! I wanted to give this wand a proper debut so found an Anubis T-Shirt designed by Camillepassion via TeePublic and wanted to try some contact tricks as well as some other fancy tricks! I’ve been inspired by @maybeitsahorse and her precision leviwand dance artistry! The pillar stalls and the tail spin are completely from her! Recently she started working on adding fishtails to her repertoire and its been fun seeing the progression in adding that difficult trick to her performance art! Since I have fishtails on contact staff, I wanted to see what I could do with the contact wand. The fishtail on the little wand is more difficult than on contact staff - and add to that the challenge of finding graceful entries and exits! I’ve been adding a “cheat” with the wand fishtail by adding stabilization with the string … yet I think it looks fine so I’m calling it a legitimate cheat … and I do plan on honing the skill without the string assist … so there!😅 #leviwand #levitationwand #fishtails #flowarts #performanceart

New Derpgear Staves!!! Excited that the @derpgear challenge showed up on my feed last October and introduced me to the amazing custom prop designer/flow-artist Kristina and the camaraderie of Derpgear Flowmies! Contact staves are not a standard product of Derpgear yet during the challenge month Kristina posted that she had some long carbon fiber tubes in stock and demonstrated a contact staff she had made from them. I immediately sent a DM and inquired about 2 contact staves and their customization! In addition to the use of high quality materials for flow she customizes the look, and my favorite was our discussion about the decal. Me, “I’d love if there could be a Sabine Wren Loth Cat modeled cartoon-like as on her helmet, on one end of each staff.” Kristina, “I love the cat!!! Excited to create that decal, it’s too cute!!” AND LOOK AT HOW THEY TURNED OUT!!! These staves look and feel so professional and badass cute as well! They are the lightest staves I have (see specs below) while maintain momentum very well with their weighted ball ends (also perhaps the ball dimples prevent drag as with golf balls)! The grip is wonderful (my first goat grip) and so far feels as grippy as my awesome Ninja Pyrate Black Grip staff. The staves came with my color choice of poofs to put over the ball ends, which I believe are kindred to flowers on contact staves - flowers used to create roll drag facilitating roll control for some sequences. I think poofs might create both roll and spin drag, and I look forward to experimenting and learning with them. Contact Staves by Derpgear: 60in (152cm) length, 5/8 (1.6cm) diameter carbon fiber tube; Goat Grip; Weight: 1lb 2oz (0.51kg) So grateful for all my IG pals, and the flow arts communities both local and IG! My @freestyle.staff journey started 4.5 years ago with @michelle.c.smith online tutorials! T-Shirt design by RysiuPol at TeePublic: Loth Cat Ahsoka Tano #freestylestaff #contactstaff #doublestaff #flowarts #performanceart

Long-Stick Rocket Tips! I just love throwing rockets!🚀 Blind release tricks are my favorite because it feels so good to land something that disappears from sight! I wish this feeling on everyone! Having thrown rockets for 4 years now I thought I’d share some things that have helped me lock them in - and in this case, that are peculiar (but not exclusive) to long sticks - like this 2.3m double-bladed lightsaber! I am 1.83m (6ft) tall. With small sticks, the rocket begins from an upward diagonally extended arm, toss down-and-across the back to catch in the other hand. With larger sticks, it helps to toss up-and-across instead of down-and-across. The “up” is achieved by an upward arm swing. The up-and-across method accommodates the slower spin rates of longer/heavier staves keeping the tips from hitting the ground! Note that long staves can accommodate down-and-across if they are spun really fast, which is doable! Learning a trick at a slower rate is much easier on the brain/body, and speed can come later - or doesn’t need to come as it looks good either way! Learning the up-and-across method has enabled other variations too, allowing me to throw even higher with more rotation as in the “skyscraper” posted Sep 23, 2025! I work toward tossing in a consistent back plane so that the reach of the catching hand is simplified. That being said, inconsistent tosses can be adapted by watching the flight a little longer and adapting the reach. This is also true for inconsistent trajectory - where it lands left-and-right in the back plane. When I’m really feeling it, I can do the rocket without watching the flight, and even “feel” inconsistencies! However it still looks amazing to watch the flight - and the catch is still blind! 4.5 years ago started my @freestyle.staff journey online with @michelle.c.smith tutorials where I learned my first rocket. Double-Bladed Lightsaber: @ultrasabers Phantom V2 36in 92cm UltraEdge Midgrade blades; Length: 90in 229cm; 2lb, 7.75oz 1.13kg I added hockey tape on the hilt for grip and softer feel! Tik-toc rockets at end w/ UltraSabers Archon V2.1 36in blade #freestylestaff #rocket #contactstaff #flowarts #performanceart