An Exciting Entertainment
Few things are productive of such literally breathless interest as plate-spinning. In what a state of agonized anxiety your audience will be as they watch you imperturbably spinning a soup-plate on the end of a rod. How they will catch their breaths as they expect it to fall, and how surprised they will be when it keeps its position! Yet if you inform them that it is not so difficult as it looks, you will be stating a fact, although the art is acquired only after considerable practice and at the cost of several plates.
To minimize the breakage of crockery it will be as well to begin your experiments with a mattress laid upon the floor, or failing this, with a good substantial down comforter. The first attempts will not then be accompanied by such mortality amongst the plates.
Procure a rod or wand upon which the plates are to be spun. A round stick, about 2 feet long, is the most suitable for the purpose. Care should be taken to see that it is straight, and it must be well sand-papered in order to remove any roughness ([Fig. 1]).
Fig. 1.—Spinning wand.
Now reduce one end of the stick to a dull point, which must further be prepared by a rather strange process. Place this pointed end in your mouth and moisten it until it is quite soft and all the hardness of the wood has been removed. When properly softened the fiber of the wood will remain whilst all the “starch”—if one may so call it—has disappeared. This preparation gives the stick a certain grip on the plate which is indispensable for successful spinning.
Next take a soup-plate, as in [Fig. 2], and make it revolve rapidly upon the dull end of the rod. To do this the following instructions and hints should be noted.
The rod should have a rapid circular motion imparted to it by the wrist, so that it cuts a circle of about the same circumference as the soup-plate. The arm should be motionless, the whole movement being confined to the wrist. The beginner must not expect immediate success, but after considerable practice the knack of describing the circle with the end of the rod will be acquired.
Now, by making these circles with the plate upon the end of the wand you will find that the plate itself begins to spin rapidly, and at length, when it has attained a certain velocity, it finds its center upon the point of the rod and revolves so steadily as to appear motionless ([Fig. 3]).
Practice spinning with the left hand as well as with the right, for in many cases it is necessary to transfer the wand from one hand to the other. Probably you will find greater difficulty with the left hand, but perseverance is all that is required—perseverance and the mattress!
Fig. 2.—The first stage.
Fig. 3.—The plate finding its center—second stage.
It is a great mistake to choose a light plate for spinning. The heavier it is the easier it will be to spin, and you will find that dishes (not necessarily round) will be the best spinners of all. Do not forget that very heavy dishes soon tire the wrist and make it too unsteady for successfully exhibiting other tricks.
So far the modus operandi with unprepared and ordinary plates has been described. It is quite as well that the learner should begin with these, as the greater difficulty in balancing and spinning will have taught a lesson that will render him more at ease with the prepared plates.
Procure another wand, which need not be “softened.” Sharpen one end into a point, not so dull as in the former case, but with a clearly defined apex.