Asian YoYo History

In the Shanghai Cirque, a troup of acrobats and jugglers use Chinese YoYos on strings to perform acts of wonderful tossing and catching tricks, or you may have seen them in the Cirque de Soleil programs.

You know, the little girls (usually the ones I've seen have been girls, maybe boys do it also) with the rope or twine held one end in each hand, and they spin the Chinese YoYo and then fling it up high, and catch it again on the string when it comes back down.

Their ability to do those tricks alway amaze me. Sometimes there are two of them, and they pass the Chinese Yo-Yo back and forth between each other.

These two-sided dome beads remind me of those Chinese YoYo shapes. And the design on this one especially reminds me of that circus acrobatic act I've seen.

 I made this little bead a while back, then hadn't gotten a chance to finish it. I wire wrapped it with polished steel annealed wire, and I like how it turned out.
 It has designs on both sides, with a channel down the sides. It's not as large as the Chinese YoYos the circus acrobats use, but the shape reminds me of those, and the asian style designs clinched it for me.

Some of you posted comments that you'd like to do bead weaving around these YoYo Dome beads, if you do still want that just send me a message on Etsy, because I'd love to see how they turn out when beaded like that.

I'm working on the other one I made earlier that also has an asian style design pattern, doing a more complex wirework enclosure for it. I may finish that one and make a necklace with it. I just need to find the time.