# Rigging Aerial Silk



## bobgaggle (Dec 16, 2012)

So after reading the other threads on silks, I've got some questions regarding the rigging I came across at a show I worked some overhire for...

I know aerial rigging is kind of in a class of its own, but I wanted to know when the line between flying a "set piece" and flying a person is crossed. In this show the silk was flown in for the scene, and while the performer was working on the silk it wasn't moved in or out. It was rigged like a hemp system (in trim tied off to a belay pin in the fly gallery) and the line was run through pulleys anchored to the grid with webbing. The whole rig reminded me of rock climbing gear, and while the performer rigged the whole thing it seemed to me that there was something wrong (read unsafe) with the system. 

Any thoughts from anyone? Should I have said something? Intervened in some way? Everything in the system looked up to par except for the weight of the performer bouncing around on a line held in place with a wooden belay pin...


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## josh88 (Dec 16, 2012)

It's like the other thread said, circus types and Aerial silks don't always fit our rigging standards but they do it themselves and they know what they are doing and that's just sort of accepted. As long as you know you have a professional who has done it before and not just some joe who says, oh yeah I've done this before, trust me.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## MPowers (Dec 16, 2012)

While the rig as you describe it seems a bit questionable, especially the tie off to a wood pin, it is difficult to judge without seeing it for myself. However I have a couple of questions.
How many support lines were there?
What was the type of line/rope used for the main support and tie off at the rail?  Braid, kernmantle, strand....3/4", 1" ??
How was the apparatus attached/rigged to the lift line(s)?
What kinds, types and sizes were the pulleys used?
The "webbing" that attached the pulleys, do you mean spansets or webbing like a tow strap or a truck strap?
How were the pulleys attached to the grid with the "webbing".
Just how were the pulleys attached to the grid?

Do you have any pictures? 

Now, for what it is worth, when I rig arial performers, I have a minimum of a 2k# point for static acts. If vertical motion, swinging or drops are involved, then I go to a 5K# point, both with design factor of course. 

Some rigging can look very sketchy but be perfectly fine. Take a good look at the rigging for the aerialists in most circus acts, especially tent shows.


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## LavaASU (Dec 16, 2012)

Since most of what I've heard is life safety applications require 10:1 design/safety factor are you really looking for 50,000lb points? I'd be surprised if you find those outside maybe arenas that see lots of tours!


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## JChenault (Dec 16, 2012)

bobgaggle said:


> Everything in the system looked up to par except for the weight of the performer bouncing around on a line held in place with a wooden belay pin...



If we are talking about a hardwood belaying pin, properly inserted into a pin rail, I would not be too concerned about the pin breaking. Those pins were used for ships rigging, and more shows than you can shake a tiick at, while I have not seen testing on them, I am confident that the sheer strength is more than enough yo hold your performer


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## tprewitt (Dec 18, 2012)

There's a story in Harry Donovan's "Entertainment Rigging" book about a TD that was pressured into providing old hemp for an aerial show that went very wrong. Up to the point in the story the ropes break and the performers fall to their deaths it's hard to say the TD did anything wrong. The story is horrific but it really makes you think about this complex issue of responsibility.

Amazon.com: Entertainment Rigging: Harry Donovan: Books

-ty


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## GBtimex (Dec 19, 2012)

*A different Aeriall Silk problem*

To the riggers,

I am working at a theme park in the middle east and our show has a 3 minute silk routine. We have had tons of problems with it because the silk act was added after the show was built and they squeezed it in between everything. 

The biggest problem we are having is that the silks keep getting torn up. We have gone through 3 silks already and a 4th one is not too far away. We check them every day and keep finding new strains, tears and sometimes holes. 

At first we thought it was a result of the silks hitting the truss or maybe hitting the stay ring (a 2ft long ring that we use to keep the silk away from truss). We had the performer stop doing things that could cause the silk to touch anything. For instance he had a big circle run at the start of his act that we cut. We padded everything that the silk could touch including the ring with soft plastics and we also make sure the silk is vertical and not moving before we raise and lower it. 


The company we use is in France and our performer (who is from Canada) keeps saying that the silks are not made of the right material. He says they are too thin and far to elastic. Trouble is I do not know where to get the silks they use in Montreal and nether does he. 

Does anyone know enough about this subject to point me in the right direction? A website? A book? A person who can have a skype phone call to explain just what we are doing wrong? 


Thanks,

GBTimex


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## MPowers (Dec 19, 2012)

*Re: A different Aeriall Silk problem*

I don't know silk, just the parts it attaches to. I am on two Arial rigging lists. Send me your e-mail and I'll post it along with your message.


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## TxMedic (Dec 22, 2012)

*Re: A different Aeriall Silk problem*

I have rigged these for years, and it's amazing how many acts continue to use the wrong material over and over and can't seem to figure out why it keeps tearing.
Your Stay Ring is a good start. 
Most of the time, we find that the problems are not caused by or during the aerial performance, but by what happens to the fabric in-between performances. How is it stored? Do other line sets move past the fabric? Gel frames and barn doors are fantastic fabric destroyers. The worst offender is probably the stray finger poker strands on safety cable nicopress swages. 
Even a small amount of air movement from HVAC can blow fabrics into moving rigging and the tiniest of catches can start a rip in the wrong fabrics. You should have nothing but knitted, non-woven, self-rip-stopping fabric. The snags are easily missed, never felt or noticed by even the good flymen.

To get the right fabric look, feel, and "billowiness" - 
You could call Amy Ell, the owner and aerialist instructor at Vault Houston - Workshops
Explain the ripping/excessive wear issue. She can tell you exactly what fabric and weight you need. But may be hard to get her on the phone during this busy season.

The best fabric source we have worked with is back home here in Texas at Fabric Depot - Fabric Depot Home Call and ask Susan what she just sent Amy a few weeks ago (22 yard pieces of white but I don't know what weight), and what she would recommend as well.

We had a performance where the silks (could) rub against an HVAC duct edge. For appearances, we could not burlap the sharp edges. During the performance, everything was fine and the fabric was nowhere near the sharp stuff. But when retrieved to the grid, it snagged all over every little thing, every time. But, no tears, no rips, no issues, because the Lycra does not un-ravel like a woven fabric would.


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## What Rigger? (Dec 24, 2012)

tprewitt said:


> There's a story in Harry Donovan's "Entertainment Rigging" book about a TD that was pressured into providing old hemp for an aerial show that went very wrong. Up to the point in the story the ropes break and the performers fall to their deaths it's hard to say the TD did anything wrong. The story is horrific but it really makes you think about this complex issue of responsibility.
> 
> Amazon.com: Entertainment Rigging: Harry Donovan: Books
> 
> -ty



You can usually find the above event on YouTube if you search "The Hanging Butoh falls". Be warned: you're going to see a human being fall to his death.


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## gafftaper (Dec 24, 2012)

Hey that was here in Seattle. It's now one of the many weird stories on the "Underground Tour". If I remember right they went down to the docks and bought some old used rope from a ship. The rope had somehow been contaminated and weekend even though it looked fine.


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## GBtimex (Dec 26, 2012)

I took the 1 day class on rigging by Jay Glerum. He shows the video of that Butoh dance at the start of the day. After that everyone pays attention to every single detail he goes over. I took a dozen pages of notes and learned a great deal from his book over the class and the days later I spent reading his book. I show the video to my stage crew when they ask me why we spend so much time looking at the rigging for the silk act in our show. It is the nightmare scenario but the good news is that it's preventable by double checking your work and making sure you understand what you are doing every single time you walk back stage.


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## What Rigger? (Dec 30, 2012)

gafftaper said:


> Hey that was here in Seattle. It's now one of the many weird stories on the "Underground Tour". If I remember right they went down to the docks and bought some old used rope from a ship. The rope had somehow been contaminated and weekend even though it looked fine.



Yeah Gaff, long story short: the performance troupe insisted on USED natural fiber rope (to lessen rotation while hanging), the person on the technical end in charge caved in to pressure to provide used rope despite his/her misgivings, the used rope was purchased and it was discovered after the fall that the rope had been exposed to corrosives while sitting at the shipyard/vendor/whomever the source was. Problem being there was no visual clue that anything was amiss. The other performer in the air was on rope from the same stock, and I'd say he was lucky to have gotten back up on the roof.


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## What Rigger? (Jan 13, 2013)

Took the offspring to the latest Disney on Ice touring production last week, and was quite impressed with their silk act for the Rapunzel sequence. Seems the connections were pretty bomber from what I saw: carabiners (couldn't tell how many stages, or material of course), rescue swivels and a rescue-8 (maybe an 8 with ears?) were visible from the 80-feet-away seats we had. They had even hung a warm-up rig behind the drapes where they killed a fourth of the seats/floor.


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## MPowers (Jan 19, 2013)

LavaASU said:


> Since most of what I've heard is life safety applications require 10:1 design/safety factor are you really looking for 50,000lb points? I'd be surprised if you find those outside maybe arenas that see lots of tours!



No, you don't see 50,000# points even IN most arenas and venues that see a lot of tours and those you do see are rarely for rigging for aerialists or fabric artists. 
Actually, most rigging applications outside of the entertainment industry, such as cranes and elevators use factors of 3:1 and 5:1. Entertainment is unique in using 8:1 and 10:1 for most applications. Reasons for the high design factor are primarily two fold. First, the entertainment industry is the only industry in the world that allows moving heavy objects directly over and above performers and audience members while the objects or machinery are in motion. Second, much of the rigging installed in the entertainment industry will be used by OTHERS....(shudder)..... students, teachers, stagehands, but not YOU. It is also being used for widely varying loads, and conditions that you have no control over. It has to last for years, not just a few hours or days. One school I recently did a rigging inspection for was installed in 1961. The original rigging was still in place and by the grace of god alone, has not yet failed, though it is frighteningly close. Thank goodness for that 10:1 factor. Arial acts are usually one or two nights, the rigger is there for the entire gig, and then all the equipment is down and inspected by the rigger and the performer before the next gig. In addition when we rig for an aerialist, we know the weight of the performer, the routine, and the specific forces that will be imposed on the equipment. So design factors are influenced by knowing the exact weights and forces involved in the act and the length of time the rigging will be used before being taken down and inspected. For long run shows like Cirque, the regularity and degree of inspection is unparallelled in the depth and frequency. For the kinds of arial rigging being discussed in this thread, most arial riggers use approximately 4:1, there is no set or code regulated number. When I first started out doing arial rigging, I decided to use the 5,000 # figure for primary points because that is what is required by fall arrest systems for anchoring and I felt that a performer doing a fabric drop would be approximating that kind of force. However, I only used a 2:1 factor. Since then I have consulted with many other arial riggers including some from Simply Circus, Cirque, Big Apple et.al. and have found that for any specific performance, riggers commonly use between 2000# and 5000# primary points for a large majority of acts, but usually at between 2:1 to 4:1 so that the ultimate load capability is very often between 8000# to 10,000#. One off acts and special events can require far greater load capabilities, often exceeding the 50,000# you mentioned, but these take special engineering to to design and create the structure modifications needed for those loads.


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## SimplyCircus (Jan 28, 2013)

Mike is correct with the 2,000lbs @ 4:1 being the standard point ratings for aerial acts. 

My first rigging textbook, intro to rigging lyras and trapeze bars, comes out next month. 

My second rigging textbook, intro to rigging aerial fabrics, is due out mid-spring. 

We will be running a week long, 60 hour class on aerial rigging in the fall (it will be announced the 15th of February). 

If you find yourself rigging these things, you will want to make use of these educational resources. 

- Steven Santos, Director and head rigger, Simply Circus, Inc.


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