What footbags do you recommend

[Jeremy]

In Hobart we pretty much exclusively use Alf bags. Between Lotus and I we have a large collection of bags from many stitches around the world (I have 6 "active" bags at the moment, and I think Lotus has a lot more), including many of the stitchers mentioned in this topic, and both Lotus and I use an Alf bag as our primary bag.

I wouldn't want to honestly make some kind of subjective claim, but at the moment Alf is the stitcher whose bags I play with the most

[fool]

Wasabi bags. I have a mini, and I couldn't be more happy with it. It's small, but still stalls and sets consistently well. Stitching is very consistent. The filler is great.. I believe he uses lead. It feels waxy, not hard and crunchy. The colors on mine were thin, so it didn't really feel like a break in was too necessary. You won't be disappointed with one of Waylon's bags.

Bear bags. I have an all USL bag, so I don't know about the hybrids, but the bag I have plays extremely well. Stitching is very consistent. It didn't take too long to break in, only three or four days. I don't know if he uses the same filler, but mine was lead and seed beads, and I liked the way it felt a lot.

I don't think he has a For Sale page, but I've traded a few bags with Michael Lamberjohann, username "jaust," and they are awesome. He uses the Planet Footbag special filler, which, in my opinion, plays extremely well. The bags break in evenly. Stitching is extremely consistent.. probably the most consistent out of all of my bags.

None of these bags really have any cons to them. They are all a nice size, weight, and have a good amount of gather. Remember though, buying a bag doesn't mean obsessing over picking the stitcher. If you find someone who has a good reputation and good reviews, you'll get a bag you can work with.
Good luck in your search .

[mc]

I was making the distinction between

"I can honestly say that of all the current stitchers who still make bags, Waylon is the best."

and

"I can honestly say that, of all the current stitchers who still make bags, I think that Waylon is the best."

You can't honestly say he's the best. You can honestly say that you think he's the best.

[etc]

Public apology:

This series of posts by me were nitpicking, unnecessary, and not constructive.

Ken, sincerely, sorry for bringing it up, wasting yours and readers' time, and derailing the topic.

---

Also, in case I haven't brought this up, my current favorite bags besides my own are Waylon's, Brian's, and Chris Dean's. I don't believe Chris is stitching for the general public, though.

I do think it's worth mentioning, though, that it's really easy to make a good, playable footbag. If a bag is close to round, made of durable and flexible material, and filled to 60-70% with mostly heavy fill, it will almost certainly be a great shred bag right from the get-go, no matter who made it, and no matter how pretty the stitching looks.

The player does the tricks, not the footbag. You can get better or worse bags, but DC is going to be able to shred better in skate shoes with an old piece of sock full of sand than your average player will be able to play with lavers and a bag co-made by Waylon, Hania, Felix, Carol, and Richie.

So, don't give the stitcher selection process too much thought. In fact, just do it yourself

[Wasabi]

I completely agree with Matt's reasoning in regards to bags: as long as the bag is round and has whatever specs he's mentioned in his post, it will be a great and playable bag. Size is all about preference, but in my experience in the past 8 months or so, bigger bags are better. Not in terms of playability, which is always subjective, but for visibility's sake - for yourself and for the public.

Are we not performers in the great stage of foot juggling? I really like feeding off spectatorship whenever I kick, and performance-style footbag with a big bag is always fun for everyone. What you bust out is what you use, and really I feel that it's easier and less stressful to use a bag that's golfballish / larger than a golfball than something that's the size of a quarter. Although, in the case of smaller bags, they have their place for an intense shuffle game. It's just that you can do the same for a bigger bag (it's just less convenient).

Julien Cote, if you like, we can do a more proper trade in the future. I'm starting to really like the bag I got from you at Chicago NYJ, but I unfortunately feel that you didn't get exactly what you deserved in exchange. I felt that bag was made for a hacker that wanted to kick, but I wasn't expecting you to pick that bag for the trade. And really, I can make you bag that's 10 times better than that one.

I haven't been stitching at the pace that I'm comfortable with these days because of other priorities, and I have taken less photos of my work. I've just taken it easy from the needle and focused more on playing, but with my recent knee injury I guess I'll get back to stitching footbags. I've seen a lot of newer works at the "Bags' Stitchers have made" thread, and I've been impressed at what I saw. We'll just see.