Footbag Washing Tutorial

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Pengu
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Footbag Washing Tutorial

Post by Pengu »

Matt requested I write a footbag washing tutorial, so here it is.

Pros of washing a your 32:

1. Dirt and particles are sharp little pieces that can puncture the facile and damage it, so frequent washings allows your footbags to last longer. Think about it, sand is what they use to make glass.

2. A dirty bag gets crusty and not as soft, even if it is choice. A choice bag only gets 'choicier' with a bath. The natural oils in your skin when you handle the bag will make dirt stick to the bag. There's no harm in washing it.

3. Washing softens up the facile making your new footbag choice sooner. With frequent kicking and good baths, I've had brand new footbags be shreddable within a week.

4. The manufacturing process of facile leaves the facile to have excess ink and fibers that make the facile slightly stiff. Washing this out helps greatly with the breaking in process.

Methods of washing your footbag:

1. Handwashing:
  • Cold to lukewarm water.
  • Wet your bag.
  • Use a mild soap (babywash, dove, etc.)
  • Rub soap on the bag and then hand massage the bag thoroughly.
  • When you've massaged the bag enough, rinse really well until the water runs clear.
  • Repeat this process until you're satisfied
  • When you're done, gently squeeze water out.
  • Air dry. Lay footbags on a towel and let them air dry.

    (This method can be done in the sink, or you can choose to take your footbags into the shower with you to give them a bath. Whatever floats your boat. ;))
2. Laundering (I love this method. It helps break bags in really well.):
  • When you are washing your jeans, throw your footbag into the pocket and set the wash on cold.
  • Launder your footbag with the jeans, through spin cycle and all.
  • Remove from wash and set on towel to air dry.

  • REMEMBER! Don't forget about your footbags and throw them in the dryer with the jeans! Sometimes it comes with awful consequences. Sometimes the bag will come out just fine. It all depends on the stitcher and their combination of filler/stitching style of the bag. But to be safe, avoid the dryer.
3. Other fancy tricks:
  • You can, after handwashing your footbags, soak the footbags in a little liquid fabric softener. It makes your footbags super soft and nice to the touch. Just remember to always rinse well. Rinse until the water runs clear again, and then some more for good measure.
  • Kicking them while wet also makes the footbags break in really well and dry faster.
  • After a bag is dry, I like to rub a little baby oil onto my hands and have a thin residual film left on my hands which I then rub into the facile. I find that after a washing, the bag always feels a little dry and crispy, so the little bit of oily residue softens it up to and makes it grippy to shred with.
*There will be an edit of photos to come.*
Last edited by Pengu on 12 Jan 2006 18:47, edited 2 times in total.
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brian relly
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Post by brian relly »

I agree, except for...

-Water temperature. I'm not sure if it's really true, but Richie has been adament for quite a while about how using warm-hot water is really bad, and degrades the facile. I wash mine in ice cold water.

-The dryer. I've thrown my bags in for the whole cycle--wash and dry-- plenty of times, and they've been fine. No worries.
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hakkpakk
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Post by hakkpakk »

Yeah I thought you are supposed to wash in cool water, not cold.
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Post by Kyle Hewitt »

This is how I'm going to break in my Peng bag when I get it ;D
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Pengu
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Re: Footbag Washing Tutorial

Post by Pengu »

It depends on the stitcher whether or not the bag can go in the dryer or not. To be safe, I wanted to make people know that the bags should avoid the dryer. My bags don't like the dryer very much due to filler.

Cold water is fine. Lukewarm is just more comfortable to wash in. Just avoid hot water. You don't want the colours to run and if you were washing my bags, it's like the dryer, the filler doesn't like extremely hot.
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Re: Footbag Washing Tutorial

Post by Guest_2 »

Pengu wrote:[*]After a bag is dry, I like to rub a little baby oil onto my hands and have a thin residual film left on my hands which I then rub into the facile. I find that after a washing, the bag always feels a little dry and crispy, so the little bit of oily residue softens it up to and makes it grippy to shred with.[/list]
:idea: I was going to ask about baby oil a long time ago and always forgot! Great idea! cool guide ;-)
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Wasabi
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Post by Wasabi »

Sweet tutorial, Peng! I assure you that I'm taking great care with the Maki bag that you sold me, with the instructions that you listed. Haven't tried baby oil yet, but I'm avoiding anything hot as much as possible in the washing/drying scenarios.
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Re: Footbag Washing Tutorial

Post by HG »

Pengu wrote:It depends on the stitcher whether or not the bag can go in the dryer or not. To be safe, I wanted to make people know that the bags should avoid the dryer. My bags don't like the dryer very much due to filler.

Cold water is fine. Lukewarm is just more comfortable to wash in. Just avoid hot water. You don't want the colours to run and if you were washing my bags, it's like the dryer, the filler doesn't like extremely hot.




Is that because you tumble your filler in wax?
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Wasabi
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Post by Wasabi »

I think the wax is coming from the floss she uses as thread to stitch her bags with. I could be wrong on this, but it seems pretty likely when I went to play around with the filler when breaking in my Peng bag.
Waylon Lew - maker of Wasabi bags
NYFA represent.
"Footbag can be pretty frustrating when it's supposed to be fun. I was partly driven by this forum - practice, practice, practice... As that is true, I think someone can be too focused on progressing and training that they miss the fun aspect of it." - Bander87
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Asmus
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Post by Asmus »

To avoid the bag filling stiff after watching you can rub it in your hands every 15 minutes or so while its drying.
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professor
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Post by professor »

I would not suggest kicking a footbag while it is wet if you're using dirty shoes. Your bare feet or socks, or even brand new shoes is fine, but dirt likes to cling to your footbag if it's wet. So, then you would just be defeating the purpose of washing it in the first place.
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