Homemade Juggling Beanbag GuideGuide last edited 11/11/2025
Change the image content filter setting. The filter is currently set to full filtering.
Downloading content. Please wait...
Contact me at 
or post questions & comments down below
or post questions & comments down below
The Complete Homemade Juggling Beanbag Guide by Joshua Clifton
Third Edition - Now a multi-document guide
A comprehensive instructional guide and technical treatise on designing and making spherical, paneled beanbags for juggling and footbagging, with patterns for all designs pictured above
About This Project
For those who share my interest, I have written an instructional guide and technical treatise on designing, assembling, and sewing the fabric sphere panel structures pictured at the top of this page, as well some additional variations.
The focus of this project is on making juggling beanbags, but I also provide information on how to use the designs to make footbags, and about making cloth balls for other purposes. My patterns and formulas could theoretically be used to make balls of any size from flat panels of any material, and I provide the mathematics and theory behind my panel designs so their shapes can be improved, or altered for specific applications or materials (see especially Chapter 5 of the first PDF).
The guide is very extensive, being over 750 pages, but is divided into separate PDF documents: one for each panel structure, and a root document with an index to the others and supplementary chapters and appendices.
I have tried to make this work accessible to readers lacking technical knowledge, making it easy for them to simply print the patterns and sew the beanbags without having to wade through technical information, yet also include all the information that will enable those with a mathematical background and interest in the geometry and design theories to delve deeper and satisfy their curiosity and understand how these designs are created. The boldfacing I use throughout the documents are an attempt to enable readers to scan the documents quickly and glean the most important information.
The original motivation behind this guide is that nobody (that I know of) provides definitions of the pattern shapes of spherical beanbags so they can be drawn in any size or improved upon. In the case of the typical 32-panel design used for footbags, which is composed of pentagons and semi-regular hexagons, nobody seems to have a good answer to the question of how to size the patterns to produce a desired finished size.
My guide answers that. Each beanbag design document not only includes ready-to-print patterns in six sizes, and instructions for scaling them for other ball diameters, but also formulas to calculate the pattern dimensions for any ball size, and illustrated instructions for drawing the patterns (by hand and with a CAD program). Each design also includes mathematical definitions and structural analyses of the pattern shapes (including four variations of the 32-panel structure), and explanations of how I developed the designs. In Chapter 2 there is a section on figuring out how much you need to adjust the pattern sizes to account for things like gather applied to the seams, or your material choices.
With the exception of the regular polygons, I designed all of the panel shapes myself using math and extensive experimentation (I have made 161 beanbags so far for this project). All designs up to 14 panels use curved edges to produce better spheres (the 12 and 14-panel designs did not have curves in my first edition guide), and most of the polyhedral designs have modified face shapes that produce better spheres. I discuss the mathematics and techniques I used to create the designs so that someone with the aptitude for it could follow my process to create new designs, or improve mine.
This hobby began in the mid-1990s when I developed an interest in figuring out the 4-panel orange peel ball design. In 1998 I progressed to the dodecahedron. Then in 2012 a renewed interest in the hobby inspired me to write the first edition of this guide so I could share what I had learned about making juggling beanbags with others. That inspired me to figure out seven more designs over the course of the next couple years (I added the remaining designs in subsequent editions).
Then, in May, 2020, I began working on the second edition. I was motivated by a couple of Reddit contributors in this thread from six years before, one of whom recommended my original guide but noted that my octahedron triangle patterns were too steeply curved. That motivated me to correct and improve my panel designs, and to make much needed improvements to the guide itself. I spent six months creating the new guide and experimenting with improvements to my panel shapes. The 67 beanbags I made in that time are almost as many as I have made over the course of my life before this project! I have been continuing to improve the guide since then.
I published the third edition on August 18, 2022, which split the guide into individual PDF documents to make it easier to browse and edit. It also included the new 30-panel design and various improvements.
For the origin story, read the "How I Developed This Design" section of the 4 & 6-Panel Orange Peel Ball Chapter.
My guide documents include the following:
- Ready-to-print patterns in six sizes for each design with instructions for scaling the printout for other sizes, and step-by-step directions for drawing the patterns (by hand and with SketchUp), with formulas for calculating the pattern dimensions given a desired ball size. (In their respective design chapter documents.)
- Illustrated instructions for assembling the beanbags and 289 illustrated color arrangement ideas including the balls and the assembly layouts (examples above), with 87 arrangements for the 32-panel structures. (In their respective design chapter documents.)
- Information and advice on fabrics, thread, template material, filler, beanbag size and weight, fabric markers, stitching and knotting techniques, and finishing techniques. (Chapter 2.)
- A list of other people's online tutorials for making juggling beanbags, footbags, and other fabric balls. (In the Introduction.)
- Fabric ball project ideas with photos (Christmas ornaments, decorative centerpieces, baby toys, etc.). (Appendix I.)
- Full, illustrated explanations of how I developed each design and the mathematics and experimentation techniques I used, and comparisons to alternate patterns in some cases, including Marylis Ramos' patterns ("Sewing Patterns for Jugglers" Orange Segment Series and Polyhedra Series). (In their respective design chapter documents.)
- Examples of other designs and variations. (Chapter 4.)
- A chapter on the theories and mathematics I use to modify polyhedra and to design curves for polygonal panels to produce optimal spheres. It includes tutorials on how to calculate "Isovertex" face angles and "Equidistant" transformations, and on how use the Tangent Chord Angle Theorem to calculate arc radii that produce specified tangent angles at their intersections. Accompanying the latter are explanations and examples of why circular curves do not necessarily work best, and how to design non-circular/Bézier curves that work better (particularly for the orange peel ball). (Chapter 5)
- Step-by-step instructions for drawing spherical polyhedra in SketchUp. (Appendix II.)
- An appendix illustrating how I create the HDR photos of my beanbags. (Appendix III.)
- A list of the juggling beanbag manufacturers whose websites I used as resources for this work. (Appendix IV.)
Providing Feedback
This is a solo project, so I need input and reports of errors or things that need clarification or improvement. Also, if you find these documents useful, please let me know and send photos of your work, as I could use the encouragement! This guide has been many years in the making, and I am still editing, improving, and expanding it. I would love to know people are making use of it and enjoying it!
You can post comments or questions below (my comment system has options for both public and private messages), or participate in or private message me in my forum threads on Reddit or The JugglingEdge, or email me. My email address is on the cover page of each guide document and at the top and bottom of this page as an unlinked image file so it will hopefully not be harvested by bots. You will need to type the address yourself as it is not clickable and cannot be copied and pasted.
Donating To This Project
If my work is of value to you, please consider donating using the PayPal button below (you do not need a PayPal account to donate). Due to severe chronic depression I have been unemployable for the past decade and am supported by family. It would be very rewarding and helpful to earn some income from this guide, and it would offset the cost of hosting this website (currently $199.87/yr).
I am not monetizing the guide or this website in any way (apart from donations). I considered trying to sell it, but for various reasons that is not practical. I would rather give it for free, anyway, and let people contribute if they wish. I wrote this guide because I enjoyed it, and because I wanted to share this information with others. I wouldn't want money to deter anyone from reading and making use of my guide.
Forum Posts - Page 1
Name:
Hali
Date:
Nov. 10, 2025, 9:54pm
Comments:
This is exactly what I've been looking for and more! Thank you so much for making such a great and comprehensive resource and putting it out for free!!! As an educator who writes free sewing documents myself, I can tell you have spent a lot of time making this well organized and comprehensive. I'll come back and leave comments on the sewing instruction if you'd like, or if I feel it's relevant after going through your guide more thoroughly.
I do think that the leather juggling balls you have pictured at the top of page 77 of your guide are AI generated. The website they link too seems to use AI images elsewhere on their site as well. I appreciate how thoroughly you source and link everything you put in your guide though because it made it very easy to do more sleuthing about it.
I'm so excited to get started that I think I will make one of all 15 ball patterns to see which one I like best!
I do think that the leather juggling balls you have pictured at the top of page 77 of your guide are AI generated. The website they link too seems to use AI images elsewhere on their site as well. I appreciate how thoroughly you source and link everything you put in your guide though because it made it very easy to do more sleuthing about it.
I'm so excited to get started that I think I will make one of all 15 ball patterns to see which one I like best!
Name:
Lee
Date:
Nov. 23, 2024, 12:51pm
Comments:
Hello Joshua,
Some random commentary on the two panel bag. The way that I make them (with leather), there are a lot of variables that contribute to the success of the bag. The stitching has to be perfect, the "gathering" or "bite" needs to be 100 percent consistent or it'll come out funky. When ying and yang align, it's probably the coolest footbag one could produce.
Other random notes:
I stay away form making any footbags that have four pieces meeting at one junction. I cannot make those intersections "pretty"..
The higher the panel count, the rounder the ball will be.
Repetition is the mother of all learning.
The 14 panel with the squares and hexes works awesome for me. One thing to note on my end, I get rid of the curves and just use straight edges. The stretchiness of leather is why I do that.
My latest footbags are a 6 panel baseball style type...and so far I'm liking them. Nice and round. I'll try and provide a link here.
https://www.joshuaclifton.com/juggle/forumpics/my_site/20241123_120831.jpg
https://www.joshuaclifton.com/juggle/forumpics/my_site/20241123_120951.jpg
Peace!
Lee
Some random commentary on the two panel bag. The way that I make them (with leather), there are a lot of variables that contribute to the success of the bag. The stitching has to be perfect, the "gathering" or "bite" needs to be 100 percent consistent or it'll come out funky. When ying and yang align, it's probably the coolest footbag one could produce.
Other random notes:
I stay away form making any footbags that have four pieces meeting at one junction. I cannot make those intersections "pretty"..
The higher the panel count, the rounder the ball will be.
Repetition is the mother of all learning.
The 14 panel with the squares and hexes works awesome for me. One thing to note on my end, I get rid of the curves and just use straight edges. The stretchiness of leather is why I do that.
My latest footbags are a 6 panel baseball style type...and so far I'm liking them. Nice and round. I'll try and provide a link here.
https://www.joshuaclifton.com/juggle/forumpics/my_site/20241123_120831.jpg
https://www.joshuaclifton.com/juggle/forumpics/my_site/20241123_120951.jpg
Peace!
Lee
No Replies
Name:
Lee
Date:
Nov. 17, 2024, 11:37am
Comments:
Joshua,
Thanks for putting in all the work on this site. It's been a ton of fun playing around with your patterns.
Back in the mid 80's Hacky Sack was a big thing. Two panels made of cowhide filled with plastic pellets. I was in middle school at the time and had a paper route in the business district of my hometown. The last stop on the route was a Greek shoe repair store. The gentleman who owned the store saw my "hacky sack" and suggested I make my own. We cut open my store bought footbag and traced the pattern out. We used super soft deerskin leather and after some repetition the footbags I made were stellar.
Fast forward to today....
Last winter I started sewing footbags again. I used the internet for patterns and came across this one and a few others. I ordered up a bunch of deerskin and sheepskin leather...needles...thread...super glue. After making pretty much every ball 32 panels and less the one that I think is the best quality is the 14 panel... with 6 squares and 8 hexes. I'm very interested in the "custom" 14 panel designs you have rough drafted. If I make something along those lines I'll keep you posted.
I sent a picture to your email address of some of the footbags I've made. I super appreciate all the time and effort you've put into this site.
Respectfully,
Lee
Lee's homemade footbag collection photo added by Joshua Clifton: https://www.joshuaclifton.com/juggle/forumpics/my_site/20241117_110802.jpg
Thanks for putting in all the work on this site. It's been a ton of fun playing around with your patterns.
Back in the mid 80's Hacky Sack was a big thing. Two panels made of cowhide filled with plastic pellets. I was in middle school at the time and had a paper route in the business district of my hometown. The last stop on the route was a Greek shoe repair store. The gentleman who owned the store saw my "hacky sack" and suggested I make my own. We cut open my store bought footbag and traced the pattern out. We used super soft deerskin leather and after some repetition the footbags I made were stellar.
Fast forward to today....
Last winter I started sewing footbags again. I used the internet for patterns and came across this one and a few others. I ordered up a bunch of deerskin and sheepskin leather...needles...thread...super glue. After making pretty much every ball 32 panels and less the one that I think is the best quality is the 14 panel... with 6 squares and 8 hexes. I'm very interested in the "custom" 14 panel designs you have rough drafted. If I make something along those lines I'll keep you posted.
I sent a picture to your email address of some of the footbags I've made. I super appreciate all the time and effort you've put into this site.
Respectfully,
Lee
Lee's homemade footbag collection photo added by Joshua Clifton: https://www.joshuaclifton.com/juggle/forumpics/my_site/20241117_110802.jpg
Name:
Tate
Date:
Nov. 8, 2024, 4:50pm
Comments:
Thank you so much! I used to be part of a juggling group, and helped make the juggling balls. I left the group, and have wanted to make my own balls, but I didn't have the pattern or the terminology to find it. I know it's simple, it's the baseball pattern, but I had no idea what to look for. Thank you so much for posting these, I think that I shall take these in during my crafting groups to make them. Maybe I'll get some people interested in them..
Name:
Leigh
Date:
Apr. 12, 2024, 10:19am
Comments:
What needles do you recommend for sewing with?
Name:
Mathieu Boudreau
Date:
Apr. 4, 2024, 11:17am
Comments:
Have you ever considered creating a design out of Penrose tiles? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penrose_tiling
Here's a talk about Penrose tiles on a sphere: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgNqtJz0B84
Here's a talk about Penrose tiles on a sphere: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgNqtJz0B84
Name:
Joshua Clifton
Date:
Dec. 29, 2023, 11:59am
Comments:
EMAIL MESSAGES (SOME EXCERPTED) THAT I HAVE RECEIVED
Thank you, everyone, for your kind and encouraging words, and for your donations (even small ones)! They help keep me motivated. It is important to me to know that people are using and enjoying my documents.
------------------------------
12/14/2020
[reply to my thank you email for a donation]
Merry Christmas!
I appreciate your effort! I've enjoyed thumbing through it, but haven't made anything yet. I'm a bit intimidated, but I've been doing a bit of hand-sewing for Christmas, so I'm hoping to give it a go after the Holidays.
I got a juggling book when I was a young teenager, and I learned on some homemade bean bags. Of course I had NO idea what I was doing, so I used an old pillow case I cut into circles, dropped in some dried beans, bunched up the fabric all around them, and "sealed" them with a rubber band. So they were kind of balls, but not really because they had big awkward, fabric pony tails on them—pretty bad—but hey I learned to juggle!
Cheers,
Joe
------------------------------
12/14/2020
[reply to my thank you email for a donation]
Hi Joshua,
Wasn't expecting to hear from you! Thank you for the kind email.
I almost exclusively use Russian/Ukrainian-style juggling balls (maybe I haven't found the right beanbags), but I enjoyed reading through your guide, both the original and the updated one. The information is thorough and well-presented with great photos. I think it's an invaluable resource to the juggling (and footbag) community and appreciate your hard work.
I'll certainly let you know when I try some of your designs! Finding the right kind of beanbag for me has been on my todo list for a long time and your guide has helped narrow down the decisions a bit, so thank you!
Merry Christmas!
Raymond
------------------------------
3/7/2021
Hello,
I found your PDF guide from reddit and it has a lot of value to me. I did not read all of the 400 pages, but I scrolled through some of it and it is amazing work. It made me so happy to see that there are other people interested making the juggling balls. I donated 70 USD for you.
Thanks a lot for your work!
-Jan
------------------------------
10/20/2021
[reply to my thank you email for a donation]
Hi Josh,
Your guide is a remarkable piece of work. Calling it a guide undersells it, it's like a PhD thesis. I always enjoy learning about the details behind how things were made (like the TV show), the things that were tried, and why certain design/production methods were settled upon. Some of this knowledge is no doubt present in the manufacturers of juggling balls, though I doubt they were quite as systematic as you were. I think it's great that you have put it out there for everybody to read which is why I donated, to thank you.
I have not yet made a ball (of any kind) but as my cheap economy beanbags are wearing out I hope to at some point. I will send a photo when I do.
Thanks, and all the best.
Matt
------------------------------
11/21/2023
[reply to my thank you email for a donation]
Hey Joshua,
Absolutely! it was the least I could do to show my appreciation for the wonderfully thought out collection of patterns you've put out into the world. I'm excited to find out that you're continuing to iterate and improve on the patterns as well, that's awesome to hear.
I'm keen to get stuck into the 4 panel spherical tetrahedron first (since I'm only a novice at both juggling and sewing haha) but I hope to try some of the more complex patterns in time - they look spectacular.
With much gratitude,
Lingzi
------------------------------
12/10/2023
[reply to my thank you email for a donation]
Hi Joshua,
I really appreciate the time and effort you have put into this. I wish I could have donated more. :-)
I am currently making a 14 panel spherical cuboctohedron and enjoying it greatly!
Many thanks for sharing this!
Kind regards,
Bence
Thank you, everyone, for your kind and encouraging words, and for your donations (even small ones)! They help keep me motivated. It is important to me to know that people are using and enjoying my documents.
------------------------------
12/14/2020
[reply to my thank you email for a donation]
Merry Christmas!
I appreciate your effort! I've enjoyed thumbing through it, but haven't made anything yet. I'm a bit intimidated, but I've been doing a bit of hand-sewing for Christmas, so I'm hoping to give it a go after the Holidays.
I got a juggling book when I was a young teenager, and I learned on some homemade bean bags. Of course I had NO idea what I was doing, so I used an old pillow case I cut into circles, dropped in some dried beans, bunched up the fabric all around them, and "sealed" them with a rubber band. So they were kind of balls, but not really because they had big awkward, fabric pony tails on them—pretty bad—but hey I learned to juggle!
Cheers,
Joe
------------------------------
12/14/2020
[reply to my thank you email for a donation]
Hi Joshua,
Wasn't expecting to hear from you! Thank you for the kind email.
I almost exclusively use Russian/Ukrainian-style juggling balls (maybe I haven't found the right beanbags), but I enjoyed reading through your guide, both the original and the updated one. The information is thorough and well-presented with great photos. I think it's an invaluable resource to the juggling (and footbag) community and appreciate your hard work.
I'll certainly let you know when I try some of your designs! Finding the right kind of beanbag for me has been on my todo list for a long time and your guide has helped narrow down the decisions a bit, so thank you!
Merry Christmas!
Raymond
------------------------------
3/7/2021
Hello,
I found your PDF guide from reddit and it has a lot of value to me. I did not read all of the 400 pages, but I scrolled through some of it and it is amazing work. It made me so happy to see that there are other people interested making the juggling balls. I donated 70 USD for you.
Thanks a lot for your work!
-Jan
------------------------------
10/20/2021
[reply to my thank you email for a donation]
Hi Josh,
Your guide is a remarkable piece of work. Calling it a guide undersells it, it's like a PhD thesis. I always enjoy learning about the details behind how things were made (like the TV show), the things that were tried, and why certain design/production methods were settled upon. Some of this knowledge is no doubt present in the manufacturers of juggling balls, though I doubt they were quite as systematic as you were. I think it's great that you have put it out there for everybody to read which is why I donated, to thank you.
I have not yet made a ball (of any kind) but as my cheap economy beanbags are wearing out I hope to at some point. I will send a photo when I do.
Thanks, and all the best.
Matt
------------------------------
11/21/2023
[reply to my thank you email for a donation]
Hey Joshua,
Absolutely! it was the least I could do to show my appreciation for the wonderfully thought out collection of patterns you've put out into the world. I'm excited to find out that you're continuing to iterate and improve on the patterns as well, that's awesome to hear.
I'm keen to get stuck into the 4 panel spherical tetrahedron first (since I'm only a novice at both juggling and sewing haha) but I hope to try some of the more complex patterns in time - they look spectacular.
With much gratitude,
Lingzi
------------------------------
12/10/2023
[reply to my thank you email for a donation]
Hi Joshua,
I really appreciate the time and effort you have put into this. I wish I could have donated more. :-)
I am currently making a 14 panel spherical cuboctohedron and enjoying it greatly!
Many thanks for sharing this!
Kind regards,
Bence
No Replies
Name:
Rosell
Date:
Mar. 5, 2017, 6:39am
Comments:
Thank you so much for this post, it's a really helpful and clear work. I'm so grateful. Happy juggling! :)
No Replies
Name:
Drake
Date:
Dec. 22, 2013, 4:41pm
Comments:
Awesome idea. I just got into juggling and have made 4 octahedron juggling balls. I'm not sure if I would pay much for this or not though. I could see getting it for a present. It came across this site by chance. Try putting juggling balls somewhere so a search engine would find it.
