Gloving 101: A How-To

Guide to Gloving

By Joshua Jefferson

TECM 2700

(All material can be purchased at emazinglights.com)

Table Of Context iii

Table of Context

Contents Table of Context ....................................................................................................................... iii

Introduction ................................................................................................................................v

Chapter 1: Gear and Tips .............................................................................................................3

Parts ........................................................................................................................................3

Light types ..............................................................................................................................6

The Set ....................................................................................................................................6

Chapter 2: Moves ........................................................................................................................9

Finger Dexterity ......................................................................................................................9

Finger Roll ..............................................................................................................................9

Finger Roll Placement ........................................................................................................... 10

Chapter 3: Pre-Game ................................................................................................................. 13

Checklist ............................................................................................................................... 13

Precautions ............................................................................................................................ 13

Index ......................................................................................................................................... 14

Cites & References.................................................................................................................... 14

Introduction v

Introduction

This manual is a response to my group of friends that are always asking me for advice and how

to start out. With this manual it will show them exactly everything I’ve learned the past year. The

following manual will show you show you the basics of gloving. It will be setup into three

chapters.

Gear and Tips; which will show the parts used to create a light, and different types of

lights with their different casings.

Moves; this is where we will go over and learn how to do one of the beginner moves that

is a must for all light show enthusiast. But you’ll also see the different application that

this move has during a show.

Lastly, we’ll cover the “pre – game” – A things to do list to always check before heading

out to an event such as a festival, rave, or party.

Now let’s begin with what the lights are made up of and how they work.

Chapter 1: Gear & Tips

This chapter will cover assembling lights and light types.

Chapter 1: Gear and Tips 3

Chapter 1: Gear and Tips

Parts A good light show is nothing without lights. And in this chapter we’ll go over different types of

bulbs and parts that go into 3 lights, all of which can be bought from emazinglights.

eDot eLite iMax

Each light consist of 3-4 main parts depending on which kind of set you use. These are the parts

that you may come across when setting a light. (Note: eLite and iMax both have 4 part to the

entire light with the eDot only having 3.)

Standard Bulb - eLite bulb

Batteries

Casing -eLite casing iMax casing

4 How to:Glove; Lightshow and Flow Art

Chips (only applying to the eLite and iMax)

The next list will show you how to put the light together (eDot). Make sure your area that you

use to work on this is well lit. Parts may drop and are hard to find in dark areas.

Make sure all the parts below are ready.

(From left to right casing, bulb (3cs strobe will cover later), switch (only applies to eDot), and

batteries)

1. Have the flat casing piece on its back and facing up.

Chapter 1: Gear and Tips 5

2. Put the batteries in between the bulbs wires. (Note: The negative side is the non-branded

part of the battery and it needs to be facing the straight wire not the bent one)

3. Place the battery and bulb combo into the casing with the straight wire facing up.

4. Take the switch and place it at the base of the straight wire and slide it up to the bulb.

5. Place the top casing piece on top of the casing and snap it on. (Note: Two little holes can

be seen at the base of the casing that connects the two together.) Once done your light

should already be either switched on or off once snapped on.

6 How to:Glove; Lightshow and Flow Art

Light types In the world of light show there are many different types of light effects. The most common one

and also the one that is you just saw being put together is called a 2c strobe or 2 color strobe.

As you can see in this picture there are two different

colors in this light bulb, an orange and a red. There are

many different effects that light show bulbs can do. There

are strobes, hyper strobes, hyper flashes, dashes, DOPS,

Ribbons, X-fusions, stutter strobes, tracers (fav), ect.

There are about 21 different effects that light show bulbs

can do and effects can be put together to create new types

effects.

The Set

It’s now time to learn about sets. (Note: this section will be a more work driven section.)

Sets are the combination of 10 – 12 lights during a light show. First you need to know where the

lights go. In a set of gloves each light goes on a finger, either on top of the nail or underneath.

For the thumbs the lights usually go underneath, but there are some glovers who use the thumb

the same way they use there other fingers. Now that the setup for just a standard of ten lights, but

some people use palm lights as well, this pushes that number to twelve lights in a set.

Now let’s take into consideration bulb effects and where to put them on your finger. You usually

want to have symmetrical or mixed sets on each hand. For example, I’ll put a 3c strobe on my

middle and pinky fingers and then add a 2c ribbon on my ring finger with my index finger have

another 2c ribbon . This make for a very basic and symmetrical set up for you lights.

But a mixed set is where it can get very interesting and artistic. For instance, say that you’re

basing your set on the colors of blue, and white. You could have a 2c strobe that flashes blue

then white on your first two fingers and then a solid blue on your ring finger. Also a solid white

on the pinky, then do the opposite on the other hand with a solid white on the index and doing

the exact same setup from the first hand just reversed (seen below on the right). A lot of

creativity can come from where you place your lights and what kind of color combinations you

use in them

(Pictures of sets from emazinglights.com)

Chapter 2: Moves

This chapter will cover the moves used in a light show.

Chapter 2: Moves 9

Chapter 2: Moves

Finger Dexterity Now that you have learned the tech behind light shows time to learn the technique that goes into

being a glover.

As you can already tell your hands are the main focus during light shows, so having good finger

dexterity and flexibility is where you need to start before, during, and after learning moves.

There are way of improving your fingers “performance” with little finger exercises that tries to

produce finger independence (the ability to move your finger without moving the finger next to

it.) and finger strength.

One such exercise is a type of finger push. Here’s how you do it.

1. Lay your hand on a flat surface with your fingers spread out.

2. Lift each finger by itself from index to pinky

3. During step 2 lift the finger up about 5 times then move to the next finger

Some may notice like me that the ring finger is your weakest finger and can’t move without

moving the pinky. This sync movement can be broken but it takes time to build the muscle in

that finger so don’t worry if you can’t do it right away.

Finger Roll Now let’s get into actually learning a move you will need to grow comfortable with and is

essential to almost every light show. The finger roll is one of the basic moves you learn when

you begin to glove. Being a basic move doesn’t make it an easy to master it takes a while to get

use to your finger moving in a wavy motion. So let’s start.

1. Hold both of your hands in a closed fist next to each other.

2. Have your knuckles facing up.

3. Once there, start by extending your pinky finger on your right hand.

4. Then slowly extend the rest of your finger from right to left one by one.

5. Starting from your left hand this time begin to close all your fingers one by one beginning

with your left pinky

10 How to:Glove; Lightshow and Flow Art

Finger Roll Placement

Now once you have the finger roll down and you think you are comfortable with the move you

can start putting that move into different stops during a light show.

For instance another version of the finger roll is the upward facing finger roll.

And the side finger roll that can be used in combination with tuts (a popular dance move that

requires you to create angles and shapes using your hands and arms) and the different finger

rolls.

11

Chapter 3: Pre - Game

This

chapter will cover short checklist to go over before festivals, etc.

Chapter 3: Pre-Game 13

Chapter 3: Pre-Game

Checklist So now that you’re ready lets go through a list of questions you should ask yourself before going

to an event.

Can you turn your lights on and off?

Are the lights bright?

Did change your batteries?

Are you ready??

If you answered no for the first 3 questions then you should go change your batteries before

heading out somewhere. If you answered no for the last one then go look in the mirror and give

yourself a pep talk and go enjoy your night.

Precautions

There are a few things that might go wrong during an outing to an event or festival. Like

breaking a bulb or batteries short circuiting or even losing a light. First of all don’t freak out

about it, stay calm and try and use some of these tips.

If your bulb breaks throw it away. If it’s still being charged by the battery there’s a

possibility you could get shocked and you don’t want that.

In some occasions one light may not work and now you only have 4 on one hand and 5

on another. If it feels too weird then take out the same light in the other hand to even it

out.

Now that you’ve read through this manual don’t stop here. Continue honing your skill and

learning more. The website mentioned throughout the manual has great tools you can use to

continue growing as a glover.

14 How to:Glove; Lightshow and Flow Art

Index 2c, 6

casing, 3, 4, 5

eDot, 3, 4

eLite, 3

finger, 6, 9, 10

iMax, 3

light show, 6

ribbon, 6

strobe, 4, 6

Cites & References Emazinglights.com