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Home Aerial Silks Setup and Rigging for DIYers

If you are a beginner aerialist, you will most like want to be able to practice as much as you possibly can, and what better way to do this than to set up your own rig in the comfort of your home?

Upon researching all the materials and equipment I would need to rig my own silk and then I thought about doing a post on it to help you with your home aerial silk setup.
If you are the first time looking for your own aerial gear then you might notice that they’re not very many aerial silks for sale online and that it was quite confusing as to which type you should buy.

Recommended DIY Aerial Silk Kits

Pro Tip: most professional aerial silks will be found from circus performance stores and it’s recommended to avoid cheap imitations from ebay or amazon
Before purchasing your first silks, I highly recommend that you watch informative videos, as well as read articles and guidelines and guides how about choosing aerial silks for your skill level and age!
So how much silk do you need?

Well, that depends on where you want to set up your rig.

A simple formula for determining how many yards of aerial silk you need to buy is:

  •  n = (the height of your ceiling in feet x 2) + 10 feet
  • yards required = n/3
  • So, to apply this formula in a real-life scenario, it would look like this:
  • n = (10 foot ceiling x 2) + 10 feet = 30 feet
  • yards required = 30/3 = 10
  • Therefore, you need to buy 10 yards of aerial silk for my 10 foot ceiling.

Since this is a basic formula, there might be scenarios where you could receive more fabric than you actually need.

You will not be entirely sure until you unravel the silk itself and begin to rig it to your ceiling.

When it comes to buying the fabric its always good to have a little leftover to account for error in cutting to size because excess silk will allow you to twirl around in it without the entire rig becoming too short and that’s not a situation you want to be in.

Pro tip: You can also tie up your extra silk as there are methods easily found through a little bit of searching online.

If you are a beginner in aerial silks then this DIY method will work, just be sure to read more about the appropriate rigging.

While the price of DIYing your silks was good in comparison to others, but I ultimately purchased my silks from Amazon because I could also order the hardware required from a performer’s shop where they sell circus equipment.

Pro tip: If overall your silks are too smooth then its recommend to buy some grip aids as this will help you and this is completely normal.

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