Come Join the Klyp Styx Kydz!

Hi, I’m Eric.

Kids! Parents! Adults! Teachers! Students!  Every one who has an ounce of curiosity!

Klyp Styx is by far my favorite toy!

I have enjoyed polyhedron for many years.  I especially enjoy building them.  I have tried many methods: bending coat hangers, threading straws, folding paper, peas and toothpicks.  I suggest you try them all.  Finally I found the best method.

On a long trip to Mexico, I saw, in my mind’s eye, the complete image of a construction system for building polyhedra.  At my brother’s house in Dallas, I grabbed a rubber band, and some paper clips, destroyed a pen for parts, and invented the first Klyp Styk.

Since then I have patented the idea, and tried to sell the idea, and shared the idea with any one who would listen.  I have made and given thousands away, and sold a few here and there.

At this point I make each stick by hand.  As such, I am not selling a finished, manufactured, industry tested product.  I am essentially allowing you to test a prototype.  It is not required that you report back your findings, but I am a curious person and would be interested in what you have to say.

I have tried many of the commercial products.  I do not suggest you do, but if so, you will better appreciate the differences and see that the Klyp Styx Systym is the best method.  It’s the Slykyst, Quykyst!

Connecting buttons

The Klyp Styx Systym:

Clip around the ring.
Load the clips.
            Do not load the clip until it is anchored or you will have to fix it.
Look at the beautiful, elegant, multiple; flexible joint you’ve just built… this is the basic building block of Klyp Styx structures.
To dismember a joint, remove the clips from the sticks and anchor them around the edge of the stick.  Then unclip them from the ring.  When a joint joins only two sticks, anchor both clips before unclipping from the connector or else … you’ll have to fix it.

Anchored:  When a clip is anchored there is a resistance against it being drawn into the stick.  The clips are most often either anchored to the edge of the stick, or to an elastic connector.  When a clip is unanchored it is freely drawn into the stick and you will have to fix it.

Fix it :  Fixing sticks is easy and common.  I have been playing with Klyp Styx for years and I still drop clips.  When a clip is dropped into a stick, the guts of the stick are to be drawn out  and hung from the Klyp Styx Fyx Yt Styk.  The stick is slid over the Fyx Yt Styk which is used to thread the guts up through the stick.  Anchor the bottom clip, then anchor the top clip.

Klyp Styx Fyx Yt Styk:  When a clip is dropped into a stick the stick is broken and you will have to fix it.  Fyx Yt Styk is the threading tool used to reload the guts into the stick.

Polyhedra:  These are closed structures made with flat faces.  There are many great websites on the subject, all of them with presentations that are better than I can produce.  The Klyp Styx Systym is the best method for building polyhedra and other structures.  Actually, with Klyp Styx we are building the edges of the polyhedra.

 Best method:
            Klyp Styx – Connects sticks to an elastic ring.
                        Makes a beautiful, elegant, multiple, flexible joint.
                        Easy to use.
                        Inexpensive.
                        Variety of configurations.
                        Huge variety of structures.
                        The Klyp Styx community.

                       
Other methods:
            Coat hangers: 
Twist or bend the ends together to form the joints.
                        Can control the lengths of the edges.
                        Easy to cut with proper tools.

            Threaded straws:
                        Nice light weight structures.
                        Different threading techniques.
                        I have invented a threading tool.

            Paper folding:
                        I have my own methods.

            Peas and toothpicks:
                        Very beautiful, but fragile.
                        I learned to overcome problems with frustration.
           
Commercial products:
Tensegretoy – for building floating compressions, which can be deformed   into polyhedra.
            Hard to use.
            Expensive.
            Klyp Styx can be used to build floating compressions.

Zome System – jam sticks into ball with holes in it.
            Only rigid joints can be built.
            Limited number of possible angles.
            Some common structures can’t be built.

Magnetic systems – Sticks with little magnets imbedded in their ends and ball bearings as hubs:
The magnetic connection is too weak so only small structures can be built and they can’t be tossed to a friend.
Limited number of sticks connected at each joint.
Expensive.

Configurations:
                        Standard.
                        Klyp Styx Pyvyts – the sliding square lashing
                        Anchors along the length of a stick.