As Ashley Miller gears up to graduate in July with a master’s degree in information communication sciences, she still finds the time to design and sell intricate hula hoops for dancers nationwide. Miller blends her love for design with the movement of the spinning hoop to create original art for her customers at Be-Bop-A-Lula Hula Hoops in Muncie.
When Miller began to learn to hula hoop with a friend, she found hula hoops with patterns that seemed to move as the dancer spun. These designer hoops could only be purchased at a high price to be shipped from Canada or the West Coast. Miller grabbed some tape and took to her own hoops, creating any design she wanted.
“At first I looked around to see how people were decorating theirs, but before long I started thinking up my own ideas,” Miller said. “I got more colors. I started changing the tapes I used and the types of splits just to see how many how many colors I could use and what kind of designs I could do. It became a free form thing for me as soon as I figured out what worked and what didn’t.”
Miller took her creations to Be Here Now to sell to concert goers, later moving the sales online to Etsy, an online arts market. She began taking requests for particular colors and patterns. Her sales grew, and she has now made more than 40 hula hoops and sold them to customers locally and online through Be-Bop-A-Lula Hula Hoops.
“They have been ordered from several different places. I’ve sent one all they way to British Columbia in Canada,” Miller said of her online sales. “I think that’s the farthest I’ve sent one, but I get orders from Washington and Arizona. That’s pretty cool to me.”
Miller works for hours on each hoop, which she sees as a completely different art than her graphic design work.
“It’s a different medium. Most of the time I’m working on a computer screen making graphics. It’s really nice creating physical art,” Miller said. “I feel each piece is kind of a work of art, because I have a vision for it, I have an idea of a look or feel that I want for it. There’s some attachment there, and sometimes not so much. Sometimes, they turn out not quite how I want them to. It looks cool, but it’s not what I expected. I feel like that happens sometimes with art too.”
Miller plans to continue with selling her hoops on Be-Bop-A-Lula Hula Hoops after graduating at the end of the summer. The hoops have changed from creative outlet to business, but she has yet to let go of the fun she has creating and playing with hula hoops.
