Greetings! I found a how-to for making colored flame pine cones.
Depending on what chemical you choose, the flames may be white,
purple, blue, yellow, yellow-green, blue-green, green, orange, violet
or red. To attach the pinecones to sticks for torch use, I would
suggest taking the normal type of discount store torches that have the
metal fuel containers (not the plastic ones) and cutting the
containers to make an open-topped receptacle. Then place them back in
the holders and put the desired color pine cone(s) in each one (you
might need to add additional aluminum foil lining since normal torches
burn at the wick, not in the receptacl). Also, if you don't have pine
cones in your area, check a hobby store or craft mart where they can
usually be purchased in bulk bags.
One large pine cone may burn for 10 minutes but I would do a test to
see if more were required for a ten minute burn: it might take two or
three, depending on the size of the pine cones. Or people may simply
feed additional pine cones to the receptacle to continue the colored
flame.
Here are the instructions I found:
Colorful Flame PineCones With Wax
{Easy Version with Stuff in the house}
If you like colorful flames in your fireplace, here's a recipe for
treating pine cones so they'll make colored flames when they burn.
Table salt burns YELLOW
No-salt substitute burns VIOLET
Borax burns GREEN
Dip pinecones in wax to coat them, then dip in a mixture of one of the
chemicals.
Colorful Flame PineCones With Chemicals
{More Intense Version and for Large Quantities of Pinecones}
This is the Stuff you need to make these:
PineCones
Plastic Buckets
Mesh or Cloth Sacks
Newspaper
The Chemicals You Need To Color Fireplace Flames
{Most of the ingredients needed for this project can be found at
your local grocery store, a pharmacy or online at the Chemistry
Store.}
The different chemicals or salts required for coloring flames are:
Magnesium Sulphate (Epson Salts) for WHITE flames
Lithium Chloride or Potassium Permanganate for PURPLE flames
Barium Nitrate for BLUE flames
Sodium Chloride (table salt) for YELLOW flames
Baronsalts (Borax) for YELLOW-GREEN flames
Copper sulphate (blue vitrol/Bluestone) for BLUE-GREEN flames
Copper Chloride or boric acid for GREEN Flames
Calcium Chloride (Bleaching powder) for ORANGE Flames
Strontium chloride for RED flames
Directions on how to make 'em:
1. Choose ONE of the chemicals listed below. {DO NOT MIX THEM!}
2. Use rubber gloves and a disposable pan as chemicals stain
permanently.
3. Mix 1 lb. of the chemical in 1 gallon of water.
4. Put cones in a cloth sack then submerge them in the solution
overnight. {You might have to tie a weight to them}
5. Hold sack over a thick pad of newspaper to let excess liquid drain.
6. Spread cones on thick pad of newspaper until they're dry. {Up to
two weeks}
Other Idea for Drying: I use a large piece of chicken wire and cover
it over my basement sink. I put the damp cones on the "rack" to dry
quicker.
I found this method on the web [this is still the same article, not my
note]:
Add 1 pint of liquid glue to 7 parts of water. Crush the chemical to a
fine powder and add 1 pound of the powder to each gallon of
glue-water. Put into the liquid as many pinecones that will fit,
stirring and adding more base until all the liquid has been absorbed.
Spread out to dry.
There is no fixed proportion of chemicals to be used to a given amount
of water. As much of the powdered chemical should be mixed with water
as will dissolve, until you have a saturated solution. The only
exception is ordinary table salt (sodium chloride), in which case you
should use 1/2 ounce of salt to each pint of water.
Magnesium Sulphate (Epson Salts) for WHITE flames
Lithium Chloride or Potassium Permanganate for PURPLE flames
Barium Nitrate for BLUE flames
Sodium Chloride (table salt) for YELLOW flames
Baronsalts (Borax) for YELLOW-GREEN flames
Copper sulphate (blue vitrol/Bluestone) for BLUE-GREEN flames
Copper Chloride or boric acid for GREEN Flames
Calcium Chloride (Bleaching powder) for ORANGE Flames
Strontium chloride for RED flames
_______________
I found the entire method above at one site, PineConeLady.com Your
project sounds interesting and I'm sure you'll delight the gathering
with the differently colored flames! I found the instructions easy to
follow but if you need clarification, please don't hesitate to ask.
SEARCH TERMS and LINKS:
"coloring flames" [Google search]
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%22coloring+flames%22
Pinecone Fire Starters | Scented Pinecones | Colorful Flames Pine ...
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