Have you ever wanted to change the color of your campfire? This feat will amaze and astound you and your kids while out camping this summer.
It’s a lot simpler than you might think and can be done using common household items. Here are two methods for adding some some color to your next camping trip.
#1: The Copper Pipe Method
This technique is the simplest and most affordable way to add color to your fire. All you need is a chunk of copper pipe with an old garden hose inserted inside of it. For an added effect, drill a couple of holes into the pipe for more sparks.
#2: The Homemade Colored Wax Method
Make your own fire color changers with items that you already have around your home. But before we get started, it is important to make a couple of things clear:
- Only employ this method after you are finished cooking.
- Don’t inhale the smoke.
It is also important to note that you will be using chemicals in this step. Your choices are:
- Potassium chloride: Makes a purple flame
- Magnesium sulfate: Makes a white flame
- Strontium chloride: Makes a red flame
- Copper chloride: Makes a blue flame
- Lithium chloride: Makes a pink flame
- Copper sulfate: Makes a green flame
- Sodium chloride: Makes an orange flame
You will need three items to make colored flames.
- Paper cups
- Your chemical(s) of choice
- Old candle wax
The Process:
- Melt the candle wax in a double boiler or old pot.
- Take out the number of paper cups that you are planning to use and fill them with a ¼ inch of your chosen chemical.
- Pour the melted wax into the cup, making sure that it completely covers the chemical.
- Stir the mixture and make sure that all the chemical is coated with wax.
- Let the mixture cool for at least 2-3 hours.
- When you are ready for the colored flames you can either throw the entire cup into the fire, or cut off the side of the cup.
Extra Tips and Tricks
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- Use iron filings for gold sparks.
- Sprinkle some sugar on your campfire for small sparks.
- A little bit of regular flour will create a flash flame.
- Use powdered coffee creamer for sparkly flashes.
- Use powdered aluminum or magnesium shavings for silver sparks.
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What do you think? Are you going to try either of these methods? If so let us know how your experiment fared in the comments below.
What do you think?