Dragon Eggs: those popular crackle firework stars that so many people love and so many are tired of. Crackle firework stars or dragon eggs were traditionally made with formulas containing toxic lead tetraoxide. Later compounds were developed utilizing non-toxic, but...
By Ned Gorski Why Make a Force Gauge for Your Arbor Press? This project will show you how to take a couple commonly available devices, and create a homemade force gauge, for about half the price of what you can...
Copper as a Colorant By Lee Partin Blue: one of the most elusive of colors. "The production of a vividly-colored flame is a much more challenging problem than creating white light. A delicate balance of factors is required to obtain...
Introduction In Making Gerbs (Fountains) I introduced a method for making homemade fountains, called gerbs, including how to make the tools for ramming them. I later explored a few creative devices using fountains. Homemade Silver-Titanium Fountain I was ready to...
You should use protective gloves when making colored smokes, and cover all surfaces with newspaper or some other covering to be thrown away later. Working with smoke mix can be very messy no matter how careful you are. The dyes...
This is the first of three related projects that Ned is creating for you on how to make whistling fireworks. I want to preface them by saying one thing:If you want to make whistles, this article can save your life!...
By Ned Gorski Introduction "Garnitures." Kind of an old-fashioned word, not heard very often in conversation. But, as used to describe the class of fireworks components we are about to look at, I'll be darned if I can find a...
Introduction Cut stars are the simplest and easiest stars to make. They are generally also the cheapest. One can make large quantities of cut stars in a short space of time. Cut stars can be made with or without special...
The movies have done it to us all. We can't help ourselves. We love all the explosions and fireballs that Hollywood can throw at us. But it never ceases to amaze me how many people want to make balls of...
A Collection of Star Formulations by K.L and B.J. Kosanke At one time, we were engaged in the commercial manufacture of stars. During that time we assembled (developed, borrowed or modified) a series of star formulations. It was felt that...
Robert Veline created this fireworks star system and intentionally put it in the public domain. When you look at it, you can see that it uses very similar firework chemical ingredients and proportions for many of the different fireworks star...
This article on making good homemade charcoal by Ned Gorski is a slightly revised and updated version of one which appeared in the Pyrotechnics Guild International (PGI) Bulletin #152 in 2007. Which Wood to Use On the various pyro discussion...
