Colored Fire or Colored Flames Pinecones

It's easy to add colored flames to your fireplace or campfire by treating pinecones with common chemicals. This video shows two ways to make colored fire pinecones. Burn them alone or add them to a fire.

You can use one or more of the following chemicals; borax, boric acid or copper sulfate. I used roach killer for the boric acid, 20 Mule Team Borax for the borax and Zep Root Killer for the copper sulfate. All of these chemicals produce a green flame, so if you mix them together you won't get any weird results. Don't add just any old chemicals to the pinecone because you could cancel out the colors you want or you could cause a chemical reaction that would produce an undesirable effect.

Sprinkle the chemicals on the pinecone or pre-treat pinecones that you want to use later on. Because these salts don't burn you won't get toxic smoke. The boron compounds and copper sulfate are fairly eco-friendly, but they are toxic to insects and algae and invertebrates in ponds, so watch where you put your ashes.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• Flames
• Fire
• Fire Projects
• Colored Fire
• Pinecones
• Holidays
• Camp Fire
• Burning
• Combustion

[acenone1]

sang would it be advisable to directly add the mixture from method 1 to the fire? It must we coat the firewood with it? Nopes, no driftwood arnd my area! Because we don't wanna poison all the participants! The fumes must not be toxic if possible!

[futsang]

@acenone1 Usually with a campfire people just sprinkle the salt on the fire, It's as simple as that. You don't get toxic fumes. The potential concern might be impact on the environment from the salt, but copper already is present in high concentrations. Boron compounds are fine in normal amounts too. Borax is added (in large quantities) to washing machine loads, for example.

[acenone1]

Hello, I am a scouts. In a few months time my scouting group is hosting a Large campfire. And we wanted to have a green flame. Regarding the two method, are any of the fumes produced toxic? I heard that method 1 of mixing causing toxic fumes to be released. And some people suggested using copper(II) chloride. Any suggestions? This has to work for a big campfire and the green must be very noticable!

[futsang]

@acenone1 Copper(II) chloride is an excellent colorant, but it may be harder to get hold of than copper sulfate, borax or boric acid. Wood smoke contains lots of chemicals that aren't particularly good for you -- the copper or boron salts really don't make it any worse. On the other hand, if you were to burn a garden hose (a common method of producing a green flame), you'd get nasty carcinogenic fumes from the burning polymer.

[futsang]

@acenone1 I also wanted to add this idea: you can get cool colored flames from burning driftwood, if you happen to live near somewhere that has driftwood and if it's legal where you live to burn it. Driftwood is more toxic than adding colorants to a regular wood or charcoal fire. Don't roast marshmallows over it.

[s0ul101]

wow!!! umm can we add SODIUM CHLORIDE or SALT to get a YELLOW FLAME?? and does solid compounds needed to dissolve first??? please reply >.<

[futsang]

@s0ul101 Yes, salt or sodium chloride produces a yellow flame. Sodium produces such a bright flame that you don't really need to worry about dissolving it.

[acenone1]

Hmm, so sir. The best solution would be? I saw from the previous comments adding table salt would just result in a yellow flame? We wish to have a green flame for like 2-3 hrs. Big national kinda event!

[ilovestickystuff25]

@futsang u do alot of videos with fire

[s0ul101]

@futsang wow thats fast yes thank you thank you ill try it right away!!!!

UNLUCKILY ITS RAINING OH MAN ILL TRY IT TOMORROW HAHA LUCKILY A HOUSE NEAR US HAS TOO MANY PINE TREES AND THEY DONT MIND IF I TRESPASS HAHA ^^)

THANKS A LOT^^)