Has anyone tried the 'flame coloring' ?

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Permalink Reply by Kim Andre on March 23, 2009 at 8:26pm

I havent any experience with it but I just ordered new fire poi with the color thing from hop, I'll tell you how it turns out ;)

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Permalink Reply by Lye on March 23, 2009 at 9:25pm

I don't have any direct experience, but I know you're not supposed to use it with wicks that have adhesive in them, as such you have to have like cathedrals that are just pressed really tight.

You probably already knew this, just looking out for your gear.=)

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Permalink Reply by Lilly on March 26, 2009 at 5:42pm

Hey,

We've had a play with the coloured fire stuff from hop. It's pretty cool, colours like green obviously stand out more than red as it's different. We invested in some single poi to use just with the coloured fuel so as to not mix things up.

Would be good to hear how other people find it :)

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Permalink Reply by Kim Andre on March 30, 2009 at 1:29pm

I bought the set with 4 cathedral heads and a pair of chain and will not be used to anything else than color. now I just need to find 2 liter of methanol... its going to be hard (especially since I dont have any money)

what fuel do you use lilly?

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Permalink Reply by Helen on April 17, 2009 at 8:57pm

my friend bought some stuff from a local drug store and mixed it in with his fuel and then bam, his fire was green. I'll ask him exactly what it was!

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Permalink Reply by Lilly on April 22, 2009 at 7:54pm

Didn't realise it had been quite so long since I've been here! We just used meths mixed with the coloured powder if I remember rightly and kept everything seperate for each colour :)

How have you got on with it Kim?

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Permalink Reply by Neil on April 23, 2009 at 12:30am

I've made my own by making strontium/lithium salts and copper/boric acid mixtures but I've never used the HOP stuff.

Because you have to use an alcohol not a paraffin the flames are much smaller, I thought that they made the fire poi look more like dim glow sticks then anything.

I've gotten bigger flames cutting the methanol with ethanol or a ketone, but if you use a ketone you are making the whole mixture more explosive/poisonous.

a emulsion of kerosene (paraffin) and methanol/trimethalborate made a neat flame- both yellow, large and roaring but with green accents and streaks.

But...haveing never tried the HOP stuff I can not really comment on it - the HOP stuff may work better... however at the end of the day methanol is just a puny fuel for this type of use.

btw for methanol look in hardware stores where it is often sold as paint stripper (although in the states it's sale is severely curtailed because of the war on methamphetamine) or in the automotive isle.

it hides under names like methyl hydrate, methyl spirits, and methyl alcohol.

It may also be found with the name 'fondue fuel' where it normal comes dyed blue and is sold for use in heating.

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Permalink Reply by Neil on April 23, 2009 at 12:31am

Helen said:

my friend bought some stuff from a local drug store and mixed it in with his fuel and then bam, his fire was green. I'll ask him exactly what it was!

maybe copper(III) sulfate?

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Permalink Reply by Neil on April 23, 2009 at 12:33am

Neil said:

Helen said:

my friend bought some stuff from a local drug store and mixed it in with his fuel and then bam, his fire was green. I'll ask him exactly what it was!

maybe copper(III) sulfate?

oops no wait you get copper sulfate from pet stores because it is a fish medication, you can get Boric acid from a pharmacy - with methanol it forms trimethyl borate and burns brilliant green. mind you it also gives off huge amounts of white boric acid fumes if you mix it too strong.

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Permalink Reply by Cam Wallace on May 10, 2009 at 6:24am

I recently tinkered with Boric Acid and Methylated Spirits, which gives a nice green flame. The only thing is it really messed my wick up and left a nasty residue on it, luckily though I tested it on my old ratty-wicked staff as not to wreck my nice new one :)

But yeah, boric acid from my pharmacy for $13.99, and a bottle of meths for $5.99 from my local warehouse and I got an awesome green flame. Im going to test some bigger DIY homemade wicks (to see if I can get better flame sizes etc) And my girlfriend was thinking about getting the HOP colours so we'll see how they go fingers crossed

And I have heard rumors about Lithium Chloride and Meths making a nice red flame, although apparently lithium chloride is an anti-depressant sold at pharmacies and more expensive, so I'm going to talk to my pharmacist sometime. Anyone have any other mixtures for different colors?

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Permalink Reply by sid fernandez ~H.B.F.S.~ on June 16, 2009 at 1:17am

from chemistry I would asume that potassium nitrate would burn purple, it may be hard to get though and make your poi burn alot hotter, its a component of gunpowder.

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Permalink Reply by sid fernandez ~H.B.F.S.~ on June 20, 2009 at 11:40am

just added some pics and a video of my first colored fire test, used boric acid and denatured alcohol. worked very well but it left sticky crap all over my poi. I plan on testing some other color ideas soon, ill keep posting pics. I really want purple fire.

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