The original title of this post was, “How to Make Color Changing Pinecone Fire Starters.” If you do a Google search, you’ll find that various minerals are supposed to make fire burn in various colors. For example, Borax, which is essentially sodium borate, is supposed to turn the fire a green color. How much do I love green? It’s totally my favorite color, right? So I was all aflutter thinking about beautiful green flames in my fire.
Here is the fire we built with a sparkling pinecone just catching fire:
None of the flames look green to me. Any of the flames look green to you? Trust me, we watched that fire like hawks while the smoke permeated every pore of our beings and the next day we woke up smelling like we’d been in a forest fire.
You’d think I’d just trash the idea. Only check out how beautiful these Sparkling Pinecone Fire Starters look:
They literally look like they are covered in crystallized snow! Instead of trashing the idea, I’m making more because the decorating possibilities are literally mind boggling!
How to Make Sparkling Pinecone Fire Starters:
- In 8 cups hot water, dissolve 3/4 C borax
- Soak pinecones overnight
- Allow to dry
This is simple enough anyone can do it! Now, the crystals are delicate and they do knock off easily. If you want to just create a pinecone that has white tips, dissolve 3/4 C table salt instead of Borax. Here’s what these look like:
They are still pretty, don’t you think? Plus, they don’t shed crystals, which is nice.
I plan to decorate my house with these Sparkling Pinecone Fire Starters this year. Then I plan to bag them up to use as fire starters in our fire pit and I’ll tuck a few away for camping trips. Oh yeah, I’ll give some as gifts too! They’d be pretty on a wrapped package!
Are you keeping up with my easy DIY Christmas Gifts that are all part of my Homemade Holidays series? If not, start with my Black Apple Tea recipe, make a cup, then sip away while looking through all the DIY Projects!
