Introduction: Poor Man's Fireworks | Sugru

About: Innovative Projects, Diy's, Life Hacks

When I was a teenager, I got very excited when New Year's Eve came. It was one of the best nights of the year ,because of the fireworks.

Every year, I used to stand outside by my house and watch fireworks (mostly parachute rockets.)

Unfortunately or luckily (depends on how you look at it), I did not have an access to fireworks or petards.

My parents did not buy them and I never asked.

One thing we did have was sparklers.

One year, I decided to make my own fireworks or let's say entertain myself.

I had a bag full with different toys. Match rockets, stripes of the newspaper attached to frisby disk etc.

Most of the things were not good, apart from two. One of them was a sparkler firework.

To make it, I used a sponge. It was cut out and tied to the sparkler. Then it was shot with a blow gun.

It did a good job, but I had to make a head for every single sparkler I was going to shoot.

This is the first project for "Sugru Build Night".

We tried to use "Sugru" and turns out it's perfect for the job. Instead of making individual heads for each sparkler, we made only one. Well, OK, we made 5, but we used only one :)

Step 1:

We will need:

  • 1 x packet of "Sugru"

It's better to use bright colours, so it's easier to find it on the ground.

  • Sparklers
  • Metal tube

I used a curtain pole from my bedroom :)

Basically, it's a blow gun that shoots sparklers.

Step 2:

  • Make a little "Sugru" mushroom with a fat cup, slightly bigger than your tube.
  • Use the tube to cut out a head for sparklers.

Step 3:

  • Slide the head onto the sparklers exposed steel.
  • Take of the "Sugru" head. If you're happy with the way it looks and fits the tube, leave it to dry.

Step 4:

When "Sugru" is dry, you are ready to shoot your sparkler fireworks.

Piece of cake.

You only need to make 1x "Sugru" head as you can use it over and over again.

After shooting the sparkler, dispose it and use the head for the new sparkler.

Super simple and super cheap.

Check out the video to see how it looks!

Tips:

For bigger flame, light the sparkler in the middle. That way you will have 2 flames, 2 sparks.

If you don't want the sparkler to keep burning on the way down, wait until it has almost burned before shooting it.

Is it safe?
Sparklers are highly flammable, so make sure that you're doing it in the right location. Make sure there are no people around you or if there are, they know to watch for a flying sparkler. From the blowing point of view, it's safe as there will be no smoke or fumes coming out of the side you're about to blow. And you will be blowing out, not breathing in. Tube will get warm, but not too hot, unless you wait way too long to shoot. So, it's safe if you are doing it right, just like fireworks :)

Do it at your own risk!