When I was a kid we had these pine cones that would change the color of the flames in the fireplace when you added one to the fire. I always thought it was the coolest thing to see the flames turn blue or green. Well you can get these color burning pine cones at Amazon for around $30 or you can make your own at home for a lot less!
These festive pine cones can add a rainbow of colors to your fire for a romantic evening or to entertain guests or the kids, they are wonderful for the holidays and they make great gifts! When making your own you can choose the color – yellow, green, blue-green, white or red – or you can mix it up and use some of each color in your flames or gift baskets.
The kids and I went for a walk and collected our own pine cones so we cleaned them up a bit then I baked them at 200 degrees for about an hour to open them up and take care of any bugs that might be on them. Line cookie sheets with aluminum foil before baking and allow the pine cones to cool completely before the next steps. Of course if you bought your pine cones from the craft store you can skip baking them.
- One cup of one of the following depending on the color flame you prefer:
- Yellow – Table Salt
- Yellow-Green – Borax
- White – Epsom Salts
- Green – Boric Acid
- Red – Strontium Chloride (found with aquarium supplies in pet stores)
- Pour ½ gallon of hot water into a bucket.
- Add 1 cup of the flame colorant of your choice and stir until dissolved.
- Add prepared pine cones to the mix. Be sure to add only as many as can be completely covered by the solution. Soak for 8 hours or overnight.
- Remove the pine cones and arrange on newspapers until they dry completely. Typically takes 3 to 4 days.
- Now your pine cones are ready to burn! Simply add them (one at a time) to your fireplace and watch the colors appear.
While these color burning pine cones are easy to make and fun to use, there are a few precautions you should take:
- Burn only one color at a time.
- Make as many different colors as you’d like, but don’t mix the colors when making your batches.
- Don’t burn your color changing pine cones in BBQ grills or when cooking food.
- Keep flame colorants out of reach of children and pets.