This is a moment that would have made 15 year old me very proud of present-day me: I’ve just received a DIY fireworks kit in the mail! I love the “Don’t Send This Via Airplane” sticker.
My friend Heathervescent hipped me to this introductory Turbo Pyro kit from Skylighter. The kit supplies what you’ll need to make your own fireworks, including a 206 page eBook that guides you through making ten different fireworks: from tube sparklers to bottle rockets to aerial shells to something called a “Flying Fish Fuse Mine”. I’ve skimmed through the eBook and it looks thorough and professionally done. It has a number of embedded videos in it, which should be pretty helpful.
I’ve only had moments to scan the contents of the boxes, but they include a lot of paper tubes, charcoal, potassium chlorate, clay, potassium nitrate, sulfer, and other compounds (this endeavor involves making your own gunpowder), a few different kinds of ignition fuses, a bunch of mysterious custom tools for packing the fireworks, a digital scale, mortar casings, a large mortar tube, and more. You have to supply some sieeves, trays, measuring spoons, an electric coffee mill, tape, glue, safety gear, and a few hand tools.
I’m going to try the simplest projects first, hopefully in time for the 4th of July. Then, if all goes well (and I have the same number of fingers as I’m typing with right now), I’ll put together some of the big flying stuff and head out to the desert to fire them off.
You can sign up here to be notified when the next batch of kits is available:TurboPyro
Their blog is pretty cool too, I had no idea people had taken things to this level!
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