Ruminations of a star-rolling newbie

[Nessalco]

I know a lot of you are well-versed in star rolling. For me, it was a skill I found a little intimidating, and couldn't quite see the need. I tried a couple of times to start cores from mustard seed, but each time ended up with a blob that did nothing. I gave up.

 

Finally a fellow pyro took the time to show me how to start cores - and I've been rolling up a storm since. In just over a month I've completed more than 25 pounds of stars for 3" and 4" shells, in various colors and effects. I'm still working on the process and techniques - including toro.

 

This process makes a LOT of stars. One tablespoon of mustard seed creates about 8500 star cores, which grow into about 6 kilos of 3/8-7/16" stars. In the past, I cut stars and could never seem to get enough done to meet my needs - now I've got buckets full, and more on the way. It's great! Add to that the ability to precisely size the stars, and it's almost pyro heaven. The possibilities for color changing and effect stars is a bonus.

 

I also never understood why people needed cement-mixer sized star roller. I get it now. My little roller, based on a 5-gallon bucket, can manage 500-600 grams of stars in a batch. That means that 6 kilos of stars took at least 20 rolling sessions. In a bigger roller that number is reduced significantly, while the time per session stays about the same. So, I have a much bigger roller in the works, based on the plans on Passfire for a stand-alone roller with stainless steel drum. A fun winter project that will make rolling stars much easier.

 

I've tried various methods of building the stars, including spray-and-dust and toro. I find I like toro for priming, and for repairing cracked or raspberry stars, but generally use s&d because it is much faster for building small stars. For most comps I have the best luck spraying the drum rather than the stars themselves, and dumping the dry comp onto the drum wall ahead of the rolling pile. Using this method I get virtually no build-up of comp on the drum walls, even after rolling a couple of kilos.

 

It seems next year will be the first year I'll have stars enough to build a full complement of shells for my show - 100 three inch, 56 four inch, and 12 five inch. Years past I've been happy to get more than half of them full. I've already completed 25 ball shells just dubbing around. I'm also looking forward to making some matrix comets - an old favorite of mine.

 

Kevin O

[braddsn]

Kevin, I too am an avid star roller. I have a 5 gallon bucket roller, but mine will handle 3kg of 8mm cores. I roll all of my cores first, dry them completely, then come back and prime 7-8mm stars for 3" shells, then keep the rest for cores for 4's, 5's, 6's, and 8's. I still do cut some stars from time to time, but 95% of my stars are rolled. The color changing effects, and the ability to roll on strobe cores, etc makes it worth it. Plus, I like to size my stars to within +/- .5mm. Sounds like you are rolling a lot of stars! So far this year I have rolled Fuscia, Green, Red, Turquoise, Orange, and Blue. More colors to come for cores. I save charcoal streamers, silver streamers, gold streamers, brocade, etc for bigger shells 4" and up.