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Smiley face, cool patterns...are these doable?


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Posted

Just watching this from another thread and I was curious if this could actually be done with real fireworks. If the link doesn't work fast forward to 4:30 to see what I'm talking about.

 

Posted

Yes, it's possible, but it will take some while until you are as good as those guys. ;)

 

Oh, what marvellous colours! :wub:

Posted
Those would be sick! blush.gif
Posted (edited)

Maltese fireworks..... In my opinion the Maltese and the Japanese are the world masters of fireworks. They pull off tricks we can only dream of. Not to forget they use chemicals that makes a matchhead look innocent. They're all about chlorates and sulfur. Even in flash. But, their shows.... i've seen several myself, got no words for what those guys are doing. So beautiful! They took the art to a whole different level. That heart shape in this video is amazing!

 

EDIT: oh my god... i just made an epic mistake... just saw only the intro before this reply, never saw it was a sim! Shame on me sleep.gif

Edited by spitfire
Posted

Guys, this is a SIM, it's not real. Upp, yes, the effects can be done but the stars will not be that bright and the rolling would be tedious. They usually look really sloppy when tried and the colors are dull. I think you should give it a try though ;)

 

-dag

Posted

Oh, I was wondering. It looked too perfect.

 

But they are still the best in the world.

Posted

Pattern shells are something I will start to get into. The concept is easier then you think. The stars are simply arranged into the desired shape and expand upon burst. This is tedious. The star arrangement needs to bee perfect. A hair off and the shape is ruined and will be several feet off. there is an excellent skylighter tutorial on this topic. To me, the hardest part is getting the burst charge right. There is alot of empty cavity. My first pattern shell was suppose to be a hard broken Palm Tree, but it turned into a 3 inch salute :whistle:

Complete accident!

Posted

Pattern shells are something I will start to get into. The concept is easier then you think. The stars are simply arranged into the desired shape and expand upon burst. This is tedious. The star arrangement needs to bee perfect. A hair off and the shape is ruined and will be several feet off. there is an excellent skylighter tutorial on this topic. To me, the hardest part is getting the burst charge right. There is alot of empty cavity. My first pattern shell was suppose to be a hard broken Palm Tree, but it turned into a 3 inch salute :whistle:

Complete accident!

 

I saw a guy making an 8" heart at PGI in 2010, he used rice hulls in the hemi halves but pressed them flat under a circle of gampi paper and then put a dab of glue on each of the stars to make the heart shape on the gampi paper, then he put a dab of glue on the top of each star and set another circle of gampi on the top half and flipped it on to the lower half.

 

It worked and it looked a whole lot like the commercial shells.

 

-dag

  • 3 weeks later...
Posted

I watched the vid and was like those are the most amazing fireworks I've ever seen.

HAHA I didn't know it was a sim. unsure2.gif

  • 4 months later...
Posted

I saw a guy making an 8" heart at PGI in 2010, he used rice hulls in the hemi halves but pressed them flat under a circle of gampi paper and then put a dab of glue on each of the stars to make the heart shape on the gampi paper, then he put a dab of glue on the top of each star and set another circle of gampi on the top half and flipped it on to the lower half.

 

It worked and it looked a whole lot like the commercial shells.

 

-dag

 

Do you know what kind of gampi paper? There seem to be a lot of different thicknesses. It's also kind of expensive.

 

http://www.fineartstore.com/Catalog/tabid/365/CategoryID/12557/List/1/Level/a/Default.aspx?SortField=UnitCost,UnitCost

 

Would regular craft tissue paper do te trick?

 

-t

Posted

I would just use tissue paper (the gift wrap kind) myself.

 

-dag

Posted

It's costumary to fire several of these at once, in the hope that some will face enough in each direction to let everyone see the effect... But how about helping these orient them selfs? I'm thinking heart shapes, and smilies that really needs to hove a "down" designated. Would leaving a bit of hemp rope trailing out through the bottom half act like the tail on a drake, and let it settle in the right way during it's travel up?

Your still going to have the issue of facing direction, but at least your heart-shape wont turn out to be displayed upside down, or such.

 

I'm a fan of "box" figures, mostly cos they are 3 dimensional, and you can view em from any direction...

B!

Posted
Pattern shells are fun and you learn a lot while doing them. Smily faces are one of the easier ones to make. I was getting real close to getting a cube shell to work and then I dropped all of these types of projects in trade for maltese shell building. But I guess I lied a little because I have a butterfly shell to test shoot :P
Posted

I have the heart shells I am shooting for a wedding and all five have a rope attached to orient them.

 

Dag

Posted

So rope works. What gauge (What is a ropes width named?) & length for what size shell do you use? I'm sort of favoring using natural materials, but anything that doesn't burn up untill it has done it's job, and doesn't weigh to much should do the trick i guess.

B!

  • Like 1
Posted
I have seen 8" shells with 1/2" rope about 3' long . Some makers unbrade the rope and paste it into the last layer , making it drape both hemis . This drag rope can serve as a effects anchor as well. many of the shells I observed had rising effects attached to these ropes ( so they pulled double duty).
Posted

They are 6" ball shells with three feet of 3/4" manila rope. All natural and biodegradable.

 

-dag

Posted
I've used much thinner Hemp (1/8th of an inch perhaps) and pasted a bit of card on the end to make up more drag.
Posted

So two out of three run about three feet rope, and gauge is all over the place. Again, thank ya guys, there is always something new to learn here.

B!

Posted

I got the recommendation from a grand-master to use the larger rope. I am sure others would work well too.

 

-dag

Posted

I'd think rope would solve what side is up, but wouldn't it still spin?

 

Has anyone tried adding fins? I would think that would maintain the orientation in all axeses.

 

Sort of related, I noticed one supplier was selling plastic easter egg shells for use as shells. They are oval. I would think they would create problems, but has anyone ever used them and what kind of issues/results did you get?

 

-t

Posted

I'd think rope would solve what side is up, but wouldn't it still spin?

 

Has anyone tried adding fins? I would think that would maintain the orientation in all axeses.

 

Sort of related, I noticed one supplier was selling plastic easter egg shells for use as shells. They are oval. I would think they would create problems, but has anyone ever used them and what kind of issues/results did you get?

 

-t

 

it might slow the spin but it would still spin.

Most people solve that by launching several at once, at least one should be orientated properly

Posted
Easter egg shells work fine. The biggest issue I see is increased risk of flowerpot.
Posted
Easter eggs work fine for dump breaks. If you want real symmetry, you'll have to go with a real cylinder or ball shell.
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