Twotails Posted August 2, 2010 Share Posted August 2, 2010 I made two 4lb loafs of spice bread... there monsters! more to come >.< Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwitt Posted August 2, 2010 Share Posted August 2, 2010 (edited) Learning to cook on those materials- nice! A challenge is right though- overcooked asparagus or calamari would not be so good I'm still patting myself on the back for this last weekend. I made about 35 shells in 3 weeks, except I had stars for half of 'em already. Did everything in the most efficient ways possible- I was really able to streamline my operation. More details to follow, since this is really worth a blog post, and I have pics of a few steps of the operation. The weekend went well. Tested out my new tent instead of sleeping in the farmhouse - a Marmot Limelight 2. Very cool piece of gear. Woke after dawn and shot a couple hundred rounds of .22. Roommates finally woke up around 10 am to begin a long day of target shooting (and sweating). In the afternoon, we threw some seasoned cherry and hickory in the fire pit and smoked our dinner. http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a353/abica/bbq.jpg While the pork was in the pit, we shot a couple hundred clay birds. Then it got dark- on to firing shells. Set the crowd at the minimum safe distance that I paced off earlier that day and took a couple boxes of shells out to the racks with my assistant. Fired some singles, then rigged up 2 flights for the finales. The first flight ended in a overstuffed bag mine, the second ended in a nice little 100g salute. And the crowd went wild. It was really satisfying to finally share my creations with others! I'd put up about 30 shells before that night, but never for more than a few people. Ahh...time to do something other than pyro work for a couple weeks Here's a picture I cobbled together from 3 individual bursts. Cheesy, yeah, but at least I admit to my tricks. I don't think anyone got a decent picture of any of the multi-shell flights. Luckily someone took video of all the shells, so I should have something in a day or so. http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a353/abica/fireworksforgery.jpg Edited August 2, 2010 by jwitt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheEskimo Posted August 2, 2010 Share Posted August 2, 2010 Wow, that looked like a great day. Wish I was there. I can't wait for the video. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KruseMissile Posted August 2, 2010 Share Posted August 2, 2010 Got back from a trip to the Sierra Nevadas. We stayed at Silver Lake campground, which is in the June Lake loop, and did a ton of stuff. Caught 4 fish, not huge but it was fun. Went trail blazing to what we thought would be a lake but we couldn't find it(approx. 6 miles but there were no trails). Hiked up to a Agnew lake (approx. 10 miles total). Made 2lbs of Plum charcoal, 1lb pine cone charcoal, 1lb random wood charcoal, 2lbs of pine charcoal. Now its time to make some BP.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwitt Posted August 2, 2010 Share Posted August 2, 2010 (edited) Pine cone charcoal...man, I'm not experienced, but in my mind that just screams "really nice sparks for streamers" at least added as part of a comp's charcoal. Pine supposedly works good for that, and cones are, uh, "kinda funky" I guess is what I'm getting at, so it ought to be cool to experiment with. Thanks Eskimo- it was a friggin blast! The best part was that the crowd liked it. Even the women! Even my buddy's 2 year old was happy (he's his father's son- no crying from loud explosions). I knew I'd enjoy sharing with others, but it was really cool to see everyone so happy. I'm really excited to take it to the next level as far as creativity and quality. (Edit: I'm getting the raw video clips this evening, going to edit things and hopefully post on pyrotube or similar tonight) Edited August 2, 2010 by jwitt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
50AE Posted August 3, 2010 Share Posted August 3, 2010 (edited) Yesterday night, for the first time in my life, I met a lady with a great passion for fire. A firedancer! It's real fun how it happened. Summer vacation... Me and my best friend decided to go and fire a 3" late at night, it was 0:30AM IIRC. Just for testing. We choose to fire fireworks at late, because sometimes we do light them in a small park where there are people. When it's late, them most of the time the place is empty. We usually place the mortar, light and fire, have a drink and get back home. But yesterday, there were women sitting on the benches. Some sort of impolite women, speaking loudly and talking crap. My friend went "WTF are these motherfuckers doing here so late?!" I told him "Let's go to the 24h shop and buy some drinks, then we come back, sit and wait for them to leave. Then we are going to fire the shell". So we did come back. And the women were still sitting there. We were getting angry, but we sit as well and we drank our drinks.We thought about leaving and coming the next day. Just as we were about to leave, with my peripheric eyesight I saw Flames!Me and the friend turned back, just to see this beautiful lady firedancing. She was dancing on the platform, where I usually put my mortars. http://img715.imageshack.us/img715/6330/2010080314.gif So beautiful! Because I've never a girl inspired by art where fire is handled. So I couldn't resist, I waited her to finish her dance and I went to her and the other women and I politely asked them if I could launch my firework. They didn't mind. With some quick explanations, I installed my mortar and fired the shell. (Already posted the video by the way) It's the second shell with winokur 20 stars. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxOcvWhbQoQ My shell did very well and the ladies were so happy. They liked my firework very much, especially the girl.We let the other ladies alone and we had a conversation. She asked about me, my fireworks, and so on. She was very happy for my hobby. We discussed my hobby, her art, I gave her some tips, I promised her I will make her colored flames, etc. We both have the same age. She lives in the same neighbourhood, and same as me, she comes there to practice her art alone. She said the other ladies were nothing to do with her. I asked her if I could make a video of her dancing. She was happy when she learned that I had a camera with me, she agreed. She said that for the first time in her life, she will see herself dancing on a video. So we talked... until 3:30AM IIRC. I gave her my number and skype, so we will be un touch. Finally, we accompanied her to her home, told her good night and we and my friend went to sleep too. Sadly, she will be on the beach for one week, but I'll wait for her to come back. Edited August 3, 2010 by 50AE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cookieman Posted August 3, 2010 Share Posted August 3, 2010 Wow 50AE, how did you miss that one? both the same age, both in the same neighborhood, and both love the art of fire. Sounds like a match made in heaven. Good luck!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwitt Posted August 3, 2010 Share Posted August 3, 2010 Makes me want to visit Bulgaria! 24 hour shop with booze, girls dancing in the park, fly fishing, hunting, not to mention good music (I hear bulgarian folk on www.kdhx.org every sunday) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
50AE Posted August 5, 2010 Share Posted August 5, 2010 If you wish to come here, don't stay in the capital, Sofia. It's overpopulated, ugly, dirty, plenty of road holes, plenty of trafic and many mean people.Go to Plovdiv or Varna for example. It's very beautiful there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NightHawkInLight Posted August 5, 2010 Share Posted August 5, 2010 Off to the PGI convention tonight. I'll be traveling through the upper peninsula of Michigan - which is a longer drive than if I were to head south, but it is much more beautiful than Gary or Chicago. I'm considering staying in northern Michigan all day tomorrow and fishing rather than driving straight through to Appleton. Regardless of how it works out it will be an incredible trip. I'm very much looking forward to it. I hope to see many of you in Appleton. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Algenco Posted August 5, 2010 Share Posted August 5, 2010 Off to the PGI convention tonight. I'll be traveling through the upper peninsula of Michigan - which is a longer drive than if I were to head south, but it is much more beautiful than Gary or Chicago. I'm considering staying in northern Michigan all day tomorrow and fishing rather than driving straight through to Appleton. Regardless of how it works out it will be an incredible trip. I'm very much looking forward to it. I hope to see many of you in Appleton. I envy you, have a great time! next year Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dagabu Posted August 6, 2010 Share Posted August 6, 2010 Ahhhhhhh, do you smell that? No? Think, whats missing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Algenco Posted August 6, 2010 Share Posted August 6, 2010 Ahhhhhhh, do you smell that? No? Think, whats missing? Rub it in!! Winds here will be from the N/NW, maybe i'll catch a whiff, shoot a lot, it's a long way Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dagabu Posted August 6, 2010 Share Posted August 6, 2010 No, not that silly, what else is missing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Algenco Posted August 6, 2010 Share Posted August 6, 2010 that too, you can tell where my mind is Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dagabu Posted August 6, 2010 Share Posted August 6, 2010 Ill send a rocket up for tomorrow night, 16 hours left before GO time!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneEyeCharlie Posted August 6, 2010 Share Posted August 6, 2010 Just picked up a large bundle of cedar sticks. Had a buddy rip them for me. Might have to launch a few rockets over the lake in the direction of Milwaukee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mumbles Posted August 7, 2010 Share Posted August 7, 2010 I think things are about to get a lot quieter. For future reference, I am quite fond of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneEyeCharlie Posted August 7, 2010 Share Posted August 7, 2010 Mumbles is Charlie's newest, bestest friend. On a different note. Going to see Lyle Lovett in concert tonight. Outdoor amphitheater with a huge fireworks show afterwards. Bonus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ventsi Posted August 8, 2010 Share Posted August 8, 2010 Makes me want to visit Bulgaria! 24 hour shop with booze, girls dancing in the park, fly fishing, hunting, not to mention good music (I hear bulgarian folk on www.kdhx.org every sunday) I can't vouch for the music, but I can for Varna and Plovdiv. Burgas is a nice city on the beach too...Though tickets are alwfully expensive, my last one clockong in at 1.3K Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cookieman Posted August 8, 2010 Share Posted August 8, 2010 Ahhhh!! gotta love summer, it doesn't get any better than this. Backyard BarBQ with friends, smoked baby back ribs, lots of beer, and a Professional fireworks display with background music from my dog Moo Moo, all from my backyard deck.My link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erid Posted August 8, 2010 Share Posted August 8, 2010 Going to see Lamb of God with Hatebreed and 3 Inches of Blood tomorrow night! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwitt Posted August 9, 2010 Share Posted August 9, 2010 (edited) Though tickets are alwfully expensive, my last one clockong in at 1.3K Ouch! Wouldn't it be cheaper to fly into Italy or similar and go the rest of the way on ground? Assuming you're touring the area, of course...that's my plan. If I recall, Bulgaria is southeast, so I guess that wouldn't be practical if you were only going there. Edited August 9, 2010 by jwitt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mumbles Posted August 23, 2010 Share Posted August 23, 2010 Do you have pix? Here are the pictures I promised of the 7lbs of polverone ala swisher. It's pretty easy to tell just how coarse of KNO3 I ended up using. My blender broke part way through, so I might have been using -16 mesh KNO3 at the end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NightHawkInLight Posted September 2, 2010 Share Posted September 2, 2010 A test of a 3" dry fuel lampare went very well last night. I have two 6" cans ready to be filled as soon as I get home from work today. And could it be? Have I finally figured out a method for consistent senko hanabi? It looks promising. More testing required. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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