King's glitter, As i call it

[spitfire]

Additional info on Winokur # 20 Glitter, or as i call it... King's Glitter!

 

This has been the most amazing glitter formula i have ever seen, and used for years. Pretty much non-toxic materials and the result gives you glitter stars with flashes so large and loud, the almost look like strobe or ''softened'' crackling comets. My all time favorite! So i nick-named it ''King's Glitter''. The formula:

 

Potassium Nitrate 48

Sulfur 17

MgAl 200 mesh 12 (like portland cement)

Charcoal (pine) 10

Sodium Bicarbonate 5

Iron Oxide red 4

Dextrin 4

 

All ingredients must be very fine, if you use fertilizer grade KNO3 and/or Bicarbonate, ballmill it first to a very fine powder. Sieve the ingredients and ''diaper'' them to a homogeneous mass. It is critical when you make stars out of this, to use a minimum amount of water. Too much water somewhat kills the effect. Personally i always use a starplate when making these babies. Add just enough water/alcohol (75/25) to make it a little bit damp, just enough to hold it together when you squeeze a hand full in your palm.

 

VARIATIONS:

 

The color and size of the spritzels (exploding sparks) can be altered by using different types of charcoal. On average the ''heavier'' coals, (oak, beech etc) give more golden sparks but also a very long delay. It may also cause less spritzels to form. I also tried Willow charcoal and it gave slightly smaller ''whiter'' sparks. Enough room to experiment!

 

PINE COAL

This charcoal is my favorite because the natural growing cycle of the pine tree gives soft wood followed by a layer of hard wood during season changes. The charcoal resembles this. The soft charcoal mostly works ''onboard'' the burning star and helps to drive off the spritzels. The more hard charcoal acts in the process of forming the actual spritzels.

 

Altering delay:

 

The amount of Sodium Bicarbonate can be altered to change the delay. By increasing/decreasing the Bicarbonate by 1% one can finetune the delay. This might come in hand when you want to make smaller stars and bigger comets with this formula.

 

More Bicarbonate = longer delay

Less Bicarbonate = shorter delay

 

For further reading on understanding glitter i strongly suggest:

 

GLITTER chemistry & techniques by Lloyd Scott Oglesby

 

 

[ivars21]

Thanks for sharing, do you prime these?

Edited April 3, 2014 by ivars21

[spitfire]

Thanks for sharing, do you prime these?

It seems not necessary, they ignite really easy. But i always prime stars, just to make sure. this particular one with just a little BP.

[TYRONEEZEKIEL]

Have you ever tried winokur 39j?

[MWJ]

Thanks! I'm making some as soon as I get my Mag/Al.

[FlaMtnBkr]

When you say "like portland cement" are you talking about particle size?

 

Are you just using mgal that is sold as 200 mesh? Does there seem to be much that 'airfloats' when you are using it? Have you tried many of the Winokur formulas?

[spitfire]

wow a lot of questions at once... let me recapture this.

 

Have you ever tried winokur 39j?

Yes i have, but i have to admit that was in 2006, and i didn't wrote down anything back then. I also experimented with that formula using different sizes of metals, atomized Al in various sizes, flake, MgAl... but, as i said... i never wrote down the results or methods. Basically today i am re-inventing the same thing. Any info/results from your part are more than welcome!

 

When you say "like portland cement" are you talking about particle size?

Are you just using mgal that is sold as 200 mesh? Does there seem to be much that 'airfloats' when you are using it? Have you tried many of the Winokur formulas?

Yes, i was talking about particle size. Funny thing is, i see a lot of people who use different mesh sizes and it doesn't seem to affect the star's performance very much? For example, youtube has some video's of guys using 100 mesh, in the past i used coarser MgAl than i have today. The performance was pretty much exactly the same.

My 200 mesh MgAl is sold that way, (and assuming it IS 200 mesh..) it tends to be very fluffy and a little bit ''airfloat'' but not nearly as fine like flake alu. Can't give you a clear answer to that, sorry.

 

I have tried many Winokur formula's but i chose this one for it's low cost and it's not asking for toxic materials but still gives a stunning performance. There is so much room for experimentation, even with this single formula. Ever wondered why Winokur came up with 40 different formulae? That's just a tip of the iceberg of possibilities! If you choose one of the 40, each one can be altered to at least 10 ''new'' formulae. Just search for what you need. Experiment and learn. That's the fun part to me

 

EDIT: write down every single step of what you are doing, what you where using, how you did it step by step. Don't make the same mistake as i did 8 yrs ago

Edited April 4, 2014 by spitfire

[MWJ]

What do you mean by: homogeneous mass? Thanks, I have all of the chemicals weighed out and ready to mix now.

[pyrokid]

He means to have all the ingredients mixed equally.

[MWJ]

Great. Thanks. Thats what I thought but wanted to make sure.

[spitfire]

Have fun MWJ, let us know what you think of the results!

[MWJ]

I absolutely will. My homemade pump broke so I'll have to wait to get a good one from Hunter, but when I do I'll post the video. I can't wait! I think pumping them will be better than roller them. Now when you say "Alcohol" I think you mean Iso. Al. and not denatured Al. Right?

[spitfire]

Now when you say "Alcohol" I think you mean Iso. Al. and not denatured Al. Right?

 

I just use denatured ''bio-ethanol'' sold for those small decorative burners... works great for me and it's very cheap.

Pumping this composition gave me the best results. rolling stars is nice, but for this it might be way too much trouble and possible over-wet the composition easily. I'm using 8 and 11 mm starplates for these.

 

Mix comp.

wet slightly.

press.

Dry.

Prime slightly.

 

done!

Edited April 15, 2014 by spitfire

[MWJ]

Great! thanks. I do have some denatured Al. already so I'll do it your way. I want the best results I can get. Do you have any videos of them burning? I'd love to see what I can expect from them. Thanks for the post!

[spitfire]

MWJ,

 

For my own safety i don't like to post videos. Just a matter of ''don't spread evidence''.. I hope you understand this point of view. Sadly the world came to this point where making something to please people is considered a criminal offence.

 

There are some great videos on youtube though, just search for Winokur # 20

[MWJ]

I do understand completely. Thanks anyway. I'll look it up. Thanks again for the formula!

[hindsight]

 

MWJ,

 

For my own safety i don't like to post videos. Just a matter of ''don't spread evidence''.. I hope you understand this point of view. Sadly the world came to this point where making something to please people is considered a criminal offence.

Totally empathize with this point of view. At times the urge to post a video is almost overwhelming, but then caution intervenes. Be of good cheer, and know that you are in good company, spitfire.

[helmut]

Does anyone has experience to roll a twinkler..... Like a tremolante effect?

[MrB]

Totally empathize with this point of view. At times the urge to post a video is almost overwhelming, but then caution intervenes. Be of good cheer, and know that you are in good company, spitfire.

Let me know if you ever find a video of my making. I'll find who ever stole it from me, and make em remove it.

I document next to everything i do. But nothing leaves my grasp. I might show, or rather, i gladly show different stuff, it's very easy to plug in a USB stick, and point to something while talking, but it's evidence. I'm not letting anyone walk away with it.

 

Anyway. It depends on where you live, i guess.

B!

[Jordan]

Is there any version of this comp that can use spherical Ti to get long trailing golden sparks?

 

Thanks All, Jordan

[spitfire]

Is there any version of this comp that can use spherical Ti to get long trailing golden sparks?

 

Thanks All, Jordan

I'm afraid that won't be like a glitter effect. MgAl has an active role in this. But when you have spherical Ti... (where did you get it haha) just mix your Ti for 8 - 12% with any gold (tiger tail, weeping willow) star formula and you're pretty much on track. Depends completely on the size and form of your Ti.

[LambentPyro]

I am quite curious as to what a little added Ti would do to this formula actually.

 

By the way, if you want to make rock hard stars so they don't blow blind when you break a shell hard like I do with streamers, it's best to use the solvent with the binder. So I suggest using water (maybe with a little Alcohol to break ST) to fully activate the Dextrin, otherwise the Dextrin is hardly being used for what it's purpose is in the formula for.

[nater]

Do you mean leaving the dextrin out of the mixed comp and using it in a solution with water when you dampen the comp? This is a tried and true method, which works quite well.

 

Otherwise, it is assumed that you use some solvent with any binder mixed in the comp. Add the solvent, screen it a few times and wait several 20 minutes or so for the binder to be activated. Lloyd recommends sealing the dampened tub of up and letting it rest all night.

 

I would think a little Ti in that comp would add some silver sparks to the mix. It would probably look nice.

[Mumbles]

I would avoid leaving this particular composition sealed up overnight. A normal formula would be fine. This one containing nitrate, magnalium, and sodium bicarbonate could begin to react. Having it sealed with escalate this reaction. MJW actually just experienced this inadvertently. 20-30 min should be fine, overnight probably would be too long.

 

Fair warning on the Ti. Too many coarse particles in glitter mixes can lead to excessive fallout.

[nater]

Good point, I was not sure if MgAl was susceptible to the same reaction as fine aluminum with nitrates.