cheapest colors and kinds of star formulations

[ronmoper76]

I found barium nitrate greens are pretty cheap to make,what are some of everyone elses favorites?

[Carbon796]

KP/carbonate or KP/resin fueled, will generally be the cheapest to make. But, not necessarily the best colors, depending on your preference. Edited February 24, 2021 by Carbon796

[justvisiting]

Charcoal streamers are big on effect, and quite cheap. When I first started making colors, I made simple ball shells with colored stars. That gets boring pretty quickly. Now I look at it a little differently. One can take a nice green composition and press wafers to make married comets, as a for instance. That way the color is contrasted with the streamer beautifully, but less expensive stuff is used. Rolled stars could have an expensive color core with a cheaper outer streamer layer, which I think maximizes both effects

[Richtee]

Grab a road flare bust it up and drop it in some hot water. Mix well, strain and filter. Evap the water. Bright cheap reds.

[Arthur]

What part of pyro spells cheap? The variant BP group rockets fountains and charcoal stars are a bit economy but great effects cost great money. If you take a ball shell and skimp on effects than the break/filler costs more.

[ronmoper76]

hahahaha with the road flare,i will get right on that,lol

charcoal streamers and firefly was what i was thinking to,i use alot of strontium carbonate already so i agree with that. I think im gonna load up on barium or strontium nitrate,it cuts back on KNO4 usage and both seem to work in alot of formulas.

[Richtee]

hahahaha with the road flare,i will get right on that,lol

..strontium nitrate,

Whaddia think is in a road flare?

[ronmoper76]

i believe you,JUST no idea where to even buy them anymore,not around here anyhow

[Bourbon]

Anywhere that sells road safety kits. Auto Part store, China Mart, Bi-Mart, even our local Truck Stop sells them. Hot coffee, even pills to make ya stay awake so you can tare down road flares you just picked up, all in one stop..

[royster]

I get root killer and react it with baking soda, filter and dry and make blue stars.

[Richtee]

Anywhere that sells road safety kits. Auto Part store, China Mart, Bi-Mart, even our local Truck Stop sells them. Hot coffee, even pills to make ya stay awake so you can tare down road flares you just picked up, all in one stop..

I guess I dunno where he’s from...? Maybe that matters. Like that country that builds the Vulva car.

[ronmoper76]

i never tried the root killer thing,nitrocellulose is about as far as i go as to making chemicals. I am m from central pennsylvania,120 miles from pittsburg. I remember seeing flares alot when i was younger because my father was a truck driver,but nowdays they come in small 2 or 3 packs that come with 4 other pieces of useless junk as a roadside kit and cost 50-100 dollars.

[SeaMonkey]

Quote from Royster:

I get root killer and react it with baking soda, filter and dry and make blue stars.

 

 

By Root Killer do you mean Copper Sulfate?

[Richtee]

i never tried the root killer thing,nitrocellulose is about as far as i go as to making chemicals. I am m from central pennsylvania,120 miles from pittsburg. I remember seeing flares alot when i was younger because my father was a truck driver,but nowdays they come in small 2 or 3 packs that come with 4 other pieces of useless junk as a roadside kit and cost 50-100 dollars.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Orion-Safety-Products-20-Minute-Flares-with-Orange-Vest-6pk/21801879?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0&&adid=22222222227016992974&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=40839828032&wl4=pla-78652980512&wl5=9016996&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=8175035&wl11=online&wl12=21801879&veh=sem&gclid=CjwKCAiA1eKBBhBZEiwAX3gql7Vk280pWoUvE7kB1S630kLE9VhfFzsFH4cFoOjEjeneVYPcRoSnHxoCFk4QAvD_BwE

[royster]

Quote from Royster:

 

By Root Killer do you mean Copper Sulfate?

Yes sir

[Richtee]

It’s a semi-technical forum. I hadda look up what the heck you were talking about. Chemical names are appreciated

 

Quote from Royster:

 

By Root Killer do you mean Copper Sulfate?

 

 

I get root killer and react it with baking soda, filter and dry and make blue stars.

[SharkWhisperer]

I get root killer and react it with baking soda, filter and dry and make blue stars.

I wonder if your copper sulfate alone might give you a deeper blue than your homemade (probably sodium-tainted if you don't wash the crap out of it) copper (bi)carbonate in star comps??? They've got similar melting and boiling temperatures.

Edited February 26, 2021 by SharkWhisperer

[justvisiting]

Any time I have made my own copper carbonate or oxide, the blue color was poor or absent. When I attempted as a dangerous newbie to make blue stars with copper sulfate and potassium chlorate, they burned pale blue. They would have been better if I did a better job, I'm sure. That said, copper sulfate normally exists as the pentahydrate and is very acidic. Its use was discouraged because of that acidic nature, because it could cause spontaneous ignition. Such a formula would not be used nowadays.

 

You can use potassium carbonate, available in grow shops to make the basic copper carbonate by precipitation, but like I said, mine didn't work. You can heat it to red heat to convert it to the oxide (which I did), but it still didn't make a good blue. Copper oxide is intensely black, and mine would only turn dark brown. I thought that maybe some of the carbonate was converted to red copper oxide, which gave the brown color, but in that case, there would be more available copper.

 

I made copper nitrate by dissolving pure copper in nitric acid, which creates large amounts of highly toxic fumes. Then I dried it and converted it at a red heat to the oxide (again, with the fumes!), and it made a good blue.

 

I've made my own chems lots of times, and I usually win, but not so much with copper Some of the things I've done were VERY dangerous, because I did not fully understand the chemistry behind what I was doing. Still don't

[SharkWhisperer]

Any time I have made my own copper carbonate or oxide, the blue color was poor or absent. When I attempted as a dangerous newbie to make blue stars with copper sulfate and potassium chlorate, they burned pale blue. They would have been better if I did a better job, I'm sure. That said, copper sulfate normally exists as the pentahydrate and is very acidic. Its use was discouraged because of that acidic nature, because it could cause spontaneous ignition. Such a formula would not be used nowadays.

 

You can use potassium carbonate, available in grow shops to make the basic copper carbonate by precipitation, but like I said, mine didn't work. You can heat it to red heat to convert it to the oxide (which I did), but it still didn't make a good blue. Copper oxide is intensely black, and mine would only turn dark brown. I thought that maybe some of the carbonate was converted to red copper oxide, which gave the brown color, but in that case, there would be more available copper.

 

I made copper nitrate by dissolving pure copper in nitric acid, which creates large amounts of highly toxic fumes. Then I dried it and converted it at a red heat to the oxide (again, with the fumes!), and it made a good blue.

 

I've made my own chems lots of times, and I usually win, but not so much with copper Some of the things I've done were VERY dangerous, because I did not fully understand the chemistry behind what I was doing. Still don't

Having not used copper sulfate for anything since a college (high school?) chem class, all I really remembered was that it spits off its water at pretty low temps but then takes some real heat for further decomposition into CuO SO₃^- , the latter of which I'd expect to enjoy a vigorous relationship with any chlorate, oh my. Seems like about the worst sufur/chlorate interaction that could be imagined. But what about with potassium perc? I'm guessing low-temp ammonium perc might not generate the heat to get decomposition to CuO, and a pot perc formulation might be difficult to ignite.

 

Shoot, I'm pretty satisfied with the blues that I get with CuO and oxychloride, but blues can always be better, innit? And for the relative amounts needed in most formulations, I'll go with the slightly pricier store-bought options...

[ronmoper76]

i just made these two today and was impressed with both. Kats pink,yankee flashing stars. I also made one yesterday called award winning blue that i liked alot,i got it from skylighter i believe. all were super simple to make,my favorite was the yankee flashing stars that i added a little orange spark titanium to,pretty cool for only needing potassium nitrate

[Mumbles]

Justvisiting, any time I've ever made precipitated copper oxide it comes out kind of chocolately brown as well. I've always just chalked it up to a particle size or shape. Getting rid of salt contamination is often an issue if starting from sulfate I've found. The residual sodium or potassium sulfate just loves to stick around it seems. For what it's worth, in my opinion the best way to make copper oxide if you're going to start from copper sulfate is probably to use sodium or potassium hydroxide. They're more caustic and dangerous than the carbonates, but the resulting copper hydroxide dehydrates to the oxide in hot to boiling water. I actually managed to add solid sodium hydroxide once, and the heat of solvation of the hydroxide alone was able to get it hot enough to partially decompose it to the copper to oxide.

[sora]

i just made these two today and was impressed with both. Kats pink,yankee flashing stars. I also made one yesterday called award winning blue that i liked alot,i got it from skylighter i believe. all were super simple to make,my favorite was the yankee flashing stars that i added a little orange spark titanium to,pretty cool for only needing potassium nitrate

What's the composition for Kats Pink ?

Thanks

[ronmoper76]

https://fireworkscookbook.com/firework-recipe/kats-pink/

[MadMat]

Time rain micro-stars in a charcoal streamer matrix star is one of my favorites. They are effort intensive but not real expensive.