talkmagic.co.uk

Look at it this way. You can cough up a little bit of cash or your can risk burning your eyebrows off. I'd much rather just by it. Now, one thing you might try is contacting the distributor. Maybe they can sell it to you in bulk. You'll pay more up front, but you might get a deal. You never know till you try.

I don't believe this is even a thread, but please do me a favour if you choose to make your own. Record the incident and have a friend or relative mail me the recording. I ask you because you will end up being one of the people on shows like America's funniest video's or I could submit it to the Darwin Awards people, (they give out awards to people who have died doing incredibly dumb things) in any case I'm sure I can make some money off of it somewhere. Because its amazing what people will pay to watch other people doing really dumb things.

Don't usually post here, but if you want a video of someone making flash, look here:

Note from Mods: Link deleted. Glad to hear you don't usually post here if that's the kind of thing you have to offer. The whole point of this thread is that attempts to make home made flash paper and the uses of it are far too dangerous, not just to the performer but to any audience. It may cost a few quid but buying proper flash paper from a reputable source is far safer.

Sorry mods. I know the dangers of fire in magic routines... I learnt that the hard way! Guys, flash paper should only ever be manufactured by professionals. (Although in I'll be the first to admit that the clip was far from professional looking). In hindsight I should have made my position clear, in line with everyone else's, but I digress...

The reason I remembered that video was because afterwards it got me thinking about flash. Could you make flash anything else? I don't mean cotton or string... I mean flash cards. Ok, ok I know it's probably a stupid idea, but it would be a pretty visual vanish no? A card burning into nothingness in mid air. I was even thinking if they could somehow make the top layer of a card flash and below that another card (that obviously doesn't burn) and use this to change the card right before their eyes. Yes I know you could come off with a reasonably cool vanish/change with just flash paper. I'm just trying to think outside of the box.

Im also not saying people should go out and try and do this. I'm sure its not even possible, as it should have been thought of already, right? (Has it? Please tell if it has!) In any case I'm just throwing that idea up there.

Also if you're wondering how I "learnt the dangers of fire the hard way" then I'll tell you what I can remember. No, I did not try and make flash paper. No, I did not hurt myself (permanently). But yes I did make a fool of myself. It went something like this:
"Can you see your card in the ashes on my arm?"
"No, but I can see your burning skin!"

Oh well, you learn from your mistakes.

I'm pretty sure I've seen card designs printed on flash paper somewhere.

Flash Money comes to mind - probably US Dollar bills printed on flash paper?

Just reading what you said and the closest thing to that type of effect (that I know of) is Heat by Mattieu Bich.

There's a teaser on youtube which might help you develop your ideas, and the method is explained somewhere on his close-up DVD. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=QxwhPlCXK4g

I agree your effect sounds very impressive, nice I idea if you can pull it off. However ...

My experience with flash products is they don't work at all "glued" to anything. This is because they need a lot of oxygen for the flame's reaction, and the glue prevents this. You also have a problem when you have it balled up (you get a slower burning fireball), and when it's trapped between/under things.

You also need to use light weight materials because they burn completely and don't to leave much ash. If it burns fiercely then any ash escapes as smoke, but something like a card would probably leave a mess.

Sorry for the rather bleak viewpoint, I'm sure you'll prove me wrong.

You can buy flash cards (although I now can't find where I've seen them advertised), which I'm fairly sure are basically playing cards treated with the nitrating mixture. I've not tried, but I reckon you could hold a d***** and burn the front one off as a reveal.

Thanks for the input. The card gluing idea was probably a bit ambitious. Actually thinking about it now, it would probably be easier to just do a DL, place it on a table and burn away the top flash-card. Of course then we get to the problem of the flash-card .

Flash-money sounds pretty cool. More flexible like paper. Torn, burnt and restored?

You can make anti flash paper, by dipping a standard sheet of paper, into a beaker of dihydrous monoxide, though be careful, if dihydrous monoxide comes into contact with your clothes, it can be a nightmare to get off again.

crozboz wrote:You can make anti flash paper, by dipping a standard sheet of paper, into a beaker of dihydrous monoxide, though be careful, if dihydrous monoxide comes into contact with your clothes, it can be a nightmare to get off again.

"nightmare" to rhyme with "3 minutes wait"
of course this is depending on the quantities involved!

Don't take risk making flash paper. It is too dangerous and yet you don't have experience on it. You can easily purchase 20 sheets of flash paper for around £3+ out there.

Why is it that people always wonder where to look for instructions on how to make something? If you want to learn how to make flash paper do some research.

I wanted to know how gun cotton and flash paper and exploding pa...all those things were made, and I found it in a few minutes.

But you should first be ok with the idea of burning the h*ll out of yourself, or toasting your house, loosing your eyebrows etc etc.

"Stay Safe" DON'T try it

Anyway, it probably doesn't work as well.......

I love some of the comments about this.

At any rate, my dad has a master's in chemistry, and under his careful watch I made some flash paper and some black powder when I was 12. Black powder is cheap, easy and safe to make, and as long as you don't pack it tightly all it does is burn really fast... it's fun to twist into paper to make your own sparklers.

Flash paper is expensive, hard and dangerous to make, and should only be attempted if your dad has a masters in chemistry. However, shredding it and making flash-paper confetti to throw into the fireplace never EVER gets old... ever. If you've never done so, stop whatever you're doing right now and go toss a handful into the fireplace. If you don't giggle like a school girl then obviously you were never a boy scout.*

* - Boy scouts and fire go together like PB & J

Or replacing the little tub of water in a sauna with alcohol of some kind.

This is also very dangerous and shouldn't be attempted, especially when the 'saunees' don't realise.

Ethanol or vodka will suffice.