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I recently started working with Flash Pads and Flash Cotton, and I am wondering if it is safe to slow-burn a piece of flash paper in my hand.... I ned to do so for my next competition at IBM-SAM 2008 to produce a globe of the world.

So, can it burn the skin like this? Thank you!

Michael

The nice thing about Flash paper is that it burns fast and so will do limited damage. Usually you can hold a piece of FP and burn it without doing serious damage to yourself.

You say you want to make it burn slow. This can be achieved, but the slower it burns the more it WILL burn you.

If you throw the paper up in the air though (with the globe inside) then that sounds like more feasible way to go.

That might work, but I would have to be very careful about catching the glboe as it is made of crystal.... would the flash distract me or would I be able to see it land?

Michael Kras wrote:That might work, but I would have to be very careful about catching the glboe as it is made of crystal.... would the flash distract me or would I be able to see it land?

Yes the flash would distract you. You would have to practice - (preferably with a rubber ball or stone and not a crystal globe)

Good idea. Thank you!

FFS, Mike, if you'd use the search function before asking questions like this, you'd see where someone with a reasonable amount of knowledge on this topic wrote:...this is the rule of thumb...If you ball up a piece of flash paper tightly, then it will burn at a slower rate. So, if you want to throw it in the air and get it to go a reasonable distance before it completely burns out, then you ball it very tightly. This is not suggested to hold in your palm - it will burn you. However, if you ball it loosely, the fire will consume the paper very quickly, not allowing for the heat of the flame to heat the palm of your hand up to burning temperature...Therefore, if you ball the paper up loosely, you can reasonably allow it to burn in your palm without the fear of a burn to the skin.

However, just as with anything that burns, you do so at your own risk. The more you play with fire, the greater becomes your chances of being burned. Any fire eater will tell you that eventually, no matter how careful you are, no matter the precautions that you take, you will get burned - there is no way around it.

Experiment with it and find out. That's the answer to this question, Mike. Will it burn you? Well, I don't know. Does fire burn? Is flash paper on fire? These questions don't amount to rocket science and I think that the answers are within the grasp of a 14 year old.

But, I'll tell you this:

It is better that you experiment with it now rather than assume anything and get in front of judges and find out.

Loosely ball the paper around your glass globe, hold it, and ignite it. That will give you your answer.

I'm thinking though, based on my experience with fire, that the paper that is at the bottom of your globe isn't going to fully ignite and will leave you with a small dot of paper left over (because the globe comes in contact with your skin, it will not allow for the paper between the globe and your skin to burn up - a lack of oxygen exists in that small area and therefore it cannot ignite).

Then again, when you ignite the paper, if you drop your hand ever so slightly to allow oxygen to come between your skin and the paper (and globe), it will probably burn up and give you the added bonus of having it off of your hand for the full incineration process. That's probably a good thing.

But, please don't expect me to get up, off of my ass, go find a marble and do this test for you.

Just do it and find out.

Not real hard to understand, now is it?

Mike.

Thank you, Mr. Jay. Great advice! But why so blunt?

Why so blunt? Do you really want the answer to that?

I'll give it to you, but you won't like it.

Mike.

this is certainly were sankeys version of the strike vanish will give you a big clue.

I took that advice. Is that what you are referring to?

If you don't handle flash paper properly then it will burn you - and it's bl***y HOT!

By asking such a question you show a level of inexperience with such things (and I remember you nearly burning down your kitchen recently). With this in mind I would start reading up on flash paper well in time of you needing to rehearse using it.

To veer off on a very slight tangent, flash paper features in a handful of my effects but sometimes I wish it looked more like normal paper. It would have its uses.

dat8962 wrote:If you don't handle flash paper properly then it will burn you - and it's bl***y HOT!

By asking such a question you show a level of inexperience with such things (and I remember you nearly burning down your kitchen recently). With this in mind I would start reading up on flash paper well in time of you needing to rehearse using it.

I know.... I am just learning how to use it properly, and that is why I am asking.

Thank you though, I will study it further.