talkmagic.co.uk

I've been working on a variation of Eugene Burgers 'Toy robot' trick for Christmas and the last thing I need to complete to effect is a bowl of fire.

Rather than just fill a bowl with paraffin which won't smell all that nice or be that safe I was wondering if there are other chemicals or products that can create the same effect.
I can't afford to spend the money on experimenting right, now and would need to buy it locally so the product would have to be brought form shops in either London or Leeds.

The fire needs to last from six to ten minuets.
Thanks.

Colemans do a very high quality lead free fuel used in camping stoves and the like - I use it for fire eating. It burns very hot but very clean and costs about £5 per can from most good camping shops.

Wow - does that sound like an advert of what????

Maybe methylated spirits? Don't know how big the bowl is or anything but you wouldnt want to be filling an average sized bowel with the stuff. The reason being you have to let it burn out. You can suffocate the flame but then you have to dispose of the rest of the mets (bad practise to add it back to the bottle) Maybe three quaters fill the bowel with something non-flammable, then a layer of mets. Im sure theres a way it can be done like that. You'd want to be in a well ventilated room too. It will easily burn for that period of time.

Anyways, this post has been based on using the stuff to cook stingy meals in all sorts of silly situtations so dont take my word for gospel. Hope this in some way helps!

Doyler,

I certainly wouldn't want to put them up my bowel, that would be like having a curry As Johnny Cash said, ring of fire

And it burns burns burns....

oh dear! Such unfortunate spelling! God, the really disturbing thing is Ring of Fire was written by a woman....

Anyways no point in editing now, the damage has been done

Maybe it's just me, but I recall seeing safe and proven Fire Bowl units sold in magic shops long ago... even a few that had spring flowers in them or a Zombie Ball that split open into two mini-fire bowls... e.g. I'm quite confused as to why this is a problem and more so, why we are considering potentially dangerous scenarios WITHOUT a pyro-tech authorization, which is required in most major cities the world over these days (not to mention Union issues, insurance rates, etc.)

That warning expressed, I'd suggest you look for the Micky Hades book on Chemical & Fire Magick, it's a great primer for this sort of stuff.

Gel fire bowls would give you a bowl of fire if it doesn't need to be functional as a bowl for anything but the fire. If you google gel fire you'll find a whole load of options.

http://www.featuredeco.co.uk/mall/depar ... l%2520Fuel

I never realised that, thought Cash wrote it. In fact it was written jointly by June Carter and Merle Kilgore.

Harry, I have an old firebowl made of Brass, I believe its about 6-7 inch round. It has a grid at the bottom which holds in the padding which is probably cotton wool or similar. It has a tube fitted inside with a lighter type wheel on the top and you replace the flint from underneath the bowl. I would imagine the time it burns will depend on the fuel used, lighter fuel or meths !!

Try the retailers of second hand goods such as Derek Lever, Mike Shepherd at York or John Oakley.

I presume it was designed to be lit as you pulled it out from your inside pocket.

If you want to try the chemical approach PM me and I'll let you know what you need.

Eugene, I'm stumped as for how the toy robot trick can end up requiring a bowl of fire!

I tried that trick, it wouldn't been great if the toy robots I bought hadn't been completely sh*t and needed careful adjustment each time just to walk in a vaguely straight line. They soon broke.

Internets been down for a week so I've been unable to reply.

Tenko, I already have a bowl in mind so I would like to know about chemical fires cheers.

Farlsborough, my toy robot walks in a circle so its going to walk around a bowl of fire. It's a Christmas based effect (with a toy Santa) and I'm going to be talking about older Pagen winter worship of the sun and fire etc. I should be posting a full walk through of the trick once I've finished it.

Thank you for your advice so far to everyone else, I'm on a budget of 2.50 a day right now, so I'll be looking into the cheapest options first and hope to hear more ideas if anyone got one.

Well hope its a good thick bowl that won't crack from the heat or this could be a more exciting effect than necessary. With a £2.50 budget wouldn't a candle be easier. There are some nice Christmas candle bowls around at the moment.

I hate to say it, but this reeks of disaster. I'd go with the candle.

A candle would be no good, the fire needs to be bigger both as part of the trick and for atmosphere, but I might just make a small fire place outside somewhere instead while working the details out.