These home made pinecone fire starters are so easy to make, they are made from sustainable materials, they work really well! they are also very pretty so they look nice in a basket by the fire; you could even package them and give them as a gift.
I collect old wax all year round to use up in winter time to make both these and to re-purpose as candles. I just put them all in a plastic bag in a safe place and then when I have enough I melt them down. Once they are melted you can just fish out any odd bits of remaining Wick with a suitable instrument. Most of my candles are uncoloured, but it doesn’t really matter what colour they are for this particular craft.
You can also save the old candle containers (if they come in a container) to reuse. To remove the wax either stand on a warming plate (the kind you use to keep plates of food warm when you are having a dinner party) or fill with boiling water if you think your container will take this. You may have to do this a few times to get out all of the old wax. .Do not put the old melted wax residue down the drain! It will block your drain.
What you will need
- Wax of some description – I just used the ends of some old candles that were burned out.
- Double boiler to melt the wax – I just used a large tin that had contained dog food stood inside of a pan..
- String
- Dry pinecones (it is important to dry them out before use or they won’t burn)
- You can also add essential oil
- You can also add colour – maybe your candles that you are using have a colour or you could add a piece of wax crayon,
- cake cases
- A cake or muffin tin
Method
- Break the wax into small pieces and place in the bowl or tin that you are using to melt it in. An old tin is a good idea because you can throw it away after use. Hard wax is difficult to clean out.
- Place the tin or a bowl inside of a pan of water Bring to the boil. Once it is boiling turn it down to low heat until the wax has melted.
- Dip long pieces of string into the wax – being careful not to burn yourself getting too close to it.
- Do this two or three times so that the string builds up a coating of wax – and then hang it up to dry.
- Place the pinecones in the cake cases – a muffin or cake tin is handy here to hold everything securely.
- When the “wicks” are dried – Cut into pieces about 10 cm long.
- Place The wicks alongside each pinecone in the cake case – try leaning them in towards the centre – maybe tucking a little bit of the string underneath the pinecone to hold it securely.
- Very carefully pour the hot wax into each case – make sure that you have a decent size wick on each firestarter. Allow to dry and the home-made pinecone firestarters are ready to use.
Just place One of the home-made pinecone fire starters on top of some paper and twigs and place more kindling around it and then light and enjoy. If you place directly on the great then the wax will fall through into your Ashpon – instead of on To the kindling self.
In this video I show you how to make the pinecone fire starters .