Wednesday, December 28, 2011

DIY: Fire Starters


This is a simple and cheap gift idea for anyone with a fire place or outdoor fire pit. I made a bunch of these for the people I know with fireplaces. I was nervous since I don't have a fireplace to test them out, I didn't know if they would work until Christmas Eve! And yes, they do work! They are very easy to make and also very quick to make a bunch of them.


All you need is:
News paper
Lint from your dryer
Hemp
Pine cones

Optional:
Dried herbs (I used dried orange peel & whole cloves)


Take one full sheet of news paper and on one corner add 2 pine cones. In between the pine cones add a small chunk of lint. 


Sprinkle on a teaspoon of the dried herbs (unless you are opting out of the herbs)

Now you are going to burrito wrap the pine cones. If you don't know how to do that... do this:


1. Fold bottom corner over pine cones and stuff.
2. Roll once so everything is just covered.

3. Fold in the left corner.

4. Roll once more.
5. Fold in the right corner.


6. Roll all the way up!

 Now, to help hold everything in, take a half sheet of news paper and roll the first package up again. 



 Twist the ends and secure with a piece of hemp.



Then, when you are ready for a fire, stack your logs and place this somewhere in between the logs. The paper and lint act as a quick light while the pine cones act as kindling. The herbs are purely for scent.

For a small fire try just one, for a larger fire you may need two.

5 comments:

  1. Cool idea! I happen to find cinnamon scented pine cones on clearance. Excited to give them a try. Hopefully I don't burn the house down.

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    Replies
    1. Yes, please don't burn down your house! The pine cones I used were also cinnamon scented.

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  2. I had enough newspaper, lint and pinecones to make 11 of those bad boys! I burrito wrapped them twice and then added the final piece of newspaper and tied... They worked very well! I thought I would need to use two to get the fire going, but I didn't. Anyways I only have 3 left and I didn't share with anyone. Sharing was my first or second intention. I didn't burn the house and I'm totally loving the smell of cinnamon in my living room.
    I had a pine wreaf left over from the holidays I took it apart(saving metal frame and wire for another idea) and put some small pieces of the pine in a fire starter, this worked great too. Note the pine oil is kinda flamable so just a small amount works well.
    Thanks for your blog, it Rocks!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh I'm so glad to hear that it worked out for someone else! (yay!) I'm betting the wreath smelt wonderful burning too!

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