Safety note - because this is fire (and methanol burns hot) please take precautions to prevent burns and do not attempt without adult supervision. Also, boric acid is poisonous. Do NOT consume!!!
- Items Needed
- Carved pumpkin
- Boric acid powder
- Methanol
- Aluminum foil
- Long starter lighter or match
- Fire-safe area and adult supervision
Line the inside of your carved pumpkin with aluminum foil.
Step two
Sprinkle boric acid powder inside of pumpkin.
Step three
Pour a small amount of methanol into the pumpkin, onto the powder.
Step four
Place pumpkin in fire-safe area and carefully light.
- Hints
- Use manual focus if your camera has trouble focusing in low-light.
- Complete darkness is not necessary for this shot. Some exterior light is needed to illuminate the front of the pumpkin.
- Don't use your flash. You will likely get nasty reflections off the pumpkin and wash out details in the surface texture as well as the flame itself.
- Start off with a small amount of methanol and slowly build up (wait for it to burn out before adding more) so that you don't wind up with too large of a flame.
- Go to our Chemistry Guide, Anne Marie's, article on making flaming pumpkins for details on where to buy the ingredients and for other great tips.
