Pinecones, Pinecones, and more PINECONES!

**~Sherry~** · 11-09-2002, 05:11 PM

We took a little walk in the woods today and hit the jackpot! TONS of pinecones. I gathered up 2 bags full to use for crafts.
Not sure what to make with them yet, but I'll think of something!

**voodidit** · 11-09-2002, 05:24 PM

Here's my first idea, let me look around some more..lol

Christmas Pinecones

Soak pinecones in any of the following solutions. When the pinecones are
thrown in the fireplace fire, they will burn different colors:

1/2 lb. soda to 1/2 gallon water

1/2 lb. borax to 1/2 gallon water

1/2 lb. salt to 1/2 gallon water

After soaking pinecones in any of the above solutions overnight, remove from
solution and place in mesh bags to dry thoroughly

Angie

**voodidit** · 11-09-2002, 05:29 PM

Spiced Pinecones
You will need:
Pinecones
Ground ginger
Ground cinnamon
Or any crushed dry spice you wish
craft glue
foam brush

Mix 1 part glue to 1 part water. Use foam brush to paint the pinecone. Mix equal parts of the spices in a bowl. Sprinkle spice over the pinecone and roll in spice. When coated, allow to dry.

Uses: You can use these in baskets, glued on wreaths, or even solo, as an ornament. Hot glue a ribbon the the very top of the pinecone. Add accents to the top, such a spanish moss, raffia or dried flowers.

Bleached Pinecones
You will need:
Pinecones
household liquid bleach
large bucket
glass plate
a rock or brick
foil lined baking sheet

Best done outside in a well-ventilated area. Do not splash bleach. Work carefully. Place pinecones in bucket; add bleach to cover. Place plate on top of pinecones and weight with rock or brick to keep the pinecones covered with the bleach. Allow to sit for five hours. Remove pinecones from bleach (use gloves) and place on baking sheet covered with foil. Place in 250 degree oven for several hours until they reopen completely. The time will depend on how large the pinecone is.

Uses: You can use the same as above. Also they are pretty placed among your garland or even on the Christmas tree itself.

Scented Pinecones
You will need:
Pinecones
paraffin
doubleboiler
tongs
crayons with paper removed
cinnamon oil, or other scents
newspaper

Cover work area with newspaper. Melt paraffin a double boiler over hot water (heat BEFORE adding paraffin). Add pieces of crayon to paraffin after it has melted. Red or green would be good for Christmas. Add until the color is as you would like it. Add scented oil. Holding pinecones with tongs, dip in paraffin. Allow to dry between coats. Continue coating until fully covered. Allow paraffin to dry completely before storing or using pinecones.

Uses: These can be given and used as firestarters or placed in bowls to scent a room

Angie

**Sara Noel** · 11-09-2002, 05:45 PM

LOL

Poem:
THE PINECONE TURKEY
Once a little pinecone turkey,
With feathers stiff and hard,
Wished that he could gobble loudly
Like turkeys in the yard.
They gobbled high; they gobbled low;
They gobbled with a trill;
And the little pinecone turkey
Could only keep quite still

But when he stood on the table
On last Thanksgiving Day,
And saw a big brown turkey there
His heart was light and gay.
His heart sang high; his heart sang low;
His heat sang with a trill;
And the little pinecone turkey
Was glad heÕd kept quite still!

Craft:

Materials Needed
One large pinecone
Feathers
Wheat or similar product
Brown and orange pipe cleaner
Wiggle eyes
Orange felt
Scissors
Directions
Find a large pinecone or any size you wish.
Try and find one that will sit flat.
Use feather, wheat or similar product for the tail, You can roll up a brown pipe cleaner for the head.
Glue wiggle eyes where you want them on either side of the pipe cleaner head.
Use orange felt for the beak, and you can even add small pieces of orange pipe cleaner for the feet if you like.

**Sara Noel** · 11-09-2002, 05:51 PM

pine cone wreath is nice too. (could also hot glue them onto an artificial evergreen wreath for Christmas decoration too)

http://www.kidsdomain.com/craft/pinecone.html

**SewCrafty** · 11-09-2002, 06:07 PM

Pinecone Bird Feeder

Materials:

Pinecone
Peanut Butter or Honey
Bird Seed
Ribbon

Directions:

Tie a ribbon securely to the top. Make it any length you want, just make sure you have enough to attach it to a tree branch or base of a bird house.

Take the pincone and cover it with peanut butter or honey. Make sure you get in all the little crevices. Roll in bird seed.

Hang on a tree branch outside. Try and put in a place that is accessible to all birds.

**Hawkshop** · 11-09-2002, 06:21 PM

These are such cool ideas!!!!!! I think I will go find some pinecones and make some stuff.

**~Sherry~** · 11-09-2002, 07:19 PM

WOW You guys! I went to eat supper and came back to such great ideas!!
Thanks Angie, Sara, and Diana!!

I think I will have to go get more now so I can try all of those ideas! Dave will be happy to hear this. LOL

**captclearance** · 11-09-2002, 07:23 PM

I found this one........
PineCone FireStarters with "Bottoms"

This is the Stuff you need to make these:
PineCones I use Greyed Pitch, Austrian Black Pine & Shortleaf Pine {Better Burn}
Wax Candle wax, or paraffin used for canning {very flammable}
Candle Coloring or Color squares {You can use old candle stubs too!}
Double Boiler OR Large Metal Coffee Can & a Large Pot
Tongs {To grab & dip the cones}
Wax Paper
Wax-Coated Wicks OR String
Muffin tin(s)
Non-stick Spray
Essential oil for scented firestarters {Optional}
Sawdust, crushed up leaves and acorn tops, cinnamon stick bits. {Optional}
Use your imagination ~ {Optional} LOL

Do This First:
Spray muffin tins with the non-stick spray. Place one end of a wick {string} in each muffin cup, allow an end to hang over the side.
Sprinkle some Sawdust, crushed up leaves and acorn tops or cinnamon stick bits in the muffin tin.

Next:
1. Melt wax in top of double boiler over boiling water. {Or melt the wax in the coffee can in a pot of boiling water on the stove.}
2. Make sure you have enough wax in the top {can} to submerge an entire cone.
3. Add color and/or essential oil when wax is melted.
4. Lower heat a bit.
5. Pour some of the hot wax into each muffin cup, covering wick and set a pinecone upright into wax right away!
6. Let harden completely! Pop each cone out, one at a time.

These look great au natural!

If you want to coat the cones with wax, follow the rest of the instructions:
7. Melt more wax in the top or can if you need to.
8. Take your tongs, grab a pinecone bottom and dip the cone in the wax. Turn it to coat all over.
9. Lift the cone over the wax for a few moments to allow the wax to harden. Dip again until well coated.
10. Repeat with all the pinecones. Add more wax and scent as needed.
11. Place pinecones on waxed paper to cool.
12. Let harden completely. {Sometimes I cheeet and put in the fridge! }

They look great, eh?

How to Use:
To light a fire, put a pinecone firestarter under logs and light the wick.
The waxed base will keep the cone burning for up to 20 minutes!

Excellent Gifts Too ~
Put firestarters in a big basket and tie a fancy ribbon on it. Looks great next to a fireplace.
Put some of the pinecones in a cellophane bag. Tie bag with metallic curling ribbon or raffia. Attach a little card with the instructions on how to use them.
###################################
This is the Pinecone Lady..... See her website, it's cool....
http://pineconelady.com/crafts2.html

**~Sherry~** · 11-09-2002, 07:26 PM

Thanks, Lori!

You guys are da best!

**captclearance** · 11-09-2002, 07:27 PM

I have seen baskets in Target that have firestarter pinecones, sticks or kindling done the same way and some of those extra long matches in a basket for $30.00 very pretty, ask the produce manager at the grocery store for some grape bags, they give them to me.... then you can seperate and label each different color...........

**captclearance** · 11-09-2002, 07:29 PM

If you enjoy sitting around your fireplace and watching colorful flames dance, you'll be happy to know you can color your own flames quite cheaply. Basically, there are three methods of coloring fireplace flames. You can soak the logs in an alcohol solution which contains certain chemicals. Or you can soak the logs in a water solution containing certain chemicals and then dry them. And finally, you can just throw certain chemicals into the flames. The various chemicals or salts required for certain colors of flames are as follows:

3 parts Potassium sulphate (Chromealum) and 1 part potassium nitrate (Salt Peter) for violet flames

Strontium chloride for red flames

Calcium chloride (bleaching powder) for blue flames

Magnesium sulphate (Epson Salts) for white flames

Baronsalts (Borax) for yellowish-green flames

Copper sulphate (blue vitrol/Bluestone) for green flames

Sodium chloride (table salt) for yellow flames

Colorful flames: 1/2 lb. baking soda to 1/2 gallon of water, or 1/2 lb. borax to 1/2 gallon of water, or 1/2 lb. salt to 1/2 gallon of water. Soak pinecones overnight and put in mesh bag to dry You may also treat pinecones, coarse sawdust or cork waste and throw them into the fireplace to color the fire. They are far easier to treat and take less time to dry. Here are two methods for treating bases such as course sawdust, pinecones and cork waste.
Best for sawdust - Dissolve the chemical in water. Stir in your base. When the solution is completely absorbed, spread the base out in a thin layer to dry.

Best for cork-based chips - Add 1 pint of liquid glue to 7 parts of water. Crush the chemical to a fine powder and add 1 pound of the powder to each gallon of glue-water. Put into the liquid as much of the sawdust, cork waste or pinecones that it will take, stirring and adding more base until all the liquid has been absorbed. Spread out on a rack to dry.

It is better to treat separate portions of your base with the solution of a single chemical than to treat the base in a single mixture of various chemicals. After drying the separately treated portions of sawdust or cork waste, you can then mix them together in order to achieve distinctly colored flames.

There is no fixed proportion of chemicals to be used to a given amount of water. As much of the powdered chemical should be mixed with water as will dissolve, until you have a saturated solution. The only exception is ordinary table salt (sodium chloride), in which case you should use 1/2 ounce of salt to each pint of water.

Coarse hardwood sawdust is better than pine or other softwood sawdust as a base. Cork waste also makes an excellent base.

**captclearance** · 11-09-2002, 07:33 PM

Bleaching and opening Pinecones
You will need:
Pinecones
household liquid bleach
large bucket
glass plate
a rock or brick
foil lined baking sheet
Best done outside in a well-ventilated area. Do not splash bleach. Work carefully. Place pinecones in bucket; add bleach to cover. Place plate on top of pinecones and weight with rock or brick to keep the pinecones covered with the bleach. Allow to sit for five hours. Remove pinecones from bleach (use gloves) and place on baking sheet covered with foil. Place in 250 degree oven for several hours until they reopen completely. The time will depend on how large the pinecone is.

**~Sherry~** · 11-09-2002, 07:33 PM

I'm gonna need alot of bags when I go back for more pinecones. lol

Wonder how long they will keep as firestarters or scented pinecones... once treated?