Fragrance Logs

**captclearance** · 11-23-2002, 12:23 PM

Fragrance Logs

Supplies:
a.. Dried herbs - eucalyptus, sage, rosemary, thyme, lavender etc.
b.. Floral wire
c.. Raffia
d.. Optional- miniature pine cones
Procedure:
1.. Group small bundles of each herb and begin forming a large bundle by
laying them in opposite directions so that the stem ends will be hidden in
the middle of the bundles.
2.. Wrap the bundle in the center with a piece of floral wire.
3.. Wrap the wire with raffia and tie off so the wire doesn't show. As
further decoration add a miniature pine cone. For a ladder effect, tie
multiple bundles with the same piece of raffia. Cut between each section of
herbs when you want to use a bundle for the fire.
4.. To burn, place on simmering coals letting it smoulder.

These would be great in a basket, try adding some firestarter pinecones also...... add small bundles of kindling and a decorated box of matches and you have a really great gift......
This is a gift you could make very inexpensively.....

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.
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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.