Delia wanted to make some fire starters. She remembered that it was a skill on DIY she could earn and is always looking for a reason to play with fire or melted wax, which is understandable to me. I was sort of a firebug, too. There are so many recipes and methods for making these. We read a few recipes and then just used what we had around on hand and what seemed safe to burn.
She gathered newspaper and dryer lint. She busted out the cutest elephant paper shredder
Then she poured in melted soy wax that we had left over from our candle making. I love soy wax so much.
She wrapped them in wax paper to make an easy wick for lighting. Also, it makes them look like little candies, which she finds very pleasing. We used these in the fireplace, and they worked—but we learned a lot. Using a lot of wax is fun and pretty, but it just melts like crazy and covers too much of the material inside, so it didn't burn right away. Next time less wax would be better. Or, just using the egg carton method, but she said they weren't as cute. I understand.
Once the wax melted away and the paper finally ignited these worked great. There are many recipes for these out there, most of which seem great, some I'd worry about breathing in the fumes of what they were burning, so I feel good about these we made. Next, I want to make a tinderbox from an altoid tin, like I saw demonstrated at Fort Clatsop. Also, I really want to put together this Altoids Survival Kit 2.0.
