Category: Fire

More Stele work.

Busy day. Got quite a bit added to the Stele.

Early morning work:

From 2010 Buildup

Just enough to add on the new form for the rest of the top, and the eyes.

Afternoon, after that had a chance to dry, we finished off the top.

It was at this point I had a momentary flash of an OLD design I had drawn up for a giant snake, coupled with a number of ghost stories about a hidden tribe of natives that worship a giant snake in the area, and how I always wanted to do that when I read it back around the age of 14 or so….

They sure did look snakey.

From 2010 Buildup

Anyhow, pressing forward with the Charr plan, we followed the same basic build process I used on Charr to add some teeth.

From 2010 Buildup

And, a little placeholder for the lower jaw, since I had a little extra mache left over tonight.

From 2010 Buildup

For those of you keeping score at home, presently this project has taken up 2 mini fire bowls, 1 of the fire bowl boxes, and a whole lot of paper mache.

I’m hoping to find a couple stands for these things on the cheap (though I can make them if needed). I need 2-4′ more height added to them. Both for looks, and, more importantly, to keep from any accidental brushing of the fire by costumes, and keep it well away from grabby little wee one hands.

Shoulders…

It has really been an interesting experience working on Bob…

One comes to appreciate just how complex the design of a skeleton actually is.

This evening, we attached the shoulders. An interesting bit of technical difficulty there.

The collar bone, shoulder blades, and humorous were all constructed of simple paper mache. But, to attach them, we have gone with full strength power grab. (remember, our paper mache recipe is based on power grab) I didn’t want the shoulders hinged for Bob, but that would have been a simple matter. We’ll get into that more when we do the forearms.

In case you were wondering, Bob here has, thus far, taken 1/2 a batch of the paper mache glue, and about a sunday paper’s worth of paper.

The high tack of the power grab enabling us to just slap the things in place with no reinfforcement. It will dry rock solid. And, the only thing we’ve done is prop the 2 humorous in place while it all dries.

From bob

Couple forearms, couple hands, and skulpting a skull, it might just turn out alright. Then we can corpsify it.

From bob

In some other news, for a planned project for next year, we found a little ‘table top fire bowl’ on sale at Wal-Mart.

It uses those 16oz propane bottles, and it’s all nice compact, and enclosed.

From Halloween buildup 09

I need another, possible 2 or 3. But, they are not exactly flying off the shelves at the sale price. And, only 1 local Wal Mart has started that sale price so far. I’m really not surprised. It’s not much of an actual firebowl…tiny little thing. So, we’re going to keep an eye on the stock levels, and watch the price points for now.

The Island King: 2009 redesign

It was brought to my attention that Lamplight Farms has redesigned the Island King Tiki Torch in 2009.

As such, my little review there is out of date. So, we set out and purchased one of the 2009 Island King Tiki Torches this weekend.

From Halloween buildup 09

Gone is the 3 piece pole that so troubled me with the 2008 version. Single piece construction makes for a much sturdier and hassle free pole.

Also new, the canister now sits directly on top of the pole. In 2008, the canister was offset.

From

I have no doubt this was done for safety measures, as the directions state, there are 3 means of securing your Island King.

1. Use a Tiki brand torch stake
2. Use a Tiki brand torch stand
3. Bury at least 8″ in the ground.

Only makes sense that the pole is more sturdy with the weight centered on the pole.

Ironically, however, there is now no pole to strike to achieve those 8″ to bury the thing. I can’t exacty fault them for attempting to push those stakes and stands on us. Good business sense, if annoying…

The canister itself seems to be a touch on the flimsy side. In fact, I visited 3 Wal-Marts looking at these. The first Wal-Mart contained no Island King Torches that were undamaged. Presumably during shipment and handling. The second Wal-Mart had mostly intact torches, but I decided it unwise to attempt to cram one into my little car. The third (closest to home with the bigger vehicle) had a mix of damaged and undamaged.

2 points seem to absorb the damage. The decorative wind break at the top, and, more concerning, the area where the canister attaches to the pole.

From left to right: 2009 Island King ($15), 2008 Island King ($20), $2 Tiki Torch

From Halloween buildup 09

As mentioning last time, to get the most of your Island King out of the box, er, wrap, as it is now, you need to modify that pristine wick.

From Halloween buildup 09

Cut those outside strings, and fan it out just a bit to make it look like the natural wear a wick receives.

From Halloween buildup 09

The 2009 redesign does have a slightly smaller canister than 2008, but if there is any less capacity, it was imperceptible to me when filling and carrying. And, that smaller size does not appear to affect the performance.

Again, from left to right: 2009 Island King ($15), 2008 Island King ($20), $2 Tiki Torch

From Halloween buildup 09
From Halloween buildup 09

Out of curiosity, I placed my ‘mini island king’ modification, an unintended side effect of the witch skulls, on the $2 torch.

From Halloween buildup 09

So, what’s the verdict?

Finding some undamaged Island Kings might be a challenge, and there would be the concern of damage occuring during storage. The cheaper cost is certainly attractive, and if you find them on clearance, all the better. But, is it worth 7X the cost of a regular torch? Well, that’s up to you.

Edit: I was in Home Depot checking out some different torches someone had pointed me at, and I noticed the Home Depot version of the 2009 Island King Tiki Torch STILL comes with the 4 piece pole in a box, but it now screws into the BASE of the canister, much like the WalMart version. I’m not shelling out $15 to see if the pole connections have been improved, but the CANISTER appeared to be of a higher quality than the WalMart cansiters, feeling a tad more durable. The boxes sure prevented shipping damage MUCH better as well. The Island Kings there were in pristine condition.

Don’t drink the Oil, Part 2.

Back in July, I reported on a rash of folk drinking thier Tiki Torch Oil, mistaking it for Apple Juice. And, came up with a handy little guide to tell whether you are drinking apple juice or oil.

It just so happens, a few weeks after posting that, I happened to leave a jug of my citronella oil out. Alec (5) walks up to me and asks what it is. I figured it was the perfect test to see just how bad you’ld have to be to make this mistake, so I said I didn’t know, and asked him what it was.

“It’s oil for your fires” was the response.

“You sure it’s not apple juice?”

“No, it’s oil”

“I think it’s apple juice, maybe we should drink it.”

“No, look, there’s fire on it, and it says “oil””.

So…my 5 year old could tell the difference…

While stopping at the store after work, I grabbed the last of the torch oil I need for the year. And, I noticed a new addition to the bottles. A nice, big, new sticker has been added to the bottles. “DO NOT DRINK” it reads, with a big “no” symbol over a glass, right at the spout.

Lamplight Farms, I solute the effort, however, if they aren’t already noticing the current labeling, I’m doubtfull the new sticker will help much. And, apparantly, this is even more common than I thought!

Take this story.

About 70 cases of torch fuel ingestion were reported over a two year span in Illinois, and several West Virginia residents also fell ill from swallowing the product.

70 cases, in Illinois alone? My hell, people!

Lamplight Farms says it best:

Lamplight Farms provides these warnings and utilizes child-resistant closures on all our oil bottles. The oil bottles still must be kept out of reach of children and once the oil is poured from the bottle into an oil lamp, the oil lamp must be kept out of reach of children. Lamplight relies on parents as partners in our efforts to prevent accidental ingestion of lamp oil.

A good comparison of the 2 in a cup can be found over here.

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Categorized as Fire

More green fire news.

I’ve managed to track down several suppliers of the green fire. However, listed burn times would indicate a full canister of the oil would only burn for 3 hours, assuming my math is adding up right.

I think I’ll order a small sample to run a test myself. I do think I’ve managed to track down a source of wicks that will make it so my homemade brew will work, though. And, there’s always a plan B as well, with some granual additives that will work for the firepit and may or may not work for the torches.

We’ll keep you posted on any progress.

Some of you may have heard me lamenting on the lack of cheap torches out there this year. I need more, and I need to start replacing some of the old stock. And, thanks in part to a recall of some tiki torches that might have excess fuel *gasp* catch fire if it spilled onto the guard (fuel does tend to catch fire and all)forcing a redesign of the new torches. I’m patiently waiting for clearance sales, and will slowly convert my torches to the new canisters, just because that new clear bottle is rather nice.

However, I’ve come across what seems to be a trend that could threaten my ability to obtain even basic torch fuel this year. And, so, I’ve decided I may as well make a little public service announcement.

DONT DRINK THE TIKI TORCH OIL!

Seems there’s been a rash of folk mistaking the new Tiki brand oil bottles for apple juice. And, we’re talking ADULTS. Not kids here.

The bottles are “similar” and “you’ld have to look pretty hard” to tell the difference according to several stories.

So, I have taken it upon myself to make this handy little guide to tell whether your bottle is a Tiki Torch Oil, or Apple Juice.

1: Tiki Torch Oil comes with a child proof cap.

Apple Juice does not.

2: Tiki Torch Oil has a big TIKI brand logo that features FLAMES to dot the “I”.

Apple Juice typically has tree or apple based logo.

3: Tiki Torch Oil has a big PICTURE OF A BURNING TORCH on it.

Apple Juice has a PICTURE OF APPLES.

4: The Back of a Tiki Torch Bottle has a “DANGER: May be harmful or fatal if swallowed” warning.

The Back of an Apple Juice bottle has nutritional values on it.

5: Tiki Torch Oil smells like Citronella

Apple Juice smells like…apple juice.

And finally, while I can’t exactly say what Tiki Torch Oil might TASTE like, but if that apple juice tastes a little funny, just spit it out to be safe, eh?

I really don’t need a recall of all oil taking it off the shelves…