Homemade Natural Fire Starter In Ecological Version For Fireplace

The fireplace with bright flames brings a feeling of warmth and coziness that no other heater or fireplace decoration can emulate. We are indeed used to associating fire with romance, peace, the Danish concept of hygge. The sight of a lit fireplace often reminds us of childhood, grandmother's house, the charm of the Christmas holidays, of a cabin in the mountains in winter. Against this background, one of the ways to capture all the emotions and scents of the season is to use a natural fire starter made with your own hands. And every year you can try a new creative and responsible organic variation. So much fun to make, these little DIY items are suitable for everyone, even beginners. Finally,why not wrap a few and give them as green Christmas gifts. Just follow our instructions!

How to make a natural fire starter to celebrate the season?

In fact, the web is flooded with DIY natural fire starter ideas but most of them are not exactly easy to achieve. Although the methods are effective, either the materials are not accessible or the manufacturing steps hide a certain danger for enthusiasts. In order to help you, we have put together some simple, quick and fun tutorials for you to follow and above all, with ingredients that everyone already has at home or can easily obtain. So, search your kitchen cupboards for bay leaves, cinnamon sticks, star anise, and cardamom to start the fire and infuse the air with a warm winter scent.

Also feel free to use herbs, pine cones, sawdust, all in perfectly dry condition to ignite instantly when you light the wick. Once the ingredients have caught fire, the flames should be enough to burn even the greenest firewood.

DIY scented fire starter candles - tutorial

Basic materials

• 4 cups of soy wax flakes
• 12 bay leaves
• 6 cinnamon sticks, broken in half
• 2 tablespoons of dried rosemary
• 1 tablespoon of dried spices such as cloves and anise
• essential oils of your choice
• cotton wicks
• 12-cup regular muffin pan
• 12 paper muffin cups
• stainless steel pan for melting wax

Optional items

• dried herbs
• small pine cones, berries, acorns
• wood chips
• twigs
• paper napkins cut into pieces (paper towels)
• dried citrus peels - orange, lemon, grapefruit

Instructions

1. First, line the holes in your muffin pan with paper cups. Fill each with a bay leaf, a piece of cinnamon stick, small amount of dried rosemary and aromatic spices. Also adjust a cotton wick in the center of each cup.

2. Second, in a stainless steel saucepan, melt the wax flakes in a double boiler, adding the essential oils. Once the wax has melted, pour an equal amount into each cup. If necessary, gently press the elements so that they are almost completely submerged in the wax. Then let cool completely.

3. Third, remove each natural fire starter from the muffin pan. Store in an airtight container or individually wrap as a Christmas gift.

4. Lastly, to use the fire starter, place it at the bottom of a traditional fireplace (no gas or wood stove) between the logs.

Note: If you want to use dry citrus peels, take into account that drying can take up to several weeks. To speed up the process, you can place them on a baking sheet and bake them at a low temperature for a few hours.

Note: If you decide to put paper in your small fireplace bombs, you can replace the napkins with absorbent paper that you used for cleaning the wax and scent oils during candle making. This burns well and emits odors. In addition, it saves you from throwing the paper in the trash, so it's a zero waste project.

Note: The more ingredients you use to fill your natural fire starter, the less wax you will need.

Homemade fire starter to make from dried herbs

In fact, many types of plant material work as a fire starter. However, for the realization of an aromatic article, it is preferable to use certain herbs with fragrant foliage such as mint, lavender and sage. Please note: do not burn poisonous plants such as poison ivy, poison ivy, and oleander. Also, if you are allergic to a plant, make sure you don't include it in your kindling mix.

So all you need to do is collect some clumps of herbs and tie them with string. Wrap the string in the same way along the entire length of each bouquet to secure. Also, you can make the tufts as long, short or thick as you want. Let them dry in a warm place with good air flow. After a few days they should be very dry and ready to use. Place them in a nice basket near the fireplace for easy access.

Lighting a Chimney Fire Using a DIY Starter

In this project to create a natural fire starter, an empty egg carton is the ideal fuel base.

Materials

• empty cardboard egg box
• wood chips
• beeswax candles
• large tin can
• small saucepan
• cotton wicks
• pine cones, cinnamon sticks, or any other dried herb

Instructions

1. After gathering the materials, fill the bottom of each hole in the cardboard box with a bed of wood chips. Also place a cotton wick in the center.

2. Use a larger tin can to melt the candles in a double boiler in the saucepan. Boil the water and watch your wax as it begins to have a liquid consistency.

3. Once the wax has melted, pour it into each egg cup. Next, place a pine cone and a piece or two of cinnamon stick in each hole and press to submerge. The wax hardens pretty quickly, so make sure you do this quickly. Also make sure your wick stays above the wax surface so you can light it when the time comes.

4. As soon as the wax hardens, use a pair of scissors to cut out the box respecting the shape of the cups.

Other easy-to-create natural fire starter ideas

Indeed, wax is not the only thing that helps make sparks fly through your fireplace. Here are some other proposals to try this season!

Cork stoppers

Take an old jam jar with a lid and fill it halfway with rubbing alcohol. Place several corks in the jar and let soak until they are needed to start a fire. Warning: do not throw more than one cork into the fire at the same time!

Cotton wool soaked in petroleum jelly

Cotton and petroleum jelly are highly flammable, making them an electric combination. Spread a small amount of Vaseline on the cotton wool cut into pieces and keep them in a ziplock bag until ready to use.

Pine cone fire producer

Each household should have its basket filled with dry pine cones. The latter are quite flammable and smell good when burnt. In addition, you can maximize their fuel effect as follows:

First, soak the pine cones in used cooking oil and let dry. Then cover them with wax. For this purpose, tie the end of a piece of string around each pine cone and pull the other end up. Melt some wax in a double boiler and dip each cone into it. Let dry before use. Besides, it's a great idea for Christmas place cards that your guests can take and use at home.

Dried orange peel

Surprisingly, the peel of oranges is a very effective natural fire starter. Let your peels dry on a tray or rack for at least a week before using them. When burned, they ignite easily, diffusing a sweet and refreshing scent in the air.

Wooden coffee stirrers and hand sanitizer

The thin and light nature of coffee stirrers makes them very easy to light. You just need to throw a few in the fireplace to have pretty flames. However, don't forget to add a few drops of hand sanitizer to get started a little easier if the wood is slightly damp. Make sure you choose a product with alcohol as some do not.

Toilet paper rolls

Cut a roll of toilet paper in half and stuff each half with textile fibers from the dryer. Wrap in waxed paper and twist the ends to close. Use the waxed paper as a wick.

Tape

Good old tape is indeed excellent as a fire starter. Cut it into strips and place it on your woods before lighting the fire.

Corn chips

If all else fails, you can always throw some of your food on the fire. High fat crisps burn perfectly. The fatter product will therefore be the best.

Cardboard box full of combustible materials such as cotton, paper and textile fibers

Mini scented candles to prepare and give as gifts

Spend pleasant and fragrant evenings in front of the fireplace thanks to these little bombs

Sources: jennikayne.com

hellonest.co

hearthandvine.com

candlescience.com

gardenista.com

coolofthewild.com

theartofdoingstuff.com

onecrazyhouse.com