43. But now to return to _brilliant_ fire. I will suppose you to be
using some of the first composition given, and to have completed the
filling of a few cases. Let us see what we can do with these to put them
into effective combination.
[Illustration:
Fig. 54a.—Five-pointed star in brilliant fire.
]
Provide a circular disc of hard wood, 6 inches in diameter, and 1 inch
thick. This is to form the centre of your piece. Nail to this five
spokes of wood at equal distances from one another, and 15 inches long.
Nail also to the back of the central disc a strip of wood about 2 feet
long, 2 inches wide, and three-quarters of an inch thick (fig. 54). By
means of this you can screw the whole piece conveniently to your firing
post. On each of the five spokes tie a case of brilliant fire, reported
at its end, and connect the mouths of these with quick-match. The effect
produced by this piece is very surprising, when we take into account its
extreme simplicity. Its beauty may, however, be much enhanced by the
addition of a Chinese flyer to its centre; but the manufacture of this
auxiliary has not yet been described, and must not be spoken of out of
its place.
A simple large wheel of brilliant fire may be made by fastening two
cases to each end of a strip of wood about 30 inches long, the centre of
which strip is made thick enough to turn steadily on an iron spindle.
The cases are tied on at an angle so as to throw a large circle of fire.
The mouth of the case at one end is connected with that at the other by
means of quick-match. When these two cases are consumed they communicate
their fire to the two inner ones by a quick-match, which is led from the
tail of the first to the mouth of the second. If two of these pieces are
made to revolve on the same spindle _in opposite directions_ a very
magnificent brilliant sun will be formed, throwing a circle of rays 20
feet in diameter. The accompanying sketch (fig. 55) will, I trust, make
these directions sufficiently intelligible.
[Illustration:
Fig. 55.—Brilliant wheel.
]
A fixed sun may be made with any number of brilliant cases arranged as
the radii of a circle, and connected at their mouths with quick-match.
But since pieces of this kind may be rendered so much more effective by
the addition of other fireworks, it will be useless for me to give
drawings of them here. At the point I have sufficiently advanced in this
subject to enable you to complete these exhibition pieces in all their
beauty I have furnished some designs, from which you may perhaps derive
a few useful hints.
I have now, I think, opened to you a wide field for experiment, your
success in which depends now upon a careful following out of my
directions, and upon the amount of taste and ingenuity of which you are
master.
Mr. Newman will supply you with any of the tools mentioned, and either
Mr. Darby, or Messrs. Bolton & Co., with any of the ingredients for your
compositions; and if you have not fairly astonished your friends on some
festive occasion, I do not think the cause will rest with me.
[Illustration: [Fleuron]]
Do not forget the preparatory half-ladleful of slow composition in your
cases of brilliant and Chinese fire.
Do not be careless about the manner in which your cases are _primed_.
You would feel very foolish if, in firing a five-pointed brilliant star,
for instance, like the one sketched above, one or two of your cases were
not ignited by the quick-match.
Do not be in a hurry about making your frames. A framework for any
piece, once well made, will last for ever. Remember that the concussion
from your reports will be an excellent test of the strength of your
woodwork.
Lastly, run no risks. Strong compositions have a way of behaving in a
very awkward manner if they take fire unexpectedly, or at the wrong
time; never, therefore, make compositions till the cases are ready to
receive them, and you have time to ram them. And, above all, never leave
batches of composition about, for the temptation is very strong to
inquiring minds to experiment upon their powers of combustion.