18 replies to this topic

[overflow]

Sky Lanterns: Click me Click me too

I've had a tough time finding information on these cuties, no help searching here, nor in rec.pyrotechnics.

The second link does give a little bit of insight but i was wondering if someone else had found a better tutorial.
I actually have no idea of what it is that really burns inside those things... (skylighter says it's a cardboard square soaked in wax, but i don't see how it can burn for 4,5 minutes!)

Thanks, any info is welcome!

Edited by overflow, 21 March 2007 - 07:05 PM.

[pyrotrev]

The ones I've used came with a bit of rolled up cotton waste tied with wire which had once had some paraffin or similar on it. I replaced it with a standard firelighter and it worked great! Hope to try some with alcohol and colour mixes this year. They're great fun, but watch for fallout danger, they can go for miles!!

[paul]

The ones I've used came with a bit of rolled up cotton waste tied with wire which had once had some paraffin or similar on it. I replaced it with a standard firelighter and it worked great! Hope to try some with alcohol and colour mixes this year. They're great fun, but watch for fallout danger, they can go for miles!!

Yepp, I second that! We used these "baloons" at two displays now. They travel high and they travel far.
Its just a aluminium pan with a piece of cotton soaked with wax. They are beautiful devices.

[overflow]

Thanks for the info

[Anders Greenman]

If you want to make one yourself, it can be easily done with regular tissue paper, some glue and cotton soaked in wax/ethanol/whatever. Can remember I did it at school a long time ago
Just glue four rectangular pieces together so that they form a cube, and then another piece on top to make the thing complete. A thin metal thread on the bottom should hold the burning cotton pretty well.
Light it, and (hopefully) watch it go!

Edited by Anders Greenman, 23 March 2007 - 08:46 PM.

[Mortartube]

I bought some from Mike at Brighton Fireworks. These had rectangular layers of card (possibly) with a rectangle of stiff card stapled on each side. I found it necessary to peel back the corner of this stiff card to get it to light easily. But they worked wonderfully after that.

Edited by Mortartube, 23 March 2007 - 08:48 PM.

[overflow]

Thanks, i'll surely try to make some, but i think i'm going to use wood for the frame, just to make sure it's biodegradable

[Mortartube]

If you get hold of Weingart's book he tells you how to make them in there

[barinello]

Hi,
if you are looking for sky lanterns, I found a place that sells them really cheap at : chiangmaicraft.com , a company run by an English guy living in Thailand.
I bought 50 lanterns for 39 quid and they are great. They are made from rice paper with a bamboo hoop and support wire. The fuel patch is actually rolled wax paper and lasts for about ten minutes, allows the lanterns to fly really high. They have coloured one's too, brilliant !
Let me know if this helps.

Barinello

[overflow]

Hi,
if you are looking for sky lanterns, I found a place that sells them really cheap at : chiangmaicraft.com , a company run by an English guy living in Thailand.
I bought 50 lanterns for 39 quid and they are great. They are made from rice paper with a bamboo hoop and support wire. The fuel patch is actually rolled wax paper and lasts for about ten minutes, allows the lanterns to fly really high. They have coloured one's too, brilliant !
Let me know if this helps.

Barinello

Thanks for the info, i'll probably buy one, to see how it's done, but i really enjoy making things myself.

I've made a couple of tissue-paper "ballons" yesterday, tonight i'll attach some ethanol soaked cotton and see what happens

[overflow]

I "launched" the first lantern tonight... flight was 2 seconds long.
It took fire at takeoff !

[pudi.dk]

Cheap and easy sky lanterns can be made with light weight polyethylene plastic bags. You know, those transparent kinda noisy ones that are used for dust bins in class rooms, or at least here in DK.

[overflow]

Cheap and easy sky lanterns can be made with light weight polyethylene plastic bags. You know, those transparent kinda noisy ones that are used for dust bins in class rooms, or at least here in DK.

i'll give them a try

[Strobe]

I'm curious how you would go about fire proofing the tissue paper if you decided to make your own. These lanterns look really interesting but I worry about the risk of sending a flaming balloon off into the winds.

I have one from Skylighter, which I intend to launch at the beach if I can find an evening with a gentle offshore breeze.

I'd like to try and make my own, but make it as environment friendly and as safe as possible.

[pyrotrev]

There are various proprietary fireproofing solutions, but if I remember rightly alum does quite a good job. Don't be worried about sending a flaming lantern aloft, if they catch fire as you launch them they don't seem to go more than a few metres up. And of course you don't try launching them in strong winds!