I wouldn’t call myself a pyromaniac exactly, but I’ve never turned down an opportunity to sit around a campfire.
Photography by Erin Boyle.
Materials
An old egg carton makes the perfect combustible base for DIY fire starters.
Other things to gather include wood shavings of any kind you can get your hands on (5 Cups of Organic Red Cedar Shavings is $4.99 from Stress Tamer Spa, and the shavings smell delicious).
You also need beeswax: I used a combination of old candle nubs and beeswax cakes from my local health store; a 3-Pack of Beeswax Cakes is $8 from Make A Basket.
I’m not 100 percent sure of the variety of these tiny cones, but I found branches of them at the Flower Market and lugged them home.
After gathering materials, fill the base of each empty egg slot with a bed of wood shavings. Because we’re using beeswax rather than more flammable paraffin wax, I included a short length of wick to make sure the fire starters light without trouble.
Clean out a 28-ounce aluminum can to use to melt your candle nubs or beeswax cakes. I ended up melting more wax than I needed: to make a dozen fire starters you’ll need just enough melted wax to fill the 28-ounce can about one-third of the way.
After the wax is melted, pour it into each egg cup. Make sure your wick stays above the surface of the wax so you can light it when the time comes.
After the wax has hardened, use a pair of garden scissors to cut apart each cup.
I’m planning to give away my dozen, so I packed them into the egg carton lid and tied them with ribbon and a bit of cedar.