Log fires, blankets, mugs of hot chocolate, toasty warm socks… there’s something magical about this time of year. It’s been a misty, cold day here and we’re planning to light the first fire of the season tonight to celebrate the start of the weekend and our hibernation from the winter weather. In preparation I’ve made these pinecone firelighters, lightly scented with cinnamon and guaranteed to set the kindling alight with a pop and a crackle.
You can buy these commercially but at vast expense, so I decided to have a go at making my own, with a view to giving these as homemade gifts this Christmas. My research uncovered scarily complicated instructions involving double-boilers, safety goggles, wick-trimming and dipping and general scientific sorcery… so I applied some lateral thinking and came up with a much simpler approach. It’s very safe and quick, though perhaps the only downside of this is that you’re unlikely to need to attract your local Firemen for manly assistance.
You’ll need:
- A pocketful of pine cones
- Pack of tea-lights or small candles; I used IKEA’s gorgeous white Fenomen ones.
- Cupcake cases, slightly larger than your pine cones
- Optional candle scent; cinnamon, pine, cranberry and sandalwood are all divine.
Firstly, gather all your pine cones. Size doesn’t matter here, but give them a quick brush to remove dust and bits of forest-floor debris. Pinecones which are tightly closed will open once exposed to the warm, so you may want to store them inside for a week before using.
When you’re ready to ‘cook’, line a cupcake tin with cases and place one of your tea lights or candles into each. Make sure you remove the little metal cases if using tea lights, and tweak the wicks so that they are standing upright and proud of the wax; it’s much easier than fishing for them later. Place in a moderate oven and keep checking until the wax melts and resembles water. At this point you can add a drop of candle scent to each, or simply leave plain.
Once the wax has melted, move the wicks gently to one side of the case, using tweezers (or with your best pointy fingers; remember that some people claim to quite enjoy being covered in hot wax…hmmm). This will ensure that the wicks don’t get lost underneath the cones.
Then simply place a pinecone into each case; the wax will rise around it and hold it firmly in place as it sets.
When the wax has cooled and set, lift the cases out of the pans and peel away the cupcake case, revealing your firelighters in all of their glory…
These also look very pretty when left in their cases; I’ll be tying a bundle of these (below) up in cellophane bags or small burlap sacks to take as gifts for those we visit during the festive season (though I’ll probably check that they have an open fireplace first…).
And now the light is fading, the kettle is on, and we’re almost all home; have a wonderful weekend whatever you’re doing!
*Update*; a few people have asked via email or comments how these work; to use these firelighters, simply place them at the base of your fire and arrange kindling over the top before lighting the wick; the wax ensures that the pinecone will catch light and burn for long enough to ignite the kindling and create a real blaze; at that point you can add bigger logs and settle back for an evening watching the flames. Here’s how ours turned out this evening;
Magical, you are amazing, except for the bit about manly firemen of course
Fab idea. I’ve been put off by the complicated stuff that’s on the internet too. But I also look forward to a report from you about how these firelilghters work – seems like it should be a fantastic alternative to what I currently use.
Hi Nicola, I’m delighted to say – they work! Hooray! Photos of our cheery roaring blaze now uploaded… now I just need to find my marshmallows and my toasting fork..
Look in a drawer in your kitchen…
Hello Kate … just stumbled on your site this week, and spotted this fire lighter tip.
At the risk of sounding a bit thick (!) will the candles not just melt all over the fire???
Mandy
Hi Mandy; a very good question and not a thick one at all! I’ve just updated the post to answer your question (it will be a common thought, I’m sure..); essentially, you place the pinecones at the base of your fire before you build it, and the wax base ensures that the cone burns for long enough to set everything alight and get a reliably strong blaze. The wax burns itself out quietly as the flames take hold, and at that point you can toss the big logs on and retire to a big chair with a glass of red wine..
I love this idea! I have never seen them before but I think it is so cute! I was wondering though if you can smell the cinnamon when it is lit?
Hi, thank you 🙂 Yes you can smell it, but it’s quite subtle; next time I think I will add a little cinnamon stick to the wax when I drop in the pine cone for a much more resonant aroma
What a brilliant idea – lit my fire for the first time last night, it’s such a lovely thing to have.
Mmm cinnamon, sounds just lovely! Would you mind telling me where your stove is from? We are researching at the moment, and yours has pretty proportions.
Mmm cinnamon, sounds just lovely! Would you mind telling me where you got your stove? We are researching at the moment, and yours has pretty proportions.
Hi yes of course… ours was from Chesneys (www.chesneys.com) – we love it because it’s both large and square… in our period house the fireplaces are huge and so many other stoves were dwarfed in the space.
These are lovely…such a great idea…I am useless at lighting fires so may have more luck using these!
This is a great gift idea!
Once again, I am wishing that we’d put a “proper” fire in our living room when we renovated it. Our house was built in the 1940’s and we thought that it would just look wrong, but when people talk of first fires of the season, and log piles, I wish we’d just installed one anyway. To hell with the clashing of decorating styles, I love a wood burning stove so much. x
Just saw these in the Plow ‘n Hearth catalog last night and was wondering the best way to go about making them. And then lo and behold, here’s your post! I love the white candles. Plow ‘n Hearth used a deep red and a deep green. That was pretty, too. Definitely going to be making these. Thanks for the post!
I’m so glad you’re planning to give it a go; they really were so easy, yet look delightfully complicated and time-consuming so when given as gifts the effort looks great ;-). I love the idea of using festive colours – I must try that next time..
Does it matter about the little metal plates? Did you remove them when the candles were melted or leave? Thx h x
Good question! I left them in so that the wick stayed centred / in the right place when the wax was melting in the oven. They’ve burned just fine in both our wood burner and open fire, and we’ve simply scooped out the little tin discs with the ash at the end; the wax seems to burn away completely. So, no adverse effects, so far… good luck! x
My husband & I make firestarters every year out of cardboard egg crates & coarse saw dust then pour melted wax over top, not quite as fancy but they work great. We use a lot of recycled candles from the church & old spent candles & used Scentsy wax. Last year I decided to take some fishing line & tie around the pine cones and dip them several times to make pinecone firestarters they worked great too.
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So cute! So clever! Love this! 🙂
so beautiful! i love the idea of using cupcake cases =D
What beautiful and natural art! Love these pinecones! So awesome!
Great Idea, they look so christmassy 🙂
Wow, what a great idea! We have two woodburners at home so I will definitely try these out when I’m back for christmas 🙂
Clever and beautiful!
Reblogged this on Jen's Rambling Thoughts and commented:
This is a brilliant handmade firestarter. If I had a fireplace I’d try these, but I may have to eventually make some as gifts anyway. Thought I’d share this with my readers just to pass on the handmade crafty goodness:)
Next time, I won’t just look and admire pine cone, i will make good use of it. Appreciate the creativity.
Awesome idea!!!!
great idea and we live in the woods with lots of pine cones
Wow, thats an awesome idea, not to mention cute! Thanks for sharing and congrats on FP!
I reblogged this to share with my crafty friends. The pinecones really make me wish I had a fireplace.
I want a fireplace just so I can make these. Very cool.
THIS. IS. AWESOME!!!
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What a lovely cozy Post.
What a creative and useful idea! I’m definitely going to try this for our fireplace. Now to find some pine cones… 😉
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Love!
What a super idea!
This is great! I never get around to doing crafty stuff, but this is fast and easy, and it makes lighting a fire faster and easier. Perfect.
Great blog – although it is summer here in Australia – still a great way to get the open bbq going – thanks for the idea and congrats on being Freshly Pressed
Another great and creative idea! You come up with such pretty, lovely things! This will be great for Christmas presents!
What a great idea for an always-needed cabin item! Thank you for sharing (adding to my Pinterest boards!) ~ Kat
Perfect! Love an easy project I can do with my daughter. Under my supervision, I can have her place each pinecone in the wax. And we can collect the pinecones on a walk and use the scent leftover from another project untold Christmases ago. Cheap, easy, practical = best ideas ever.
Love these, such a great idea. would love to try with a lovely christmassy scent
Awesome, that´s creative and what a nice survival tool it makes for starting fire in an environment which humidity reach over 90% !!!!
Awesome !
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Wow, do you REALLY keep your wood stacked touching the stove? We’ve been heating with wood for 25 years and are very comfortable with the fire but that looks too close for comfort!
An amazing idea!
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Reblogged this on ClutterFree Now! Blog and commented:
This seems like a fun way to use the pine cones that are so plentiful this year and they could make great holiday gifts for those wishing to reduce their consumerism and create more simple and heartfelt giving habits.
Thanks, Kate!
Love this!
Love! I’m going to the woods right now in search of pine cones to try this lovely idea out.
Look at you! Super crafty and creative. I love stuff like this for the holidays.
I’ll have to make a couple of these for my buddy’s firepit. Thanks!
OK, now I have GOT to try this, as I have all the materials.
Oh…I can tell I’m sleep-deprived right now…when I first saw the title, i thought it said homemeade pinecone firefighters, so HAD to see what that was all about. 🙂 Now that I see what it REALLY says, I love the idea, as we use wood heat. And congrats on being Freshly Pressed – love seeing craft blogs featured.
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very nice! neat idea!
What a magical idea! Very festive for the holidays, great idea! xx
These are great! I just pinned on Pinterest. These would be great for camping too!
It’s beautiful! Your blog makes me wish I’m living the winter away with a fireplace and these firelighters! They are just gorgeous!
Made a go at these with the thought of using them as gifts. Proof positive that I am NOT Martha Stewart, these did not turn out as lovely as yours. I found that the tea lights were just too small to work with (after I bought 100 of them! ha!) and my smallish skinny pinecones were also not a good choice. That, and the candle wax seeped through the paper cupcake liners, which made for a fun time with the scrubber at the sink.
As with any “recipe” one must tinker with it to make it work sometimes. Will use 1) foil liners, 2) votive sized candles and 3) fatter pinecones on the next go.
But thank you for a wonderful idea!
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Can you use Cinnamon scented pine cones?
Yes, they would be beautiful – and much easier than scenting the wax
I love your firestarters! On my next batch of collected pine cones, I’m going to do this – thanks! Oh and I have this linked to my pine cones post too today!
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Hello. I see you have your fuel piled each side of your stove. While this looks very nice it is also very dangerous. In the UK combustible materials should not be kept within 15cm of the woodburner.
This is an awesome idea, but what happens to the wax in the fireplace? Doesn’t it run all over and become impossible to clean?
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