Homemade fire starters are perfect if you’re someone who enjoys a nice bonfire while relaxing in your backyard, or while camping in the wilderness. They definitely come in handy. Sure, you can buy fire starters. but making them yourself is cost-effective and heck – it’s fun.
There are numerous supplies that can be used for making fire starters, including dryer lint, toilet paper and paper towel roles, dried twigs/pinecones/pine needles found in nature and more. Though, the fire starters I’m sharing how to make today are so special that we make extra to give as gifts around the holiday season.
This homemade fire starter project is easy, fun for the young and old, and pretty. I first saw this type of fire starter for sale while out thrifting years ago and decided to put my own twist on it – now it’s a tradition that our family looks forward to each fall.
Supplies Required
· Paper cupcake liners/or silicone muffin liners
· Cotton or hemp candle wick/thread (metal tabs removed if necessary)
· 1-pound bag of soy or beeswax wax pellets
· A muffin pan
· Scissors
· ¼ cup measuring cup to scoop wax and pour into liners
Supply Options to Tailor Your Homemade Fire Starters
· Homegrown chemical-free dried flowers of your choice (marigolds, strawflowers, calendula, lavender, rose)
· Whole cinnamon sticks (cut in half, if long) or other dried whole spices such as clove, allspice or star anise
· Dried citrus slices or other dried fruit
· Cedar wood chips or pine shavings
· Coffee beans
· Dried chemical-free small pinecones
· Dried rosemary
· Pine tree clippings
Directions:
Preheat your oven to 300°F.
Place cupcake liners in a muffin tray (as many fire starters as you’d like to make).
Scoop a heaping ¼ cup of wax pellets into each cupcake liner. Wipe away any that spill outside of the cupcake liners.
Once all liners are filled, carefully put the pan in the oven until all the wax has melted.
While the wax is melting, pre-cut as many fire starter wicks as you’ll need. I cut mine about 4” long.
Once the wax has melted, slowly and carefully remove the wax filled cupcake liners from the oven and place the pan on a heat-tolerant surface. One thing to keep in mind about melting wax is at every wax seems to have different melting instructions. Read them. The soy wax I typically use instructs me to heat the wax to 160°F, which takes me 13 minutes to heat in the oven.
Place one wick in each fire starter cupcake liner and begin to adorn the fire starters with whatever dried options you have chosen. The more goodies you can fit in your fire starter, the better they’ll burn.
Leave the fire starters in the muffin tin at room temperature, out of direct sunlight, until they are completely hardened, or overnight.
Instructions for Using Fire Starters
Place the homemade fire starter under dried wood and light the wick (not while holding). If you used silicone cupcake liners, be sure to remove the liner before lighting.
Making Homemade Fire Starters: Notes
Always keep away from children and pets.
Never leave a fire unattended.
This homemade fire starter is only intended for outside use.
We use a cupcake liner that is compostable as well as bleach-free and chlorine-free.
This article about how to make homemade fire starters was written for Hobby Farms magazine. Click here to subscribe.
