Do You Know All The Types Of Fireworks?
As you look over your firework selection boxes before putting them away for the year, your mind will probably stop to consider all the other kinds of fireworks available. There are more than you can fit in that selection box, so read on for a brief overview of some of the types of fireworks you might come across in your pyrotechnic buying career.
As a general note, “stars” in this article refer to pyrotechnic stars, which are pellets of chemicals and compounds that produce a certain colour or effect when ignited.
It’s not that unusual for fireworks to be named after flowers. A peony, for example, is a relatively common firework that produces a spherical break of coloured stars, while a chrysanthemum is similar buts its stars leave a visible trail of sparks. A dahlia is similar to a peony but has fewer and larger stars, and a willow is quite like a chrysanthemum but produces a softer shape reminiscent of the tree it takes its name from.
Some fireworks are named after creatures. Examples of this naming convention include the spider (which resemble spider legs due to radial lines formed upon explosion), the horsetail (long-burning tailed stars that travel only a short distance before falling to the ground, creating a waterfall-like effect) and dragons’ eggs (a gold or silver breaking effect ending in crackles or strobe-like flashes).
Some fireworks have stranger names still. These include firework wheels, better known as Catherine wheels; they supposedly got their name from the instrument of torture that St Catherine was martyred on (the breaking wheel). Additionally there are cakes (a cluster of tubes linked by a single fuse that creates a series of effects), crossettes (coloured stars that, upon splitting, forming a criss-cross effect) and kamuro (from a Japanese word meaning “boys’ haircut”, which is what this firework resembles once exploded).
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