Hand-rolled firework shells from the Weald of East Sussex
Next firingTap the sky to fire a shell
Every star you see in the sky was rolled by hand, one layer at a time.
We are a two-person workshop making Japanese-style round shells — warimono — the slow way: stars tumbled around a seed, laid into paper half-shells, pasted shut in kraft. About four hundred a year, for nights that deserve them.
Shells In the sky
- 01 · botanPeonyRound, trail-less stars that turn from red to green half-way.
- 02 · kikuChrysanthemumCharcoal petals of gold, every one tipped with blue.
- 03 · yanagiWillowHeavy stars that burn slowly and fall like branches.
- 05CrossetteSilver comets that crack into four at the top of their flight.
- 09 · shin-iriPistil PeonyA second, smaller sphere of green inside the first.
The making One shell, by hand
one seed, 14 passes
- Stars
- 1
- Paper
- 0 layers
- Drying
- day 0
- Size
- 5 gō · 15 cm
- 01
Roll the stars
Each star starts as one seed, tumbled in a pan while we dust on composition, dampen it, dust again. This peony's stars are rolled green, then red over the top — so in the sky they burn red first, then turn green.
- 02
Lay the half-shells
The stars go into two pressed-paper hemispheres, touching, one ring at a time. Where a star sits is the direction it will fly.
- 03
Fill the charge
The middle takes the burst charge: rice hulls coated in black powder. They are light and burn fast, so they throw every star out at the same speed.
- 04
Close and paste
The halves are joined and pasted over with strips of kraft, layer on layer, until the ball is hard as wood. A strong, even casing is what makes the break round.
- 05
Let it dry
Every few layers dry before the next go on. A shell this size spends about a week on the rack.
- 06
Fire
A lift charge throws it from a mortar; the time fuse burns through the wall and breaks it near the top of its climb. Fifteen centimetres of paper opens about 170 metres wide.
Colours What burns what
- RedStrontiumThe dependable bright one. Most reds in the sky are strontium salts.
- GreenBariumClean and cool. Barium greens carry a long way on a clear night.
- BlueCopperThe hard one. Burn the star too hot and its copper emitter falls apart — the blue washes out to white.
- VioletStrontium + copperRed and blue in the same star, balanced by weight on the scale.
- GoldCharcoal & ironNo colouring salt at all — glowing carbon. It draws the willows and the chrysanthemum petals.
- SilverTitaniumMetal burning white-hot, in sharp bright sparks.
- YellowSodiumSo strong a trace of it swamps every other colour in the star. We keep it well away from the blues.
- OrangeCalciumWarm and soft; lovely under a gold willow.
People think we make explosions. We make paper spheres that open very carefully.
00:00 · Peony ×3, low
A night is a programme.
Twenty minutes, around a hundred and eighty shells, written shell by shell to music — or to silence, which is our favourite.
Book a night