Hi all
I recently purchased "The Bigger Book of BOO" by Lary Kuehn (and it's worth its weight in gold for the wealth of ideas in it) and came up with a method of causing a candle's flame to turn blue during a seance when a spirit appears.

The only problem is that I don't know how safe the resulting fumes will be.
The internet seems to suggest that it's no more dangerous than normal candle fumes, but I would like this clarified before I try it (and thus avoid any lawsuits and costly medical bills).
There are some commercial products available which do this (and other colours too) but they are always "on" as opposed to "on when I rig it to go on". And they (of course) will not reveal the process that they use to do this.

Can anyone with knowledge of this please PM me?
Note: I won't reveal the process in this forum, but today's trick is brought to you by the letter "C"

Or, is it better that I post this in the Crypt, where I can reveal the process?

The MSDS sheets for whatever you are using may be a good start.

Many thanks Caspar.
The MSDS says that inhaling the fumes would produce respiratory irritation so I'm going to have to come up with a safer way.
Oh well, back to the drawing board.

Couldn't you turn your candle-flame at least green by checking how fast a candle of certain thickness burns down, and then molding yourself a candle that in the needed "time area" contains cupric sulfate ...?
(I never tried this, it is just an idea that just crossed my mind, as I knew about cupric sulfate turning flames green, when thrown in fire ... But as said: I do not know if it would work with an candle ...)

Hi Jerome
Thanks for that, but unfortunatly burning Copper Sulphate produces fumes which can irritate the eye and lungs, so that isn't an option.
(The one that I was originally trying was another Copper compound, but even that is an irritant).
It's fine to use outside on a campfire, but in a closed room with people sitting around a table...
I just don't want to take a chance.

There is another option that I'm exploring, with a product that has been certified as safe, but the product is only made in China.
It has distributors worldwide, but the Australian one doesn't import the one product of theirs that I need.
Waiting on an email back from the distribuors...

Anyone else see the irony here?

How about this - http://www.thinkgeek.com/geek-kids/1-3-years/c393/?srp=2

Using an idea from Seance (book) by Scott Davis, a little "arts and craft work," and good timing,
you could have a candle flame change to a different color and then burn out.

I hear this book before, may I ask where can I get this book?
actually I live in Asia, so I think I need a oversea shipping company~

Best,
W.D.

@ WitchDoctor,
If you Google "Scott Davis Seance"will will get several hit for magic stores selling this book.
You may need to contact each for shipping....but, I believe these two will work for you:
http://www.penguinmagic.com/p/S6991
or
http://www.mjmmagic.com/store/seance-by-......734.html

Good luck....It's a great book

actually I was asking The Bigger Book of BOO, but I think I want to get seance too
anyway thank for reply, do you think both book good, or which one you perfer I read first?

Best,
W.D.

Haven’t seen the BOO book, so please excuse if this is a silly question. Does the flame HAVE to be blue? You can get an eerie green flame from Boric Acid (non-toxic) and purple flame from potassium chloride (table salt substitute).

Thanks Randy, transplanting part of one wick to another candle is going to be a nightmare, as the new wick may not burn correctly.

Hi DW, yes the flame needs to be blue as folklore says that candle flames burn blue when a spirit is near (and I will be using this during my seance).

Hi WD, BOO is available from here:
http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/th......o/965085
http://www.penguinmagic.com/p/S9181
http://www.elmwoodmagic.com/full/books-b......4821.htm

Just Google "Bigger Book of Boo"

Thanks, Randy! That was just the thing I needed for making a color-changing candle flame! Combined with my "device" the candle flame can now change from yellow to blue or any other color you desire. I'm using a red flame to indicate the spirit is angry and blue when it is friendly.

You only need a small amount of copper sulphate to produce a green flame. It'll only be a small percentage of the rest of the candle's smoke, so I can't see irritation being a factor.

Thanks JT.
I was going to use Copper (I) Chloride as it is supposed to produce a bright blue flame, as opposed to the green flame of Copper Sulphate. In tiny amounts, both compounds shouldn't be irritants.
Now to experiment with different types of wax.
Apparently some wax burns hotter than others and the yellow flame produced will "override" the blue flame.

The other useful thing to know about modern candles is that the wicks are designed to "fall over" or curl around when they burn. Quite by chance, I saw a short video about candles and how they work last night: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZjfoJmOt1I