Recently I put together a fire-making kit with a steel striker, flint, charcloth & jute twine - I'd seen a TV show about firemaking & remembered my scouting days when our troop leader couldn't start the fire with sticks at camp...

Has anyone put together a program involving firemaking? I'm thinking that of all the things that through the ages would've been considered true magick, the creation of fire, done in an historic manner, would be up there. To speak about the connection with the First People and their gaining of wisdom through fire and how it kept people alive and helped form bonds with others though maintaining the fire seems to have some possibilities. Or maybe I'm rambling... but the thought of creating that tiny spark and bringing it to a full flame sorta inspired me - the first time I successfuly made fire with my kit, I got the chills.

You must have forgetten that wand spell - Incendio!

I will stew about this one. We always want to have flame around, and even use fire casually for the effect or the after-effect. (Eugene Burger's Spirit Messages where the fire is the effect leaps to mind, probably because I enjoy doing it so often.)

But when we want the candle to light, we reach for the matches.

Perhaps if the show as a whole had a more tribal, primitive, four-elements kind of feel it could be opened with an invocation to the elements including the raising of fire, and closed symetricly with a banishing of some sort.

Get the audience involved, in a circle, chanting, as you create the sacred fire...

Is it a problem if the spark won't come and the fire won't light on cue? Probably only if the show itself is coreographed tightly as it would have to be for television.

However, the other direction is always possible. I know I have read somewhere about self-lighting candles cued remotely by RF or just on a wire. Done right, Incendio! could be unexpected and magical. Of course, there is some risk that it could just look or feel tacky...

I am sure that I can assist you with the fire part of your posting, my hobby is wilderness survival and primitive skills.

One of the easiest ways to make fire is with a flint and steel (but that doesn't mean that it is easy!). I won't tie up the thread with the details but PM me if you would like to learn the fine points.

Given the certainties of the use of flint and steel, I am sure all will be able to deduce the methods required for the following.
I submit this as an idea I had while riding to work the other day, it is neither intended to advocate, or punctuate any political agenda! I submit it for comment or thought.
Kay

Consider if you will, where our earliest ancestors lookd when they pondered the concept of FIRE! To the sky, at night there were varied balls and flashes of fire, and perhaps one landed, still smoking and hot near the ancient one who wondered if he could harness the power within that shining stone from the sky.(Shaman figure takes up a stone- as if it is still hot to touch)
Man knew of fire, from lightening,and the sky- to volcanic works. And that the power of fire could be helpful, like when it ran a herd of animals for food over a cliff, as well as destructive, when it also consumed those animals leaving none for the people!
(I propose a method Caleb has suggested in past ideas of the use of a rear projection screen to provide suitable images for the audience as the tale progresses)
The first hominid (Shaman) to take up the stones (pick up a second stone from the ground- and begin striking them together to produce small sparks)and willfully provide fire for his companions was surely a powerful wielder of magical forces, both for good or ill (Strike the two stones togehter to create a fire -enter a group of tribal chanters circling the fire pit)
The Shaman figure now reaches into the flame to extract a small bit on his finger, and moves to light a candle (the fire pit fades, and the circling tribe settles to the floor) the Shaman changes form to invoke the image (along with the back projection) of a scolar, a scientist if you will, who writes upon a page with a quill (the projected close up images change from a quill on parchment to a chalkboard, then paper and pen- as the "tribal members" stand now in lab coats with clipboards) The Shaman/scientist now reaches forth and gathers the flame from the candle within his hands, and suddenly he is holding an entire handful of flame (the candle goes out- the projection shifts to scenes from a laboratory like Los Alamos -aka Dr. Strangelove scenes- and planes in flight) the Scientist/shaman now with fear on his face, along with the other tribal scientists react in horror at the power they have unleashed, as the Shamn throws the fire to the ground, a large flash is seen- the screen flashes pictures of atomic blasts, and the tribe/shaman are now gone. the entire theatre goes black for a few moments, then the images progject meteors and "shooting stars" in the night sky, and a
Shaman appears, reaching down to the ground to gather a stone. Fade to black.

Of course the scene in my mind is very clear, and I may have neglected to include a detail or two, but then again, it was just a random thought on a car ride! ;}

I am not familiar with starting a fire with flint and steel. However, flash cotton is much easier to ignite than flash paper. I use a tuft of flash cotton (ignited by a rocket igniter) to ignite flash paper. It works better if the flash paper is perforated at the junction between the flash cotton and flash paper.