Advertise Here
Building Firework Fronts
Creating firework fronts requires a lot of time
to plan out, setup, and to execute. For those of you who do not know what
firework fronts are they are a group of items that are fired around the
same time, creating a wall of fire. Firework fronts are not as long as finales or as impressive,
you can consider them like mini finales. This article will walk you
through the steps to create a great consumer firework
front. The firework front that I am going to create was used in my
2003, 4th of July Display.
1. Plan what you want.
When designing firework fronts it helps to have an idea of what different
items do. This can be done by testing pieces out, going to websites that
have movies, or by experience. Try to visualize what you want overall out of
this front, do you want something high energy, quiet, loud, etc. Once you
have an idea of what you want the overall mood of this section of your display
to be, you can
now start picking out your items. If you are having problems thinking of
what you want, look for firework pictures of professional shows to get
ideas. At this point in planning, just try to get an idea of effects
and color, not particular types of devices. When picking out items that you
want to use in your firework front, try to find items that will look good together.
More information about combining effects and colors can be found
here. In my example firework front
I wanted devices that have blue, purple, silver or while in them. As for
visual/audio effects I wanted reports.
2.
Picking out the devices you wish to use.
Now that you have an idea about what audio and visual effects you want
to try to create, your next step in planning you firework front is picking
out the devices. There is a wide range of products on the market to help
you create what you envisioned. When building my firework fronts I
try to combine as many different types of fireworks as possible, so that
there is something on the ground up to the sky. I am
going to build this firework front out of mines, cakes, shells, roman
candles, and fountains. The number of devices that you have to purchase
depends on the duration that you want this front to last. When building
firework fronts make sure if you want to launch multiple shells, rockets,
candle at the same time that you have the extra racks available. I make
sure that the racks that I am going to be using for my fronts I only shoot
once due to the complex fusing that is involved in them.
3. Design the layout of you firework front.
Now that you have an idea of the types of fireworks and effects
picked out, it is time to design your firework front. It is a good idea to
sit down with pen and paper to design your firework front. If you are like
me you will probably go through many revisions of your design. Try to plan
where you want each piece to be, also try to decide what type of racks you
will need to bring your vision to a reality. When design the layout a few
things you should talk into consideration are; type of ignition, size of
display area, these are just a few. For my firework front I am going to
have the 3 roman candle racks space 15 ft. apart. In front of the candle
racks I am going to place the angle fountain rack. In between the candle
racks I am going to place the 2 angled cake racks. The mortar racks
will be placed behind everything directly in back of the candle racks.
4. Building the required racks.
One you have the devices that you wish to use in your firework front.
Now you have to build the racks that your front might need. For my front I
will need three 3-shot angle roman candle racks, 3 angle
fountain racks, 2 angled cake racks, and three 6 shot mortar racks. All of
the directions for my racks can be found in the Advance Techniques section
of the website.
5. Either fuse or electrical firing.
Now that you have your racks built you need to decide how you are
going to ignite your firework front. Firing your front by hand using
different types of fuse is possible, however you run the risk of having
part of your front not light due to an error in fusing. If you have your
own electrical firing unit this make igniting your front much easier. An
electrical firing unit will not complete erase the need to fuse items
together just decrease it a bit. For my firework front I am going to fire
it electrically, while it is possible to light it by hand through the use
of fuse I want to make sure everything ignites as close as possible to
each of the similar items. Even though I am going to electronically ignite
my front I still have to fuse items on the racks to each other. For fusing
my items together on the racks I am going to use sticky match.
6. Setting up the front.
On the day of your show preload all items into your racks and fuse the
items together, and attach an e-match where needed. Bring all of your
racks out to the display area and secure them. About an hour before your
show you need to attach your e-match's leads to you firing systems. Now
you firework front is complete.
7. Ignition.
Now that your work is complete it is time to start the show. Enjoy!