DIY with caution: Flame tornado puts tea lights to shame
With the changing season, it's common to light a few candles to fight the cold and the winter blues. But why use a candle when you can create your own multicolored flame tornado? Do you have unused glass vases and empty tea-light tins laying around the house? Then you have all the necessary materials to make a jaw-dropping flame tornado.
According to David Grossman from Popular Mechanics: "The fire tornado is already cool on its own, and way easier than building a giant tornado with a bonfire and box flames. What's more is that by adding chemicals like lithium to produce a red flame or boric acid to produce a green one, it's possible to generate a tornado that's multiple colors at once. The effect is certainly eye-catching but you might be better off not setting a bunch of chemicals on fire. And if you do, at least do it out in the backyard."
About the Author
Alexis GajewskiAlexis Gajewski
Senior Content Strategist
Alexis Gajewski is a manufacturing writer and editor with nearly 20 years of experience covering the people, practices, and technologies that keep industrial facilities running. For more than a decade, she served as Senior Content Strategist for Plant Services, creating content for plant managers, engineers, and maintenance professionals on a variety of industrial topics.
During her tenure, Alexis worked to develop the brand’s digital strategy and helped launch and produce Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast. She also created The Lighter Side of Manufacturing, a weekly blog that explored the inventive and sometimes humorous side of the industry.
Alexis co-founded Influential Women in Manufacturing, a recognition program that honored 49 women in its first two years, earned an industry award for Best Product Launch, and received a proclamation from Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and a commendation from U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth.
She also led newsroom operations and development at a large media company where she set editorial standards, developed training curriculum, and helped support AI adoption for more than 150 editors across 80+ brands spanning manufacturing, industrial processing, automation, and more.
Additionally, Alexis works as a freelance writer and editor, and her areas of interest include continuous improvement, the skilled workforce, and the role of emerging technology on the plant floor.
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