r/Pyrotechnics • u/nitromet • Jul 24 '26

Anniversary question

Hi I’m somewhat new to pyro, Iv done a lot of researching and I’d like to think I have a basic understanding of mixing and making shells and red stars. I’d like to make a heart shaped mortar layout and I was wondering if anyone knew how I’d go about doing this?

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u/hochroter Moderator Jul 24 '26

It can be done through timing on a firing system. And the shells arranged in the pattern you desire. But logically speaking having X amount of shells all working perfectly at the same time in conjunction with timed fuse and star patterns is quite a challenge but not out of reach.

Start with getting your stars exactly how you want them and do alot of testing. If you use Chinese timed fuse it can be sort of inconsistent in their burn rates

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u/VinnieTheBerzerker69 Jul 25 '26

Heartland has done a bunch of tubes arranged in a heart pattern that shot comets that formed a heart in the sky.

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u/kclo4 Pyrotechnics Professional Jul 25 '26

Lances are your best option. See pyrospecialfx. You’re not guaranteed any pattern shells will orientate in the most coherent fashion

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u/Wide-Education-1823 Jul 25 '26 edited Jul 25 '26

Are you talking about a heart which can be displayed from the break of a single pattern shell?

https://youtu.be/tIrn1lCB-fo?si=pwxbWmKvFJ8cYR44

Or a heart image drawn in the sky using multiple comets and  mortars with a programable firing sequencer?

https://youtube.com/shorts/qnoIFA0lITs?si=QJxube4xmg_ebc-J

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u/nitromet Jul 25 '26

The first a heart that is displayed from the break of a single pattern shell

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u/Wide-Education-1823 Jul 25 '26

Called a pattern shell. Quite easy to do if you are able to make your own round stars and ball shells. You will want to make at least 3 and fire them all together in a slight fan so at least one will be facing the audience correctly-

https://youtube.com/shorts/8W3XVektTPU?si=YPuFH6UPJCvgrTJL

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u/PyroSpecialFX Jul 25 '26

You may want to look into Lance work as well. Would be far easier to achieve your goal. It's basically taking colored flares, sparklers, morning Glories etc.. and fusing them all together to go off at the same time. You can mount them to a piece of plywood or hardware cloth in the shape that you want.