Things You'll Need:
- Professional chimney inspection/cleaning
- Shovel
- Ash bucket
- Pine cones (or logs, or sawdust)
- Bucket
- Colorant
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Step 1
Have your chimney inspected and professionally cleaned. Cleaning a chimney is important to do regularly. Without regular cleaning and maintenance, materials from smoke can deposit on the inside of the chimney and ignite. Also, when chimney flow is restricted, carbon monoxide can build up to harmful levels within a house. Buildup of materials can also make it tough for Santa to find his way down a chimney at Christmastime, making a clean chimney of particular importance. The Chimney Safety Institute of America (CSIA) recommends annual chimney checks for homes that use their fireplaces throughout the winter.
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Step 2
Clean the ashes and pieces of unburned wood out from the floor of the fireplace. Do this by scooping the ashes out with a small shovel and putting them in an ash bucket. Only dispose of cooled ashes.
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Step 3
Create colorful flames. To do this, treat pine cones, sawdust or small logs so that they will burn colorfully. Find a colorant source. Each type of colorant will burn a different color, and one works as well as the next in creating the magic flames; calcium chloride burns orange, sodium chloride burns yellow, potassium nitrate and cream of tartar burn purple, copper sulfate burns blue, strontium chloride burns red, and boric acid burns green. Fill a bucket with water and stir in the colorant until it no more can be dissolved. Soak the pine cones in the colorant for 24 hours, then allow them to dry completely. When they are dry, simply place several on a fire and watch the colored flames; they create the magical smoke necessary to clean the chimney properly for Santa.
