How to Create a Volcano Using Gossamer
- 1). Purchase a small circular fan, no more than 4 inches in diameter. Purchase a small red light bulb (one with a thin, long bulb instead of the large traditional ones) and light bulb extender cord as well.
- 2). Stand a sturdy, 10-inch tall cardboard tube on its side so it stands vertically. Cut a half-circle hole in the side of the tube at the bottom. Make the hole large enough to fit the power cord for your light bulb extender and your fan.
- 3). Attach a half circle of cardboard tube (8 inches long) into the hole at the bottom of the larger tube. The half tube should only be a little smaller than the half-circle hole. Glue the protruding tube in place over the hole with super glue.
- 4). Set your fan into the cardboard tube so the blades face upward. Poke the power cord through the protruding half tube of cardboard. Set the light bulb (connected to the extender cord) over the fan and pull the cord through the protruding cardboard tube as well.
- 5). Glue a mesh grate to the top of the cardboard tube. Allow the glue around the grate to dry before you continue.
- 6). Pack brown craft clay around the base of the cardboard tube. Make the clay base an 8-inch circle around the cardboard tube. (It should completely cover the tube that houses the power cords.) Add more clay to the base and gently slope it inward near the top of the cardboard tube.
- 7). Pinch the edges of the clay at the top of the volcano so the clay rises higher than the mesh screen. Your clay should now take the shape of a simple composite volcano. Allow the clay time to dry and then paint the top end of it red.
- 8). Fold gossamer fabric over on itself (use different shades of yellow, orange and red). Cut strips of the folded gossamer into blade-like shapes. One end should be broad while the other ends in a point.
- 9). Unfold the gossamer strips and push a sewing pit through the middle of the fabric. Lift the fabric over the top of the volcano and press the pins through the mesh. Position the strips of gossamer evenly over the mesh.
- 10
Plug in the fan and the light. The fan stirs the strips of gossamer while the light gives the strands a fire-like appearance.