Council Fire

Instructions: Carefully cut out 2' wooden circle approximately 1/2" in thickness. This will be your base. Spray paint top and side black. Gather 10 to 12 sticks, 16" to 21" in length and 1" to 1.5" in diameter. They may be green or dry, depending on what you can find. (Do not cut down a live tree or bush for this purpose.)

Carefully bundle a strand of red or orange Christmas lights in the middle of your base, tacking them down every few revolutions. The lights should end up looking like a ball of lights approximately 8-10" in diameter and 6-7" in height. Do not go beyond the 6" from the center of the base.

About 4" inside the edge of the base, form a teepee with your sticks, drilling and screwing them into each other at the top and into the base at the bottom using deck screws. It‘s a good idea to manually saw the bottom of each stick at an angle to "sit" on the base. Drill pilot holes first before screwing the sticks to each other and to the base.

Once all are secure, cut nine 4" Styrofoam balls in half. With a file, shape each half into the rough shape of a rock. Smear rocks with drywall compound. Sand lightly when dry. Spray paint gray and black. Glue each "rock" around the edge of the base around the sticks.

Paint some of the sticks black to give it them a burned look. Use an extension cord to connect to the council fire lights.