Kimbolton Fireworks' 16,000-square-metre warehouse in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, is where it all begins. Eleven employees produce 750 products here, making around 25,000 fireworks every year.
These 30-millimetre-wide blue cylinders are comets, one of a Roman candle's most vital components. Made of fine titanium powder, they are responsible for producing the firework's spectacular silvery tail.
Scales are used to measure precise amounts of powders such as oxidisers, binders, colour enhancers and colour generators like strontium carbonate. These make up the firework's star-like exploding core.
The powders are combined and moistened to activate the binder. Much of the work at Kimbolton is done by hand to avoid unwanted sparks - a sensible decision in a factory chock-full of gunpowder.
After the stars have dried (a process that can take up to four days - too much heat and light can cause an explosion), they are coated in a priming composition and placed in these bombettes.
This is where it gets hot. Fire transfer powder is laid on top of each bombette. This will take the ignition round and under the bombette to light lifting powder and propel the candle into the sky.
The Roman candle press takes two cardboard tubes at a time, where it consolidates stars, comets and other components to ensure the perfect burn (and explosion) when lit. Bangin'
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
