The Original Stick

THE ORIGNAL STICK

The first piece I did, THE ORIGINAL STICK was a blast!  We had friends at our house for a cocktail party.  I had just received some high speed fuses and the base compounds to mix gunpowder.   I did a small sketch of my trademarked stickman on a 24” square board.  Friends watched warily as I mixed the gunpowder then sprinkled it on the board.  It did not look like enough, so I put more gunpowder on the piece.  Then, even more.  At that point I layered some cardboard on top to force the blast back into the piece.   I placed many rocks from our garden on top of it.  I ran about a 20 foot length of fuse to it, thinking it would give us some space and time to get to a safe distance and anticipate the explosion.  

I lit the fuse.  And, it was a fuse that burns ten feet per second (which was much faster than expected).  Nearly immediately, and before anyone was prepared, the  piece ignited.  Boom!  There was a huge flash. There was way too much gunpowder.  Rocks blew into the air and all over our guests!  All the oxygen was sucked out of the area.  A thirty foot high mushroom cloud of white smoke appeared.    

I was hooked.  I still have the piece, it looks cool.