Spectacular. Beautiful. Failure!

One of the most spectacular failures that I ever had was when I mixed about a half a pound of various gunpowders and a few rolls of the super hot fuses onto a panel.  I layered some cardboard and stencils, then added even more gunpowder.  I  held it all in place with rocks. My focus was creating some new "pop" art. But, I knew this was going to erupt.  Which is why I did it.

So I lit the fuse.

I got a huge explosion.

It was a beautiful sight.

It was terrifying.

I was scared for a second.  I was standing too close.  It was hot.  Really hot.  The fireball sucked all the oxygen out of The Blast Factory.  Debris flew everywhere.  Fuzzes spun out of control and fizzed all over the place.  One fuse hit my jeans and burned a hole in them. I let it run it’s course and got away from it.

It was charred. Molten. Burned. Perfect.

My idea had been to create some giant textured rings.  It was really more of an explosive situation.  Early on I had focused on a simple plan.  I let it get out of control.

I wanted something something different and original.  

I failed.

I had a blast.

Be different. Be original. Have a blast!

Stick Vega is the American Gunpowder Artist and author of LESS KILLING. He creates explosive pop art and blogs from The Blast Factory in Madison, WI and Bucktown, Chicago, IL. Follow Stick on Facebook and/or Twitter.