The materials that I used included a satellite dish antenna, some olive oil, and a discarded birthday balloon made of silvered Mylar that I had salvaged from a local dumpster. The oil was used for adhesion because of it’s dense viscosity and sticky nature towards the thin Mylar foil but a person could use a spray adhesive instead for a more permanent application.

I cut the balloon along the side so that the Mylar film could be spread out into a flat sheet. Next I cleaned the surface of the antenna before pouring a small amount of oil on the antenna dish and spread it by hand evenly on the surface. Then I laid the foil over the oiled dish surface and smoothed it out with my dry hand. I tucked the outlying foil under the dish edges to prevent light winds from lifting it off of the dish. Then I pointed the dish at the sun.

For optical firecraft I use dark colored tinder because it absorbs heat better. I prefer using fibrous material that I press together to create a flat surface onto which the reflected light can focus. You can place the palm of your hand above the dish briefly to find the focal point of the light rays so that you can know where to position the tinder. After a few moments smoke began to appear from the tinder bundle and in short order an ember began to glow whereupon I removed it and blew it into a flame.

How practical is this method? Much easier than most primitive methods used in the woods but keeping in mind that these materials are readily available in an urban setting where it would most likely be used. Of course, you’ll also need sunshine!

I had tried this method a few times without success so I wondered “what would make this work?”. I decided that I needed a shinier surface so I went to a “dollar” store and bought a Mylar balloon. After trimming off the edges of the balloon and separating the resulting sheets I repeated the process of oiling the lid and placed a Mylar sheet shiny side out onto the surface and WOW! Smoke appeared so fast that it was almost scary! I used a piece of rolled-up newspaper for the tinder. When using tinder for solar fires it is best to use dark fibrous material so if you use newspaper, make sure to focus on a dark print area for best results.

Using Mylar gave me great results! But, I will continue my quest of using aluminum foil as a reflector to achieve a coal. Quoting from the film “The Edge”, I am admonished with this: “what one man can do, another can do”. Fortunately, right now is a good time of year to achieve my goal as the sun is at it’s highest point in the sky and should give me the best results for this solar firecraft method.