Buy a tea kettle? For fifteen minutes’ use? I think not!   I went to our local Goodwill, but even the used ones were over $9. That’s just too much for a one-time prop, in my opinion. So sonny-boy and i made our own.  Here’s what we did:

1. I drew a tea kettle on a piece of paper (actually, I taped a few pieces of paper together, and drew the kettle on there). I made it the approximate size of a real tea kettle.
2. My son cut out the template.
3. Hubby placed the template on some wood he had left over from a previous project (thin, lightweight plywood), and cut it out with his scroll saw.
4. My son painted the handle black.
5. When the black paint was dry, I used some spray-on glue and aluminum foil to make the bottom part of the tea kettle silver (I suppose you could use silver paint, but we don’t have any, and I wasn’t going to buy any….
6. We used Gorilla glue to glue a wooden block to the back (along the bottom) so that the kettle stands up.

That’s it.  And it’s sooooooo cute! My son took it to class yesterday, and his teacher LOVES it!

There are ways, though, to make your energy bills be a little lower.

If your indoor winter temperature is tolerable, just brave the cold and wear sweaters around the house.   You can even don a lightweight winter hat, to keep your body heat trapped.

If you do use your central heat or furnace,  make sure that the temperature in your house does not fluctuate more than 10%.   Making it fluctuate more is less efficient.  In other words, keeping your home at a constant 65 degrees is more efficient than having the temperature fluctuate between 55 and 65, because it takes more energy to heat the house back up from 55 to 65, than it would have taken to maintain a constant temperature.   The same is true for using the air conditioner during summer months: going from 80 degrees to 72 degrees is less efficient than it is to maintain a constant temperature.

To determine just how efficient your house is at retaining and maintaining the heating or cooling, call your local utilities company.  Many utilities companies have contracts with energy efficiency companies that will provide free home diagnostics, checking your home for drafts, air leaks, and insulation.   In most cases, they will provide (free of charge) gaskets, caulking, and seals that will improve the efficiency of your home.  For many areas in California and Texas, the service provider is Winegard Energy.

You’ll need:
Cardboard egg cartons (NOT the Styrofoam kind!)
If you don’t have cardboard egg cartons, use small PAPER bathroom sized Dixie cups (not the plastic ones)
Dryer lint
All of the little unusable nubs of candles that are too small to burn
If you don’t have any candle remnants, you can use Gulf wax (parafin wax).
Clean wide-mouth glass jar or large metal can
Sauce pan
Water

1. Gather up enough dryer lint to fill up your cups.
2. Fill cups with lint.
3. Put a few cups of water into a sauce pan that is large enough to accomodate your clean glass jar or metal can.
4. Place the jar or can in the pan of water.
5. Put all the chunks of wax (candle bits or chunks of parafin) into the jar or can (fill it up about half way).
6. Put the sauce pan on the stove at a medium-high heat. Stir frequently until it’s liquified.
7. Turn off the stove.
8. Carefully remove the jar or can from the hot water (use oven mitts!), and pour the liquid wax into each of the cups. Pack it down tight, making sure that the lint and wax are compacted, filling the cup entirely.
9. Allow to cool.
10. Cut the cups apart, separating them from one another.  Keep your new starters in a nice basket or box near your fireplace, to use next time you start a fire.
11. To use, simply stack your wood as you normally do, placing one or two of the fire starters at the base of the stack. Use a fireplace match or lighter to ignite the starters (light the cardboard part, and the rest will catch fire).

Enjoy your fire!