I'm a long-time pyromaniac, having grown up in my dad's blacksmith shop with the roaring forge, glowing steel, & so many fun tools to play with.  I also got to bond with my dad over black powder rifles & a lot of messing around with black powder & model rockets.

Professionally, I went to school for aerospace engineering with a focus in rocket propulsion & spent a few years working with the largest solid-fuel rocket motors in the world (for the old Space Shuttle).  Once I got into the Burning man scene, I knew I was going to be building flame art of some sort. I started out with Dave-X and Propaniac's Flame Effects for the Artist class at the old mine near Telluride in 2018. However, my real interest with flame art is focused on more technical & difficult aspects, particularly using methanol infused with metal salts to generate colored flame effects.  I worked on the Apogaea effigy project in 2022 (Tree of Life) & helped with construction of that piece, as well doing installation on some rather ultra-sized poofers for Perfect Heart.