The Burning Coals were made specifically for the vision of Isaiah, where an angel touches his lips with a burning coal.
They are simply made from black paper ( the coal lumps ) and red and yellow cellophane paper ( the flames ), crumpled together as in the picture :
We use a number of "coals", to conform with the text : "... carrying a burning coal he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs". It looks like this :
Click either picture for a separate version.
It worked well enough, but something more self-luminous might be an improvement. It is also important to grip the coals quite firmly with the tongs.
We used the burning coals in two of our services :
( We'd presented the Isaiah story before in August 2003, but that was before we invented the "burning coals" described here. We don't remember how we managed, but suspect we left it to the congregation's imaginations. )
2009 June