I got started on my goal of making pinecone firestarters over the Labor Day weekend. Well, really it all started when I collected two heaping bags of them while at my boyfriend's family's house for dinner. But this weekend I pulled them all out of the bag, cleaned them off, and pulled off any stray twigs or pine needles that were stuck on.
I preheated the oven to 250F and piled as many on a cookie sheet as I could. I left them in the oven for 20 minutes and then turned the heat off and let the pinecones cool down slowly inside.
And oh what a fantastic smell it made! The temperatures are high enough to get the sap to melt a little, and it had this tangy, resin smell that reminded me of the stuff we used to crush our toe shoes in when I still danced. Yum.
Once they are cooled down, the pinecones were a much darker, richer color of brown than before. They are going to look great when painted!