PyroVault
Education Center
Learn firework colors, effects, and safety best practices.
Color Reference
The unified color palette recognized across PyroVault. Learn what produces each hue and how it appears in shows.
A staple color in aerial shells and fountains. Often achieved with strontium or lithium compounds.
One of the hardest colors to produce brightly. Copper compounds create the classic blue hue.
Produced with barium compounds. A vivid, common color in cakes and shells.
Sodium compounds create a bright yellow. Often used as a transition or accent color.
Calcium salts produce a warm orange glow, common in comets and strobes.
A blend of red and blue producing agents. Striking but can be dim.
Lithium or strontium blends produce pink hues, popular in modern cakes.
Magnesium or aluminum creates brilliant white light, used in strobes and stars.
Aluminum/titanium metal powders create a bright silver shimmer.
Charcoal and iron filings produce a golden trail effect (often seen in willows).
A blue-green blend, less common but visually striking in fountains.
A red-purple blend, used in specialty shells.
A bright yellow-green, used in comets and strobe effects.
A softer purple, achieved with copper-strontium blends.
A warm golden-orange, common in falling tracer effects.
A blue-green hybrid used in modern effect cakes.
A deep blue-purple, used in specialty shells.
A bright blue-green, popular in fountain mixes.
A deep red, used in falling star and peony effects.
A rich, saturated green, common in 200g cakes.
A warm pink-orange, used in modern color blends.
A soft pale purple, achieved with copper blends.
A metallic brown-gold, common in comets and trails.
A warm metallic tone, used in specialty falling effects.
A vibrant pink-red, used in modern shells.
A soft pink-orange, used in fountain mixes.
A light blue, used in specialty aerial shells.
An ultra-bright green, popular in strobe effects.
An ultra-bright pink, used in modern cakes.
Effect Types
Common firework effect names and what they look like in the sky.
The most common aerial shell effect. A spherical burst of stars that burns out without a trailing tail. Clean, round, and bright.
Similar to a peony, but the stars leave a visible trailing tail as they spread, creating a fuller, sparklier burst.
Stars that fall slowly with long golden trails, resembling a weeping willow tree. Often hangs in the sky for several seconds.
A burst with relatively few large stars that travel outward in a pattern resembling palm fronds, with a thick golden trunk.
A dense, slow-falling burst of golden or silver trails. Often used as a finale filler effect.
A single large star that leaves a bright trailing tail as it rises. Often used as a rising effect before a burst.
Stars that split into multiple smaller stars mid-flight, creating a branching or cross pattern.
Stars that flicker on and off, creating a twinkling effect in the sky. Can be white or colored.
A ground-based effect that sprays a shower of sparks upward. Can be single or multi-colored.
A fused series of tubes that fire multiple effects in sequence. The most popular consumer firework type.
A single shot that launches a spray of stars straight up from a ground position. Creates a wall of color.
A shell with a ring of stars around a central burst, resembling the planet Saturn.
A hanging effect of falling silver or gold sparks, often suspended from a cable or frame.
A ground-based pot that strobes flickering light. Often used as a stage or finale accent.
A burst whose stars rise and then curve back downward, resembling a horsetail. Similar to a willow but with a tighter, more defined downward arc.
A shell with fewer, larger stars that spread widely in a sparse spherical pattern. Brighter and more spread out than a peony.
A ground-based or low-level column of colored or natural flame. Used for stage effects, theatrical accents, and proximity work.
A spherical burst of bright orange and yellow flame with minimal star color, creating a dramatic explosion of light. Often used in finales.
A special effect of multiple small individual stars that self-propel in random directions across the sky, creating a lively, scattered display.