Am I making artisan dental floss? Nope, just teasing flash cotton into a thread for some fire play. Technical notes: Twisting flash cotton into a tight thread makes it lie flat on the flesh, and burn more slowly, increasing the burning pain and the likelihood of blisters. Pulling the flash cotton into a loose, fluffy line leaves you with something that doesn’t lie nearly as flat, and burns much faster, less painfully.

And here’s a slo-mo video of a burn, using a fluffier line instead of the spun thread, as modeled by the inimitable Mademoiselle S.

Slo-mo fireplay with the inimitable Ms S.