A firework waterfall, also known as Niagara Falls is one of the most beautiful firework effects. The effect of silver sparks  continually falling looks like water flowing over a fall. The composition in the falls can be adjusted with the sparks falling only a few feet for a small backyard display, to falling many feet for a large firework display spanning a whole bridge high over the water. 
 

A waterfall is a series of tubes or "sticks" that contain a pyrotechnic composition that burns very bright, with most commonly silver color sparks that can fall great distances. A silver composition is made with fine granular metals, and Golden waterfalls are made with granulated Charcoal.

These sticks are tied together at their tops, at regular intervals, usually about 12" for an even appearance from a distance. On the bottoms of the sticks are a starting composition, and they are fused together at the bottom with quickmatch. Quickmatch will make sure that all of the sticks start burning at the same time. The length of the waterfall can be as short or as long as you would like it to be. If using a very long span of waterfall the quickmatch will be lit at numerous locations, at the same time electronically, so that one end does not start or end before the other. The best effect, and the desired effect, is when all of the sticks start and end at the same time.

Below are photos of a 10' section of waterfall laid out on the ground being prepared to be hung up. In this instance 10 of these 10' sections will be connected together to span a larger distance. In the top two photos you can see that the top of the waterfall is held together with wire. The bottom part is the paper quickmatch that will light all the sticks at the same time. Even though a wire is used, caution must be adhered to, as the composition is so hot burning that it will burn through the wire causing a break in the wire, and then the ends will then start swinging. A long waterfall should be tied every few feet to prevent this possible accident from happening. Although a lot of work, a waterfall tied between every stick would be the ideal situation. If we had video of it we'd show you two 50' spans swinging like a pendulum. It was actually a cool effect, but it was NOT "supposed to be" part of the show :)       Live and learn!  

--ALSO NOTE the very top and very bottom photographs on this page. We do not know where they can from, they were emailed to us to show us the different set up of both falls. The top photo of a silver waterfall looks as if the entire waterfall was supported. The bottom photo of a gold waterfall, you will notice that the center (s) of the waterfalls are sagging.--

The sticks, or tubes, are filled with a bright burning firework composition. We use different compositions to fit the length of fall that the customer desires. The tubes can be made of about any type of paper. Thin paper is used so that the paper burns away with the composition. Notebook, copy paper, or as we use thin Kraft paper, works just fine when rolled on a dowel rod and taped or glued shut. The tubes can have the inside diameter of, usually, 1/4" to 1", the larger diameter the brighter the display as more sparks will fall at a time. The length of the tube itself will depend upon how long of time you want the waterfall to fall. Each composition will burn at a different rate.

Filling the tubes are as important as the type of composition used. The tubes are filled with a small amount of composition at a time, and then packed down firmly, inside of the tube. Failure to follow this procedure will result in the tube, not packed properly, to stop burning and this will can ruin your waterfall effect with blank spaces in the span of the waterfall.  The waterfall in top photo on this page appears to have one stick the did not ignite, just left of the center.

A space is left at the top of the tube (soon to be the bottom of the tube) for a starting composition. The waterfall composition is very hot burning, but also hard to ignite. An easy to ignite composition is applied last. Timing of the initial silver sparks falling is the hardest part, getting the sparks to drop at the same time over the whole span.

As an interesting effect we will sometimes put a very bright red starting composition in the waterfall sticks. The span of the waterfall starts out with a very bright red glow for a few seconds that then changes to the long flowing sparks. Another way is to alternate colors in the tubes in various ways to produce interesting effects. No matter how many ways there are, nothing can beat the beauty of the standard silver cascading waterfall effect.

After the tubes are filled and the starting composition applied, the sticks are allowed to air dry in the shade.

In the photo below you will see 10 waterfall sticks and a couple rolls of quickmatch. The length of the quickmatch between the sticks should be generous (Note photos above.), but not excessive, as the quickmatch will burn away leaving the burning sticks hanging on the support wire/rope. If the quickmatch is too tight it will cause the sticks to start swaying when the quickmatch burns away. The proper spacing will depend upon the spacing at the top of each stick with the support wire/rope. This is the part where the distance between each stick is important.

For the show choreographers out there. A cool effect, if possible, is to time colored set pieces to go off behind the waterfall as the waterfall is dieing out. Appearing behind a curtain of fire, so to speak. Then, before the set pieces die out start other fireworks. This will redirect the audience from noticing that both the waterfall and set piece tubes may not end at the same time. Keep them interested and moving their eyes, always looking something new and exciting to happen!