Cornstarch combustion OK, don't throw out your lycopodium because that stuff is expensive! Put it back on the shelf for your special shows and start using cornstarch instead. As a replacement for a combustion type show I don't think you can beat the price and flame-factor of plain old cornstarch. The other bonus is that you avoid the issue of allergic reations to mold spores. Cornstarch is much cheaper and with the right setup you can create a pretty impressive combustion demo.
Put the cornstarch in one of those ketchup squirt bottles. Fill the whole thing up. You need a flame like from a blowtorch or the cornstarch will just blow it out. Squeeze the bottle hard and direct the spray over the torch flame and you will get a huge flameball. A common thing people seem to do is to try to shake the powder out of the bottle. That just makes for a weak show cause it just dribbles out. I tell people to "squeeze that bottle like your trying to make it POP open." This gives you a great jet of powder. Not all of it will combust, and it will make a mess, but it makes a hell of a flameball. We try to mitigate the mess somewhat by either directing the overspray onto the bench, or put down a full-sheet cake pan. In either case you will still make a bit of a mess. I usually end up using up a complete bottle when I do it just to make it as impressive as possible.
I've tried it with coffee creamer as well, but I think the cornstarch is the best. Creamer has sugar in it and you end up caramelizing some of it and it kinda smells bad and makes a bigger sticky mess. We get our cornstarch in the food service size containers (25 pounds or such), and it has no odor when it burns.
