Old-timers still have some fire left in them

Last week I had fun with a tulip.
Last month I was playing with matches.
Today, I got them together.

How to do a shot like this:
I started by finding a good location for it. I didn't want to play with fire on my wooden floors, and it was to cold to play outside, so I settled on the hallway with dark area behind for good black background.
To make things safer, I used old pan as a fireproof surface, a spatula to doze small fires, and a bottle full of water if I really mess up. Why so much safety for a small fire? Because I cut half a dozen match heads and pile them up inside the bulb to see if I can make a mini explosion with fire going high.
I wanted a tulip to be well lit, but fire to be visible as well, so I set both of my soft boxes on one side, and a big hallway mirror on the other, maximizing the amount of light available. Matches from inside wouldn't give me the light I wanted, so this way I made sure that outside is visible.
Since I wanted to use only one tulip for this game, I tested everything I could before the actual photo. I burned some paper to see if the fire is good enough, but it wasn't. Matches are still unmatched for a small fires like this, and they burn with a nice orange color that matches the tulip nicely, and this was one of my main inspirations.
I was afraid that dropping a match into a bulb containing other matches will be a fast acting reaction, so I got my wife to take actual pictures while I start the fire. There was no need. Matches do not catch fire that fast. I had plenty of time to walk back to the camera and shoot myself.
In order not to miss anything, I set the camera to the high speed shooting mode. This way I could catch my 'explosion' in all phases. This wasn't needed either. Not too much anyway, because the initial fire went sideways and inside the bulb, and not much went up where I was waiting for it. Doesn't matter, I still got the shot I wanted.
Nice tall flame with some smoke for a good measure.

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