This course was presented by Diane and Gary Purrington at the Western Pyrotechnic Association 2002 Do-It convention in Laughlin Nevada in October 2002. This hands-on lecture demonstrated how improved color stars could be made, cured and primed ready for use in a few hours, thus eliminating the need to transport hazardous 1.3 explosives to the site. Aerial shells can be made start to finish from scratch on location! Composite stars offer higher resistance to moisture and aging, they produce higher candlepower and longer burn times than conventional stars thus allowing the use of smaller stars and higher counts per shell and the flame coloration is the purest, most vivid colors ever seen in pyrotechnics - truly unbeatable. The lecture included a demonstration on how to make composite smoke stars for daylight shells as well as smoke sticks and insecticide smoke for pest control which do not require outer casings - just light the end of the stick and place it where you want. The hand-out article includes safety, materials, mixing, cutting (sizing), priming and heat curing (we used a 55 gallon drum with a 1500 watt ceramic heater mounted outside forcing heated air through trays of stars within). Also included are formulations for red comet, gold crackle, green magnesium, smoke stars and sticks and prime compositions. All this information and more is packed into four pages 8 1/2" X 11".