I was doing a little experimenting in Apophysis after I found this spiral. After rendering the initial shape, I went into the edit window and deleted the small purple triangle. That deletion gave me essentially the same spiral but with lighted orbs instead of all the curlicues... which I also rendered. I layered the two renders in PSP while trying out different blend modes and came up with this finished result. The curlicued (is that a word? lol!) spiral was given a shot of Flaming Pear's Aetherize to bring out some different hues and then I enhanced the edges a bit.

This flame is so much fun to work with... it takes on some really different characteristics depending on the gradient you use... and it's just too pretty to keep for myself, so the parameter .zip file (in a plain beige color) is available here, in case anyone wants to play with it.... ;) The preview window makes it look very "dusty" around the edges.. but once it's been rendered you'll see that the dust is actually lots of delicate little spirals... like little dreams... ;)

Thanks ever so much for all of the delightful comments you guys have left under my previous stuff... I sit here and smile at all of you when I read them... and thanks for checking this one out! Hugs!! Helen