Note: Do not use homemade fuse without testing first. Improperly made fuse could burn inconsistently, either too fast (very bad!) or too slow (also bad!). Don't go making your very first fuse and sticking it in a giant salute, test first until you can make reliable, consistent fuse.

Blackmatch and quickmatch (link)
More on blackmatch and quickmatch (link, scroll down to Ignition section)
Electrical ignition (link)
Electrical igniters #1 (link) Scroll down to "Igniter Systems" under the section "Motors".
Electrical igniters #2 (link) From another rocketry site, they also sell kits to make igniters.

Sticky Match

Stick match is like quickmatch, it is a fast burning fuse intended to ignite multiple fuses/devices at the same time. True Sticky Match is actually self adhesive, you use it like a roll of tape to connect fuses. Click here for the site that sells real Sticky Match. You can make stickymatch very similar to that with a bit of work, but I haven't done it myself. What I have made uses tape and a powder train, but burns slower (a few feet a second rather than the 60-100fps of the professional stuff) and isn't sticky. It's not perfect, but it's good enough for me at this point...

Construction is simple, you pretty much just pour black powder down the center of a legnth of tape and fold it over to seal it.

Powder poured down middle and fuse in:

Tape folded onto itself to seal it:

Burning:

Multiple fuses can be connected with this by poking a hole in the tape and inserting the fuse you want lit into the hole. With good stickymatch, piercing the tape may not be needed, you can just have them in contact, but it's a good precaution. As many fuses as you want can be joined this way, it is also a good idea to split the end of the fuse being joined on to expose more powder to help ensure ignition.

Christmas (or in the interest of political-correctness, Ôø‡holidayÔø‡) lights igniters:

Xmas lights, or any standard filament light bulb, can be used as an electrical igniter. Just Break the glass off and stick the filament in some powder. You do not really need any extra powder for most uses, but I like to do it just as extra insurance. Xmas lights work well because they are small, cheap (I got 100 pack for $1.79 and they can be found cheaper) and already have the wires in them, unlike using a normal small light bulb.

Xmas igniter:

Ignition (the powder I added was from match heads):

We start with the components:

A short piece of figure 8 bell wire, a piece of nichrome heating element cut from a hairdryer and a small loop of nichrome cut from the element.

Next, hold the top of the loop of nichrome in a pair of pliers with the "legs" poking out. Hold the pliers in one hand and the bellwire in the other. Simply push the end of the bellwire onto the legs of the nichrome loop. Each leg will force itself down one of the conductors in the bellwire.

The finished piece:

A close up with scale:

Low-tech fuses:

Sparklers can be used effectively for fuses, but the large diameter and inflexibility reduces their usefulness. Click here for a test of Morning Glory sparklers as delays.

Some people use plastic straws filled with powders such as black powder (not recommended!) and kno3/sucrose. I tested delays with kno3/sucrose and found them to work, but not all that well. I mixed the ingredients in a 50/50 mix (the ratio is not really important) and filled 8.5 inch long paper tubes with the mix (lightly packed). Two were lit with the far end folded over, one with the far end open. The first two burned for 20 seconds or so, the third for only about 5 seconds. They were not very consistent, and you can not tell how much of it has burned unless you make your tube thin enough for it to burn completely through.

I recieved the following email on a method to make fuses, it sounds worth trying:

"Just wanted to tell you about a home made fuses we used to use. You make a super-saturated solution of potassium nitrate and water (disolve the saltpetre into hot water until no more will dissolve) and soak some paper, (the more porous, the better) in it until it is totaly soaked through. Hang it out to dry. Once totally dry, you can then cut it into strips or whatever. It does tend to have some saltpetre crystals cling to it, but we found that they still make pretty good fuses."

You can make extra-lame fuses with just masking tape and paper match heads. Just get a strip of tape twice as long as you want your fuse, stick match heads on half of the tape (make sure they are touching or it probably won't work!), fold the tape over so everything is covered and held together, and press the tape together. It will burn fairly consistently and slowly, the nice thing about it other than being so easy is there is no chance of it all burning instantly like bad blackmatch could do.

Match heads on tape:

Tape folded over and pressed:

Burning: