Terrific idea and captured very well. Gives a ton of life to a shot that might otherwise be a bit dull (big plus). Hope you weren't looking into the sparks while taking the picture? Gave you a 7 during the challenge and it was one of my favorites.
Excellent work on the desat! That must have taken a bit of time, and the end result is worth it - this is one of those shots where I do believe the desat actually benefits the picture nicely. Score should have been higher in my estimation (and you're commenters thought so, too.) Congrats on a great picture!
Sweet image, great creative idea! Only thing...the color of the smoke seems weirdly cut off, it think it would have been just effective if you had just colored the sparks and left the smoke. But still a great photo 8.