An oil lamp is a homemade lamp that was used by our distant ancestors. The basis for it is oil and wick. Of course, the need for such a lamp has now disappeared, but it will still serve you in the countryside or may become interesting element interior decoration, especially if you use aromatic oils. Making a miniature oil lamp is not that difficult.
To make a miniature oil lamp we will need:
The thread will serve as a wick. The thicker it is, the better. Any thread easily absorbs any liquid, and the laws of physics lift this liquid upward along the thread - this is what we will use. First you need to make a base for the thread - a column on which it will be wound. To do this, take a match and wrap it in a tight ring of wire.
Gradually, by winding the wire onto a match in a spiral, we obtain the basis for the future wick.
When we have wrapped almost the entire match, we remove it from the spiral. Leave a tail at the bottom - it is needed for stability. Copper wire is best suited for such handicrafts - it bends easily and is quite beautiful.
Now you need to wind the thread around this spiral.
From bottom to top, we wind the thread tightly in a spiral, threading it a little between the rings of the spiral. We leave a small end of the thread on top, fluffing it along the fibers. If this structure is placed in a container with oil at the bottom, then the oil, having soaked the thread, will rise to the top. This is what the tin stopper is for. Drop a little oil into it and place the wick inside.
The oil itself does not burn, but a wick soaked in it burns very well. Of course, not just any oil will do - you need to buy something in the store that is intended for aromatherapy lamps and candles. All that's left to do is set it on fire!
It is not necessary to use a cork - any metal container into which you can pour a spoonful of oil and place the wick we made will do.
An oil lamp or candle is one of the oldest forms of light sources for mankind. According to Wikipedia, there are stone oil lamps that were used 10,000 to 15,000 years ago! Today we'll talk about how oil lamps work, what type of oil and wick is best to use, and how to make a beautiful oil lamp from a jar in just a few minutes!
These oil lamps can be an inexpensive light source and are also great for dinner or party decorations!
The earliest oil lamps used vegetable oil as fuel, while later versions used kerosene or lamp oil, which was impregnated with a capillary wick. This version is made with vegetable oil.
Lamps that use kerosene or lamp oil have specially made wicks. Long cotton wicks are not suitable for vegetable oil lamps because vegetable oils have a high viscosity.
Long wicks simply do not take up enough oil and go out. Floating wicks work great with all vegetable oils!
Step 1: Collect glass bottles and jars, fill them with flowers or other decorative elements. Fill with water.
Step 2: Pour a little vegetable oil on top until the oil forms a layer about half a centimeter thick.
Large floating wicks come with discs and small waxed wicks. Insert a piece of wick through the center hole in the disk and place it on top of the oil layer.
Now light your oil candle and enjoy the beautiful light!
Flowers and fruits will last a whole week in water.
Pine cones, pebbles, and beads are also great additions! Red viburnum berries, cranberries and paws coniferous species great for decoration.
To extinguish the flame, simply cover the candle with a jar lid. Floating wicks can be left inside.
After repeated use, the waxed wick will burn out, simply replace it with a small piece of pre-waxed wick that can be cut into small pieces. A floating disk can work for a very long time.
Some flowers will float, but you can keep them down with other decorative elements.
Add food coloring into the water to create a special effect!
Olive and sunflower oils burn cleanly, without smoke.
Artificial plants can also be used for decoration, just keep them away from flames.
The article was prepared based on materials from www.apieceofrainbow.com.
Kerosene and oil lamps were widely used at a time when electricity did not exist. But even today, in the event of a power outage, as well as during a hike or stay at the dacha, you can use an oil lamp. A rarity that was popular in ancient times will be difficult to find and purchase today, but you can learn how to make an oil lamp with your own hands.
For oil lamp lighting to be effective, certain conditions must be met:
A DIY oil lamp can be very useful in camping conditions to illuminate the area inside the tent. However, you need to know how to make it correctly.
The basis of such a lamp is oil and wick. To make a miniature oil lamp, you will need the following materials:
A thick woolen thread will act as a wick, and the thicker it is, the better. It absorbs any substance well, be it liquid or oil, lifting this substance upward. The basis for the thread should be a support, which is used as a match, on which copper wire is wound in tight rings. When the match is completely wrapped in wire, it is removed from the loop. You should end up with a copper spiral, the end of which needs to be bent slightly to ensure stability. After this, you need to wind the thread tightly onto the resulting spiral from bottom to top, threading it between the rings. The end of the thread should remain free at the top; it needs to be fluffed up a little.
Next, you need to take a tin stopper, pour a small amount of enough oil for the thread wick to be saturated to the top. In addition to the cork, you can use any metal container in which you need to place the manufactured wick.
Another option for making an oil lamp is to use a regular light bulb. For this you will need:
The light bulb will serve as a container for oil with a wick. To prepare it, you need to make a hole in the base: hook the protruding contact of the lamp with pliers and pull it. After this, you need to remove the black polymer around the contact and everything else that was there from the glass bulb of the light bulb.
Next, you need to check the wick for suitability: set it on fire and look at the result. If it produces loose ash, then the wick will burn well. If the fibers begin to turn into something resembling plastic, the wick is not suitable for an oil lamp. You need to measure the required length of the wick so that it is completely immersed in the bulb from the lamp, protruding about 1 cm from it.
To fill the glass flask with oil, you can use a 10 ml syringe. When the oil in the flask runs out, you can always add it.
After making the base, the wick is soaked in oil and lowered inside the flask, secured with wire. If the cotton wick on the wire does not stick out about 1 cm from the bulb, it will create a lot of soot. The oil lamp is ready, you just need to light the wick and make sure to change the oil on time and tighten the wick as it burns. By the way, such a lamp will be an excellent interior decoration. But for this it is necessary that it be located on a stand. For this you can use metal hanger or a piece of copper wire, twisting it in the form of a wide spiral, and securing the light bulb to the top using electrical tape or double-sided tape.
Another option for making an oil lamp is using a glass container and a bottom from aluminum can. The concave part of the bottom is cut off from the can, in which two holes are made - for the wick and air outlet, in order to slightly reduce the buoyancy of the wick. A wick, for example, from a bandage, is threaded through one of the holes. It is moistened with oil, set on fire and lowered into a glass container with oil poured into it. You can make three or four wicks instead of one, but in this case you will have to make the float from the aluminum bottom more convex so that it does not fill with oil inside glass jar.
The advantages of a lamp inside a glass jar: the flame is not blown out by the wind and is protected from accidental overturning, it is convenient during transportation, and does not require constant supervision. And the use of several wicks allows you to adjust the brightness of the glow and the duration of the lamp.
The problem of lighting has bothered people since ancient times. To bring light into your home, primitive He took a burning stick from the fire and secured it in the crack between the stones of the cave. This is probably how the prototype of the lamp appeared - the torch.
For the base of the torch, people used a wooden stick, on which they wrapped tow or a rag and dipped it in flammable liquid. Torches were used not only for lighting rooms. With their help, the element of fire became a participant in rituals and religious ceremonies.
In the Middle Ages, the torch was the main means of illuminating knightly castles. At this time, people created a special forged clamp that was attached to the wall. Often such a holder was made in the shape of a hand. This mount served as the prototype for the sconce lamp, because “sconce” translated from French means “hand.”
One of the first lighting devices was the torch, which illuminated the homes of peasants in northern Europe and Russia for hundreds of years. The splinter was fixed into a light - a special metal device, driven with the lower pointed end into a block of wood or into another wooden stand. Luchins were used in peasant life until the beginning of the twentieth century.
Along with a torch and a splinter, an oil lamp was a common source of light in a person’s home. The materials for making such lamps were clay and bronze. This consisted lighting fixture from a vessel and a wick. Animal fat and oil were used as fuel. Many such lamps have been preserved from the times of ancient Greece and Rome. Depending on the thickness of the wick, the oil lamp burned from half an hour to 2-3 hours. The light emanating from it was dim, but with two lamps lit it was quite possible to read.
The Romans lit their homes using an alfalfa oil lamp. Such lamps were made of terracotta. There were lamps with one, two and even twelve burners.
Oil lamps were painted with images depicting scenes of gladiatorial battles, exploits of gods and heroes. Like the designs on antique vases, the images on the lamps read like an encyclopedia of ancient life.
IN large rooms lamps were placed on a stand or hung on chains from the ceiling. Such hanging lamps became the prototype of a chandelier.
Today modern chandeliers and lamps are presented on the website
