DIY Olive Oil Lamp

Olive oil lamps burn very small quantities of oil. They are the essence of economical lighting and more affordable than most candles. I love to add a few drops of essential oils like tea tree or lavender to the oil; it smells divine.

I made this DIY olive oil lamp with a half pint mason jar. Be creative with lamp vessels - fabricating an olive oil lamp using a sea shell can be fun! There are many appropriate glass, metal or stone containers for creating olive oil candles. Plastic and wood are not recommended for use as lamp vessels. If you burn your lamp in an open bowl, dip your fingers into the warm oil to use as massage oil.

You will need:

1. Cotton oil candle wicks (or some 100% cotton something)
2. A vessel for oil (like a half pint glass jar)
3. Wire
4. Pliers
5. Olive oil (not pictured)

Step one create the wick holder. To assemble your own olive oil lamp create an apparatus out of the wire for holding the wick. I made a freestanding spiral that holds the wick lightly-pinched though the hole at the top. Careful not to squeeze the wick too tightly because it must stay saturated with oil for efficient burning. You can design a metal hook that hangs from the side of your jar into the olive oil. The side hook method makes the wick easy to lift out and light.

Or if you’re talented with wire art here’s a lasting design perfect for a small jar:

Step two: adjust wick to burner.

Adjust the wick so about 1/4” sticks above the wire burner.

Step three: add olive oil

Place your wire wick assembly into your container. Add olive oil just above the top of the wire. Squeeze the tip of the wick slightly to remove extra oil and light it with a match or lighter. It is often easiest to light when the coil is lifted and tilted slightly. The key to burning olive oil is to keep the wick saturated with oil at all times.

About Oil Candle Wicks: I bought a roll of inexpensive industrial cotton string to make my thin small oil candle wick; which produced a small amount of light suitable for reading. I’m new at making my own oil lamps, but with 300 feet of cotton wick I can experiment worry free. No worries if a wick gets ruined in bad oil. If you want more light use a bigger wick. This rope oil candle wick is twice as big and super sturdy.

Read more about burning olive oil in a lamp here.

The Timeless Oil Lantern

It was time for a fall photo shoot to help this impressive local photographer and friend build their portfolio. We met just before dusk, I hoped it was a good idea to bring some of Red Hill's favorite rustic oil lanterns for dusk's activities.

Enjoy these beautiful lifestyle oil lantern photos created by photo artist Kristen Horton while reading this short summary of how lanterns came to be used in society today. Decide if light by oil lantern is all it's cracked up to be. We used this little green lantern and the traditional sized red storm lantern in our sunset photo shoot.

Human lives were once lived by *geographic luck, **the earth's rotation and it's closeness to the sun. The minute the sun was shadowed by the rotating planet there wasn't much better to do than gaze into the cosmos or go to sleep. Can you image this?

The most fulfilled living was to rise for a new day when the shadow fades as the sun appears.

The last 400 years or so are marked with many ingenious human inventions. These inventions became exceptions to the previous ideas of fulfilled living... that is, living in concert to the earth's rotation and to the seasons.

Exceptions, like the invention of tabletop oil lamps, allowed for reading, study and other tasks after the sun went down. People had an ability to stay up late (woo! sleepovers!). Only those earlier humans with access to lamps and their oil had the privilege to pick evenings they could afford to burn it. It seams primitive but in their hay-day, oil wick lamps were cutting edge. And if you could get one, you were on the privileged cutting edge of society.

These oil-burning inventions for light after dark were fashioned with hangers and attachments allowing light to be taken outside on a journey. The oil lantern could be hung outside if expecting company after dark or for if you had a deck of playing cards on a warm summer night.

The ways humans use artificial lights have evolved and changed rapidly since their emergence.

Today there are lots of options for lighting after the sun sets.

Oil lanterns for outdoor use when camping or celebrating at an after-dark garden party are still in high demand today! And for good reason: unlike electric lights and other options, hanging oil lanterns are relatively inexpensive, stylish timeless decorations AND the most reliable lighting you can count on if you've got a good wick (get your survival stockpile of wicks here) and a bottle of oil.

They're not practical lights to use everyday, but they were never meant to be.

Why do you think oil lanterns are still around? What gives them their appeal? Do they help us reconnect with a simpler way of living? Share your opinion - we want to know!

*geographic luck refers not only to the physical area a human is in but is also, according to historian author Richard Bullet, the reason why some people had cows and guns and planes while others had so little technology.  

**the earth's rotation and it's closeness to the sun refers to the day length and seasonal weather. 

Cold Weather is Rushing In

Hard to believe it is that time of year again.  Time to break out the coats, make sure we have emergency kits ready for power outages, and time for all those holidays.

About those emergency kits, we have a few items that we recommend that you have:

• Car charger for your cell phone.  This particularly comes in handy if the power is out much longer than expected.
• First Aid Kit.
• Flashlight or Oil Lantern (or both in case your batteries run dead)
• Bottled Drinking Water.
• Non-perishable food.
• Manual Can Opener
• Crackers & Cookies in Sealed Containers
• Treats for your Pets
• Battery Powered Radio
• Extra Blankets
• Back up heat source

There are many more things that you may need depending on preference, region (cooler regions will need an extra heat source), and more.  This list is just an idea to help you get started.  We hope you have a safe winter with no power outages, but it is better to be prepared in case of emergencies.

What are you putting in your Emergency Kit this winter?