Striking the Spark – Using Oil Lamps

This is the final post of a four part series. Posts one, two, and three need to be read before reading this entry for clarity. Now that we’ve made (or are thinking about making) an oil lamp, what do we do with it? Like most things you’re pretty much limited only by your creativity. They’re …

Striking the Spark – Constructing the Floating Wick Oil Lamp

This is the third in a four-part series. Please read part one and part two before proceeding. The floating wick oil lamp can be even easier than the standing wick lamp, depending on how it's approached. And either way there are fewer steps! Materials The container for the floating wick lamp tends to be easier …

Striking the Spark – Constructing the Standing Wick Oil Lamp

This is the second in a four-part series. The first post can be found here. Constructing this style of lamp is dead simple. All of the work needed to create it is done to one length of copper wire. I broke it out in steps, but once you get it down you can churn one …

Striking the Spark – The History of Oil Lamps

This post introduces oil lamps. The two posts after this will be step-by-step tutorials of how to make your own version of two different styles. The final post will discuss how to use the lamp you’ve made. One of my favorite stories is the Greek myth about how humans first got fire. Prometheus was a …