Update on the Olive Oil Lamp

Hello friends, I am excited because I finally got the wick problems with the olive oil lamp worked out and can now share the instructions and the pic with you! It took some experimenting with different things and what I came up with is this: I took a paperclip and straightened it out then I wound it around a nail for most of its length and then made a larger circle at the base (I had to play with it to get it balanced enough to stand on its own.) so that I wound up with this:

next I took some cotton kitchen string and inserted it into the wire form like this:

next I got a wide short glass and using the wax melted in a tea candle poured a little bit in the center of the bottom of the glass and while it was still liquid positioned the wick form into it and let it set. Then I added a little wax on top of the arrangement and let it set again. Now I had this:

Then I added a small amount of water at the bottom of the glass, (it looks cloudy in the pic{below}, I’m not sure why it was clear water, and the blue streak {above}is not the glass but rather the lighting) then the olive oil, a couple drops of essential oil (be sure not to add more than a few drops or you may risk raising the fire danger if spilled) for aroma and lit it, so now I had this:

it had been burning for only a short time when I took the pic above but it continued to burn for quite some time.

This is one project that I can say I am glad I tried and worked out because the light produced is warm although not very bright, I am sure that could be helped a little by placing the lamp beside or on a mirror. The olive oil is much safer than other oils in that is will make a mess not a fire if spilled, and will burn without smoke or scent (unless you add the scented oil to the olive oil) or at least not a scent I could detect. It did smoke for a few seconds when I first lit the string until it reached the level of the oil and began to burn the oil vapor not just the cotton string.

 I think it will be easy to throw together now that I know how and will make a few of the wick forms to keep in a drawer so that if we lose power I can quickly and inexpensively make a little lamp like this to get us through. I always have plenty of olive oil and string in the kitchen and you can use a small glass, a wide mouth canning jar or other small clear jar you have saved to assemble the lamp with.

 I would love to know if any of you try this or find another solution to the wick issues (how to hold the wick in the oil without it sinking or falling over), and what you think of the idea.

Until next time I hope all of you are warm, safe and happy!