An oil lamp, or oil candle, is one of the oldest form of light source to mankind, with stone oil lamps dating back 10,000 to 15,000 years ago! Today, we will talk about how oil lamps and oil candles work, which kind of oil lamp wicks to use, and how to make easy and beautiful mason jar oil candles in just minutes!
3 reasons I love mason jar oil lamp:
- So easy yet so pretty, mason jar oil candles take only 2 minutes to make using vegetable oils and water!
- Even safer than candles: if the oil candle is knocked over, the flame would be immediately extinguished by the oil and water. Still, please follow basic safety steps and don’t leave the lamp unattended!
- Bright and long lasting: 1 tablespoon of oil can last 2 hours as an oil burning candle!
These oil lamps can be a practical low cost light source, they are also the perfect easy decorations for dinner parties and festive gatherings!
(Update: we made many variations of mason jar oil candles you will see here, plus lots of helpful tips and FAQs at the end, don’t miss ! )
How do oil lamps work?
The earliest oil lamps use vegetable oil as fuel, and later versions of oil lamps burn kerosene or lamp oil drawn up through a wick by capillary action. We will be making the vegetable oil version here.
Which kind of oil and wick to use for oil candles and lamps?
Lamps that use kerosene or lamp oil has wicks specially made for this purpose. These long cotton wicks are not suitable for vegetable oil lamps because cooking oils have high viscosity.
To be honest, I tried some oil candle tutorials with long cotton wicks and vegetable oil , and failed completely! The long wicks simply don’t draw up enough oil and would burn up and and the flame would go out. These floating wicks work beautifully for all cooking oils! ( Some of the helpful resources are affiliate links. Full disclosure here. )
How to make an easy and beautiful mason jar oil lamp in just minutes!
Materials for our DIY oil lamp:
- Large floating wicks: These floating wicks work beautifully and each oil candle wick lasts through many uses!
- vegetable oil: 1 tablespoon of oil can last 2 hours. Olive oil, sunflower oil, canola oil and many others all work well.
- mason jars, glass bottles, water, and some decorative elements such as flowers, pine cones, pebbles, etc.
- You can infuse your oil with herbs, spices or essential oils for a lovely fragrance!
Step 1: gather some glass bottles and jars, fill with flowers or other treasures. Cover with water.
Step 2: pour some vegetable oil on top, till the oil form a layer of about 1/4″ thick.
The large floating wicks come with discs and small waxed wicks. Insert a piece of the waxed wicks half way through the center hole on the disc, and put it on top of the oil layer.
Now light your oil candle and enjoy the beautiful glow!
The flowers and fruits will last a whole week in the water.
Pine cones, pebbles, beads are all great additions too! Red holly berries, cranberries, and conifer clippings are great for the holiday season.
To extinguish the flame, just put the lids on the jars. The floating wicks can stay in there.
An update on some additional tips and FAQs:
- After many uses, the waxed wick will burn off, just replace it with a small piece of pre-waxed wick that you can cut into small pieces. The floating disc can last a very long time.
- some flowers will float to the top, you can hold the stem down with some small rocks, glass beads etc
- add food coloring in the water for a special effect!
- light olive oil and sunflower seed oil burns quite clean, I have not notice smoke except for when they are extinguished.
- fake plants will work too, just keep them away from the flame!
Thanks to everyone who asked these great questions!
Related Article: Easiest DIY Hanging Glass Jar Lanterns
Some more nature inspired fun for you: Make botanical ice luminaries-
Make wreaths without using wreath forms! ( a Dollar Store hack)
Dimensional paper flower lanterns!
Have a lovely weekend everyone! xo
AnnaMarie
Hi! Love love love the Mason jars! Question…what can i put in the water to deter and repel these damn mosquitos?? Lemons? Anything else?? Thanks in advance! ?
ananda
hi annemarie, i found lemon eucalyptus essential oil to be very effective when we went to florida , more details here http://www.apieceofrainbow.com/make-mosquito-repellent/
although i have not been able to test these oils in the mason jar candles here because we have few mosquitoes in southern california 🙂
Basilelle
Hi! Thank you for sharing the fab project. Would using 100% oil keep real flowers from deteriorating? Thanks!!!!!
ananda
hi basielle, i don’t think so, because fresh plant materials can still rot in oil. =)
Kerri
Has anyone tried this with clear lamp oil? I purchased some for another project and have lots left over.
Jessica
Amazing work Ananda! This is truly a creative side of yours.
Emily
I love this idea! Can;t wait to make some for my home, and great gift ideas too! I’m curious, which are the fruits/vegetables/flowers/nature pieces I could use that would last the longest amount of time without going bad?
ananda
hi emily! the plants with thick leathery leaves last longest =) faux plants are also good for this !
Jessica
These are beautiful! I absolutely love the creativity and uniqueness of the candles! 🙂
Carol Blair
First I love the candle idea. I have made a couple so far but I am having trouble getting the wick to stay in the center of the jar. Any ideas of what I am not doing correct?
Thanks
ananda
hi carol!
the wick can float to the side sometimes. if the jar sits on a level surface, it should be pretty easy to push the wick more towards center. =)
Wilma Turcotte
Just love all your ideas and so glad I found you. Using real cranberries and cedar how long will they last? Couldn’t get the tutorial for making pinecones and greenery white. Thanks Amanda.
ananda
hi wilma, cedar lasts a month at least. you can use artificial berries because cranberries would not last for a week. 🙂
Karen L
Hi – can you just clarify which wicks you use? I followed the link in materials and in the article too and it opens up an amazon page, but there are quite a few different types of floating wick. Love your candles – they look amazing! Thank you.
ananda
hi karen, thank you! these are the ones i used ( my amazon affiliate link) – http://amzn.to/2jbPFRa
happy creating!
Tracy
Is the water necessary? Or can I just fill the whole jar with the oil? Would using just oil prevent the other things in there from going bad? Thanks!
ananda
hi tracy, i don’t think the oil would preserve the fresh cuttings, and water is so much easier to clean up than a jar of oil, and less waste of oil also. 🙂
Vicki
These are fantastic! But is there a way to make the lamps last more than just a week? It would be so neat to make these as Christmas presents, but a week wouldn’t last long enough to give as a gift. Any suggestions?
ananda
hi vicki, thank you for the wonderful suggestion! like anything with fresh cut flowers, it would be challenging, but i will think of some ideas and let you know when i find a good alternative! 🙂
Phoenix
Unfortunately they don’t sell such wicks in my country 🙁 would standard long cotton wicks work?
ananda
hi! you can make a small floating wick easily, it’s just a short candle wick inserted into a small float, for example a slice of wine cork, i have even seen people using a piece of plastic from a bottle! =)
Lydia
I read that cotton string or cloth should be soaked in salt water and dried before using with vegetable oil.
ananda
hi Lydia, i have not tested that, but if you do, please let us know how well it works! sounds intriguing! 🙂
Julie Dupuis
I am just wondering how many drops of essential oil you would reccomend using? I know its depends on how much scent you’d like or how strong, but on average how manybdrops?
ananda
hi julie, i’d say 5-10 drops. 🙂
Jackie Sutt
Would love to make these for gifts. Is there a problem in transporting them? Not thinking of mailing, lol. Just transporting in my car. Perhaps make up, put oil in place, but tie on a small gift envelope with the wick and instructions? Have you any suggestions?
LOVE these. I’ve got my wicks and collecting jars.
ananda
hi jackie, i think the gift envelope with the wick and instructions is a great idea! 🙂
Jessi
Love these! Want to try some when my peony roses bloom! I have read in several articles where adding oil to water can make your lamp cloudy and possibly cause bacteria to grow in the vegetation. Have you had that problem with any of yours?
ananda
hi Jessi,
i only keep fresh flowers and leaves in the water for 3 days to a week, and then wash everything to start fresh. 🙂
ada
LOVE this mason jar craft!!!
neha singh
beautiful! thank you for sharing.
Becki
Love this idea! How do you get the pine cones to not float, though?
Thanks!!
ananda
hi becki! some pinecones are heavier, and it really helps if there is a piece of stem attached so it is easier to be held down by small rocks. hope that helps! 🙂
Caroline
Hi, this is a beautiful, eco-friendly idea! Am wondering if you have a recipe for just making candles without the decorations?
ananda
hi caroline, if you want to make oil candles, just skip the decorations. if you are looking for wax candle recipes, we will be creating some tutorials soon!
Bella
the oil candles are so beautiful and perfect for summer! love the ones with flowers!
Katelyn Lott
Love this idea. I definitely want to try. How much water do you pour into the jar? Just enough to wet the items inside or until the water line is above them? Maybe I missed something in the directions.
ananda
hi Katelyn! yes the water line should be above the objects then you can add a thin layer of oil on top. 🙂