Oil light (round swimmer)

Oil llights are a source of light with a lot of history - and very versatile, as any vessel large enough can serve as an oil light. For this, you fill a bowl or glass with a bit of water, top it off with some (vegetable) oil, place the wick-holder on top of it and light it. The amount of oil will determine how long the light will last.

Swimmers for oil lights have been made by Glafey in Nuremburg since the nineteenth century. Lighting with the help of an oil lamp, with oil on top of water and a wick in the oil, has been around in the Middle Ages already, though: Several illuminations show a cone-shaped glass lamp hung with chains.

The round cork swimmers are a little smaller than the three-bladed swimmers - which means they will fit perfectly into a regular-sized glass holder for tealights. That makes them a lovely, eco-friendly alternative for tea lights: no aluminium waste, no stearine or paraffine, and at a similar price to normal tea lights. They also need much less space to store than a stack of tea lights!

The tin contains the swimmer, about 50 wicks in a paper holder, and a pair of tweezers so your fingers can stay clean when changing wicks. The size of the flame can be influenced by how the wick is positioned in the paper holder.

In general, all cooking oils can be used to fuel your oil light. After longer use, oil residue on the swimmer can gum up; this softens with the heat of the flame and can block up the wick, thus extinguishing the flame. If your light dies after a short while of burning, even though you are using a fresh wick and there is plenty of oil available, you might need to clean or replace the swimmer. Impurities in the oil may also lead to the wick getting blocked up and the light extinguishing itself.

You can find video instructions on how to use the oil light here.