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| Displaying and Lighting Glass |
| Photographing Glass |
| Oil Candles, Oil Lamps & Candle Holders |
| Light Fixtures and Lamps |
OVERVIEW - On this page, we explore using open flame light sources with glass. Chandeliers, which can use candles but rarely do these days are on the fixtures page.
NIGHT LIGHTS - [2001-10-10 (posted to rec.crafts.glass)] I have spent
part of the day sketching solutions/goals with respect to making
blown glass oil candles.
Having blown several in the past and learned a few things (don't
use lamp oil in a candle, it smokes, use lamp & candle oil),
one of the problems I have with both candles and oil candles is
that they last too long.
I am thinking of making some pieces that are more like
thick wall perfume bottles, with a reservoir that holds a ounce
or two of oil, so they can be lighted as a night light and let
burn out after an hour.
I explored a bit on the web a few minutes ago and found a
number of old friends/products I have seen in the store.
One site had estimated burning times of 144 hours on the largest
pieces. Also, virtually everything I encountered was
lampworked thin glass.
Among the challenges I was sketching around was that if
the chamber is small, then it has to be refilled often, which
means the wick must lift out easily and provision made to avoid
dripping oil on tables, etc., which for me influences design.
I am using fiberglass wicks with a small Pyrex collar to support
the top of the wick and keep the flame up from the soft furnace
glass. I foresee the need for a small pitcher or dispenser
head on the bottle to pour the oil, so a person is not juggling
the wick, a funnel, and the oil bottle. One thing I was
reminded of in looking at images is that a larger disk - say the
size of a quarter or fifty-cent piece - would ease the filling by
allowing a larger opening.
One thing I want to explore in oil candles I suspect won't
work. I would like to draw glass up from the base so that
the flame has glass around it. One image would be a vase with a
flame near the bottom - not sure about air flow (or lighting the
thing - sell a long oil match with the candle?) An
alternative would be fingers of glass, like having a flame the
palm of a hand with fingers around it pointing up. That
would be interesting and solve any air flow problem.
So, can anyone aim me at web sites or books that explore
this area?
Discussion welcome.
| OIL LAMP -
Utilitarian oil and kerosene lamps once provided major lighting for homes,
farms, and businesses. From
a substantial bowl fuel is drawn by a wide wick adjustable in height with an external
knob to provide a broad yellow flame of varying height and brightness. A
glass chimney bulging at flame height provides protection from side drafts and a
uniform smooth flow of air for a steady rather than flickering flame. More modern oil lamps tend toward the artistic in design, but the fuel and wick require a controlled air flow. |
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| OIL CANDLE - I blew an oil candle, not much, and used the fiberglass wick and Pyrex stem I bought over a year ago in Austin. Make sure that you use candle oil and not lamp oil, which, as the warning on the back of mine said, "gives off damaging amounts of smoke." The light playing in the clear oil and mildly colored and bubbled glass is fun to watch. 10/13/96 Hot Glass Bits #33 Example with colored oil shown. |
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The large glass bowl at right is half filled with water and has a glass bowl
floating in it with candle oil and an aluminum foil wrapped wick stuck on a wire with a coiled base to
hold it upright. The candle light goes out in all directions through the
colored oil, the glass of the inner bowl, the water and the outer bowl.
The flame here is too large (even momentarily shortened in this image) and
when the inner bowl floats near the edge, the flame smokes the inside of the
bowl. Why should it float to the side? Because there is a heating and air
conditioning duct roughly 6' up and 3' to the left and the moving air will shift
the bowl as there is almost no friction. This is a custard cup and the glass is
too thick, it almost sinks. I reduced the size of the flame by adjusting the amount of wick showing to a small corner of the top. The wire's coil at the bottom should be large enough to keep the wick centered in the inner bowl. .2008-05-11 |
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This artist's work, photographed at Kittrell-Riffkind, is fused glass with a
candle wick extending from the top layer thru to a reservoir in the next layer.
The top lifts off off to fill the reservoir. In the piece at the left, the
wooden upright is a miniature rake for making sand patterns to sooth the mind.
2008-03-03
Candle Types - There are tens of thousands of designs of manufactured candles and holders
for same, for some examples
http://www.discountcandleshop.com/ In addition, people making artistic
candles add millions of varieties more as whim drives them. But in making
glass holders for candles, there are, fortunately, a rather small group of
standard candles that are used in quantities that probably exceed millions per
day (as in 50 million people probably light a votive candle in church and 10
million light romantic tapers for dining.) The most common of these are (by
height)
Taper - A tall slender
tapering candle with a somewhat larger base in the form of an inverted blunt
cone which fits in a matching hole in required candlestick (upright) or
candle holder (flat). These are the romantic candles of the formal dinner
table and the hole for holding them is normally made with a simple wood or metal
tool plunged into the end of the off-hand hot glass. Commercial sticks and
holders are usually molded.
Pillars - A cylindrical candle
of substantial diameter - 2" or more - and more often taller than wide.
Since these can stand alone on a plate, a holder for them merely has to offer a
flat spot with enough of a lip to catch dripping wax. Often these candles
burn without dripping, forming an ever deepening hole around the wick.
Tea lights - These look like
miniature votive candles with the important difference that they are always sold
in a thin cup - previously always metal but now sometimes in clear plastic. The cup
means they will burn in a small flame for a long time without spreading wax and
thus can be used for a warmer or for decoration by being set on floating objects
including flowers. Floating bowls should be deep enough that the rim extends
above the flame to catch the light. LED tea lights are now
available. 2008-05
Votive - These are a
standard size - 1.5" wide by 2" - and are used in churches to light before
altars, but are also used in food warmers and for decoration. Usually
white in the past, now sold with colors and scents added. Must be used in
some kind of holder to keep the wax from spreading as they burn down quickly if
that happens, while taking 10 hours if in a cup. (Slightly taller and shorter
items are sold with 8 hour and 15 hour ratings.)
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CANDLE HOLDERS - If a holder is made for a votive candle, the candle will burn for a very long time if the wax is held in close to the wick, the shape of a traditional candle cup. If it is allowed to spread out, it will not burn for nearly as long.
Fairy lights were
originally a brand name for kind of night light and low level night light.
The most memorable of these are made of Burmese glass (right) which is a
striking glass that changes color based on its reheating. Fairy lights use
small candles in a cup like tea lights and the marketing plan
was to make money selling supplies. Making the domes, which are open top
and bottom, is eased by knowing the bottom is cut and ground rather than being
all shaped by hand.
http://www.justglass-online.com/fairy.html