Improvised Emergency Oil Candle

Hello dearies!  How's your weekend?  I do hope you're all doing fine.  Typhoon Glenda has now left the Philippines but there is another typhoon, Henry, which thankfully not as strong as Glenda but still we must be prepared.  Last Thursday when the storm hit, the husband and I had no idea that it was going to be THAT strong that would leave homes without water or electricity for days.  We were not prepared especially with days of brownout.  Because most Filipino homes like ours cannot afford generators, we rely on candles, flashlights, and if we're lucky, electric emergency lights.  Because of strong winds and heavy rains, most grocers and supermarkets were closed and even small stores ran out of candles to sell.  We had two large candles at home but they were not enough to provide the much needed light at night, so the husband came up with a very clever idea, so clever that I had to blog it.  We were joking the night he made this that he must have been a descendent of Albert Einstein.   I told him that it is extremely possible, but it must have been Albert's brother, Frank Einstein.  Haha! Frankenstein, got it?  We're mean, I know.  I never heard of this before so I was really amazed and it sure does work plus it's cheap, which you all know I like, and all materials needed are already inside our home.  So, the next time there's brownout and you ran out of batteries and candles, you can use this simple tip I am going to share with you today.

First, gather all materials needed:
1.  A clean empty glass jar
2.  Q-tips with wooden sticks
3.  Rock salt
4.  Cooking oil

Let's begin.  First, get a clean jar.  Good thing I have lots and lots of empty jars at home.  I always clean and save them after emptying contents because I know I can use them again and this is the one time that I am glad I saved lots of glass jars :)  Next, the hubby got some rock salt.  Cheap rock salt or even commercial salt works fine.  It does not matter.  I do not know the science behind using salt for this oil candle but I am guessing that it is used as a filler so that the whole jar isn't filled with pure oil plus it will help stabilize our wick which I will get into later.

Next step the husband did was add cooking oil.  Use the cheap stuff as we are only burning this.  You can even use cooking oil that you used for frying, but do not use the ones you fried your fish with or anything with strong odor or else your house will smell awful.  Wait for the salt to absorb the oil then add more oil with about 1/4 inch of oil above the salt.

Next step he did was add the "wick."  He used a wooden Q-tip.  Make sure to use the wood and not plastic.  If you do not have wooden Q-tips, you can use a toothpick or a matchstick then wrap with a bit of cotton at one end.  Stick the Q-tip at the center of the glass jar leaving the "head" of the Q-tip exposed.  The wood and cotton will absorb the oil from the glass jar slowly which will "fuel" our fire later.

All we have to just do now is light up the fire.  Our oil candle is ready for use.  This burned much more longer than our regular candle.  I think we used this for two days and we still have leftovers we can use just in case there is another brownout.  The husband said that the "wick" might take time to light up so be patient.  I think that is because the "wick" is very slowly transporting oil from the bottom to the top :)

This is how our oil candle looked like.  I love how the wick is bigger than the regular candles so the light it emits is much, much brighter.  Who knew the humble salt and oil can make this amazing candle?

Once the light is getting dimmer, it means you need to refill your glass jar with more oil.  I remember we only refilled once and that's it.  Just maintain the oil 1/4 inch above the salt.  It's super cheap and only uses very little oil for a looooong time.  I do hope this oil candle I shared today will help you in case of emergencies.  By the way, I added drops of essential oil to our oil candles and it smelled lovely!  I highly recommend you do that if you have essential oil the next time you are making this oil candle.  Not only can you use this for emergencies but I think this would be perfect for garden parties :)

Have a great weekend everyone!
Let me know if you made this candle :)  I would love to see how it worked for you!