LIGHTING

Man has always been a little fearful of the dark. There’s a reason for that, of course. Without light, the boogeyman can more easily sneak up behind us. Don’t laugh at that, either. How many times have you, a reasonably intelligent and rational adult, gotten the heebie jeebies walking up the stairs from a dark basement? Yeah, I thought so.

I’ll readily admit that I’m something of a flashlight junkie. I’m always on the lookout for something better, something with more lumens but in a smaller size. I have several great portable lights. My current favorite is the Streamlight ProTac 1AAA, which provides a ton of light yet is small enough to slip into a front pants pocket and never get noticed.

In this section, we’re going to cover a range of projects that will help to light up the night. Some use fire, others use battery-powered LEDs. All are fairly inexpensive and easy to implement. On top of that, all of them will provide sufficient light to settle your nerves and hopefully keep you from banging your shin on the coffee table.

Admittedly, none of them is going to compare favorably to a flashlight throwing out 750 lumens with the click of a switch. But these projects will allow you to conserve your battery in that flashlight so it still has juice for when you truly need it.

ALTOIDS TIN CANDLE

After you’ve made several fire starters using melted wax, odds are you’ll have some wax left over. The Altoids Tin Candle is a great way to use the remaining wax. What some folks do is keep the tin they use for the candle in the same box as their wax-melting gear. They add wax to the tin each time they make fire starters and such, allowing it to build up over time.

MATERIALS

Altoids tin

2 tea lights

Melted wax (page 49)

#1Every candle needs a wick. I’ve found an easy method is to use tea lights. Remove the metal cups from two tea lights. Under the candles you’ll see a metal disk, to which is attached the wick. Gently remove the disk and pull the wick through.

#2Melt your wax and add the two wickless tea lights to the mix so they don’t go to waste. When the wax is ready, pour a bit into the bottom of the Altoids tin. Then, before it cools, position the two wicks an even distance apart, using a toothpick if needed to push the metal disks down. It should only take 1 minute or less for the wax to cool enough to keep the wicks in place. Then, pour in the rest of the wax and let it cool.

#3Why not just toss the two tea lights into the Altoids tin and be done with it? More wax means your homemade candle will last longer. If you wanted, you could add more wicks when you start out, as more wicks will mean more heat given off. Great for chilly nights when the power goes out and takes the heat with it.

CRAYON CANDLES

Crayons are wax, just like candles. It stands to reason that they will burn fairly well. While crayon candles will never replace “real” candles, they work well enough for emergency purposes. Like any open flame, you should take precautions to prevent fires.

MATERIALS

Crayons

Sharp knife or razor

Aluminum foil

Matches or lighter

#1Break or use the razor to cut the crayon just at or below the line where the paper ends.

#2The idea here is to use the paper as something akin to a wick. Light the paper and you’re basically done with the project. Each crayon will burn anywhere from 8 to 12 minutes or so. Shorter crayons will obviously burn less than longer ones.

#3The hardest part of this project is figuring out how you will keep the crayon/candle upright and stable. I’ve seen a few different solutions to this problem, but the easiest is probably to melt some wax onto a square of aluminum foil and stick the crayon to it.

#4Again, this is nowhere near a perfect solution for emergency lighting. But it’ll do in a pinch, buying you some time to come up with a better approach.

ALTOIDS TIN OIL LAMP

Should all of your candles come up missing when you’re caught in a power outage after sundown, here’s a great project that will take just a few minutes and put out a steady light for a long time. The best part is, you most likely have everything you need for this project at home already.

MATERIALS

Altoids tin

4 inches of cotton rope or similar Scissors

½ cup cooking oil

Lighter

#1First, you’ll need to determine what you’ll be using for the wick. It will need to be made from a natural material, such as cotton. Anything else will just melt. Once you’ve chosen the wick, you’ll know how large the hole in the lid will need to be.

#2Using a nail or drill, make a hole in the lid, roughly centered, that will be just large enough for the wick to slide through. You’re going to want the wick to be snug, so don’t make the hole too big. Also, make a small hole in one corner of the lid. This allows air to get into the tin.

#3Slide the wick through the hole, leaving an inch or less exposed above the lid. The wick should be long enough such that about 3 inches or so of it will coil up into the oil under the lid.

#4Fill the tin with cooking oil. Olive oil works best, as it is odorless when it burns, but any cooking oil will work. Be careful not to overfill the tin.

#5Close the lid and let the oil soak into the wick. This might take a few minutes. Use that time to clean up your mess and find your lighter. After lighting the wick, if it seems too smoky, try trimming the wick a bit (after blowing out the flame, of course).

#6When storing this expedient lamp, be sure to empty the oil from it first. Because of the holes in the lid, it would be far too easy to accidentally spill oil if it is knocked around.

SOLAR LANDSCAPE LIGHTS

It seems like almost every home in America has a set of solar lights lining the walk to the front door. They are fairly inexpensive and, for the most part, work pretty well at lighting up the way. It is important to note, though, that their uses aren’t limited to the outdoors.

MATERIALS

Solar landscape lights

#1After these lights have been in the sunshine all day, you can bring them indoors to provide light through the night. Granted, they aren’t very bright, but if you place two or three of them together, they will light up the area enough to prevent you from tripping on an end table. Plus, there might very well be times when you don’t want bright lights shining inside your home at night.