DIY Outdoor Oil Lamps

Last summer eating outside on the gazebo proved to be quite dark sometimes. We tried to illuminate with candles, but they didn’t spread enough light and we just ended up being blinded by glare of the candle. Before lots of gazebo sitting began to happen this spring, we found some nifty oil lamps to make from the book Design*Sponge at Home. This book has so many awesome things to make at home and some great design ideas! All we needed were a few parts we found at the hardware store. The book tells you how to make the oil lamps using wine bottles. We had to use a few different parts to fit the lager and olive oil bottles. To get the labels off, use WD40 or cooking oil.You will need, torch oil, torch replacement wicks, 3/8″ threaded bar, hacksaw to shorten them into 4.5″ sections, mounting bracket & screws, split rings to fit the neck of the bottles, 2 hex bolts per bottle for the threaded rod, couplers to fit each top of the bottle and wicks, plumbing tape, measuring tape, pencil, drill. Most of these materials can be found in the plumbing section.
We used a bracket we found in the plumbing section for a 3/8″ threaded bar. We had to make 3 trips to the hardware store to get what we needed to fit these bottles. It’s a good idea to take the bottles with you and double check all your parts will fit!

For the beer bottles, we used a 3/4″ split ring. For the olive oil bottles, we used a 1″ split ring, and made it fit tighter by using some plumbing tape around the neck.

We inserted the wick into a coupler, which was 1/4″ at one end, and 3/8″ on the other. It was tough to get the wick through on some of them. For the olive oil bottles we had to use a brass hose fixture. They were pricey, but it was the only thing that would fit the bottle and the wick. There was still space around the wick, but the wick will expand once it absorbs some of the oil. We used plumbing tape to make the brass fixtures/couplings tight into the bottle.
These lamps really illuminate an area well. We also got oil that has citronella in it for bugs! A cool way to recycle bottles and you don’t have to buy tiki torches which don’t last very long in the weather!