Home Made Oil Lamps

I was doing some reading on how the old time Roman oil lamps are made and designed, so I decided to try to make a home made one myself.

I basically took a soda can and using a butter knife, pressed a grove in the side of it near the bottom. I then pressed an indentation in the center of the side. Laying the can on it side, with the indentation (bowl) facing up, I laid a piece of ordinary rope from the center of the bowl to the grove, and actaully allowed the rope to hang past the can about 1/2 inch. I then filled the bowl with cheap olive oil and allowed the rope to absorb the oil. I lit the rope. I oil burned out of the rope without even burning the rope, just as a candle does. For the 1/2 oz of oil (about), the lamp burned for about an hour and gave off some nice light. Very exciting indeed to make an oil lamp in about 5 minutes the way they did thousands of yeas ago.

Here is the basic concept.

http://www.dkimages.com/discover/DKIMAGES/Discover/Home/Technology/Heating-Lighting-Cooling/Lights-and-Lighting/Oil-Lamps/Oil-Lamps-1.html

I heard that you can gel oil by mixing it with a polymer or something.