Dear Sir,
I’ve been making “permanent” candles for years, using empty cat food cans, pipe cleaners, and store-bought paraffin wax. The cans are quite stable and, because of their volume, the wicks don’t “float” until they’ve been burning a long time. Rotating candles solves that problem. The wicks don’t burn up – they wick – unless you touch them and knock the built-up carbon off them. If that happens, you can easily repair them using lint from a clothes dryer – a good thing to have anyway. The candles must be fed to keep ‘em burning and to adjust the flame; the wax is the consumable. I’ve had many candles last literally years, and I always have ‘em handy, with some spare fuel, for emergency lighting. With inverted ceramic flower pots, they also make decent small-space radiant heaters, and will warm up a can of soup in a pinch. Hope this helps. Thanks and best wishes, – Rick O. in New Mexico
Greetings Mr. Rawles,
A fairly low cost alternative for low level lighting is the solar LED pathway lights. Just place them in the sun during the day, and they are good for several hours during the night. Just remove the charged batteries when they are not needed, or add a simple switch to turn them off and on. With minimal soldering skills you can replace the white LED’s with red, to make them easier on your night vision. Blessings, – M.I.A.
Sir;
Using candles as lighting tools should be considered as a last resort. A much better option would be a small capacitor with a solar charger, powering LED lights. I have been to too many residential structure fires that resulted from improper use of candles. Often the candles pollute the inside of the house, so the occupants open windows, allowing winds to blow combustible fabrics into contact with candle flames. Usually I have seen this during periods of high-wind related conditions, that have blown down electrical utilities, thus leaving residents to figure out how to deal with the mess themselves. – “Split Hoof