Monday, September 12, 2016

Some completed Roman Oil Lamps

I have been using the Roman Oil Lamps.
All that are on this page are thrown on the wheel as shown on the previous entry, handles pulled and then the pot decorated with carvings or stamps and carving. After they were fired I poured in a layer of tung oil so they wouldn't ooze oil. Tung oil works great for this.

I use a simple cotton string for the wick and for fuel I use olive oil, inexpensive stuff that I picked up at the Dollar Store. It has a pleasant smell while burning and the additional advantage of not being as flammable as commercially made lamp oil.

This lamp was made with a lion stamp, I didn't use an actual terra sigilatta covering and it is extremely rustic looking. Good for an an early example. I didn't keep it for my collection, this one has been sold.


This is so rustic it could be 2000 years old, but it's one I made from a groggy clay and then covered with a thin red iron oxide layer. The Roman lamps almost always had carvings on the spout. Curlyques were a popular design motif.