I do vote Model Magic most likely of the three clays to catch on fire. I use them all with candles anyway, but I cannot recommend that you do, else I might get sued. Synthetic clays: The big bummer is that polymer clay, Model Magic and Crayola Air Dry clay all come with dire warnings about how we should Never Use Near Candles. If baked in a kiln, clay becomes glass-like, and thus a fired oil lamp will not leak. I’m talking about air-dry clay made of actual clay, not synthetics. Real earthen clay is, of course, a classic oil lamp material: classic as in Ancient Times. It will scorch, but the scorch marks look cool and “authentic.” Unless sealed, it will be porous and therefore absorb and “sweat” oil, so set it on a tray. DIY CUPS THAT YOU ACTUALLY FASHION INTO CUPS :Ĭlay, for example.The cups can be freestanding or attached to a base.ĩ cups + oil + water + floating wicks = menorah Examples: shot glasses, votive candleholders, metal bottle caps, teensy jam jars from fancy hotels, test tubes. DIY CUPS THAT ARE ALREADY CUPS: Any container that won’t burn, melt or leak can hold olive oil, and you only need a teaspoon or so in each cup.If this idea doesn’t daunt you, here’s the link. Buy wicks while you’re at it, because those wicks are designed to work well with the cups. I love the idea of adding oil cups to convert a candle menorah, but I don’t want to fool with figuring out what size my cups need to be. Does it have a cup big enough to hold an oil cup made of aluminum, glass or plastic? Ner Mitzvah sells all these, and in different sizes. Adapt Your Old Menorah II: Look at the menorah you already own.Does it have cups big enough to hold even half a teaspoon of oil, and are the cups made of something that won’t ignite? Try filling them with olive oil and adding a wick. Adapt Your Old Menorah I: Look at the menorah you already own.I know this because I’ve tried every single thing below and have already pulled out my hair. I’ll tell you right now that the easiest DIY is to pop 9 little shot glasses in row, fill them with water and a bit of olive oil, set a store-bought floating wick atop each and YOU’RE DONE. Some are easy, some will have you pulling out your hair. I’ve organized this task into categories below: Adapt, Cups, Oil, Wicks. Note the wick holders (tzinores) and braided wicks. Besides, the Talmud says we are to “publicize” Hanukkah, and clear cups with golden oil does that beautifully. Visibility is why I prefer glass cups for DIY Hanukkah menorot. The wick sucks the oil up from the cup via capillary action, and when it reaches the flame, the oil vaporizes. I like the price, the low center of gravity (no wobbly stand), and I like how simple and visible it is: golden oil in a transparent cup, on fire. The one I use for classroom demos and Hanukkah carnivals is pictured above.
Nowadays, you can buy a perfectly efficient oil menorah online for less than ten bucks, plus shipping. Oil gives us a closer link to the Hanukkah story and, when burned in a menorah as part of a classroom demo, can make even disaffected teens sit up and stare. What else I didn’t know was that most of us do candles because candles are easier: easier to sell and buy and store and use. What I didn’t know-because this was pre-Internet-was that plenty of Jews burned oil instead of candles, and plenty of Judaica stores sold oil menorahs. Wasn’t the Hanukkah story all about oil? Most every kid’s book highlights the miraculous oil, we fry our latkes and sufganiyot in oil, but every year we (and all the Jews I knew) pull out boxes of multicolored candles to light in honor of the oil. When I first started doing Jewish holidays I remember being baffled by the Hanukkah candles.