Introduction: Pocket Sized Lantern

Here in Pakistan we suffer from frequent power outages that last hours. Since I'm a university student, I needed a portable source of light but I found that candles weren't bright enough. I came up with a simple mini lantern that takes less than 5 minutes to make but lasts for hours. I hope you guys enjoy it, and if you do, don't forget to rate it & vote for it in the Pocket Sized Contest.

Step 1: Things You'll Need:

1. Jar: Here I used a small jar of jam from some airline. The only real requirement is that the jar have a metal lid. Ideally use only those jars with no paint on the lid if you want to avoid unpleasant fumes.

2. Wick: I happened to have a wick from an old lantern that was lying around, but you could just as easily use a shoelace (plastic ends cut off) or any rolled up piece of cloth. *TIP* You'll want to use 100% cotton shoelaces, not synthetic. Synthetic will melt instead of burn and could lead to serious injuries. Thanks to user "Sedition"

3. Knife: I used my Leatherman c305 to cut a hole in the lid of the jar.

4. Lamp Oil: This will be used as fuel in the mini lantern. You can use other fuels such as Kerosene but they produce a lot of soot that will quickly build up.

5. Matches: To light the lamp when finished.

Step 2: Pierce the Lid:

With your knife, pierce a hole in your jar lid. Make it different sizes or shapes according to the kind of wick you're using. Use a gentle back and forth wiggling motion rather than straight pressure in order to avoid injury.

Step 3: Wick:

In order to get your wick through the hole, carefully use your knife to push the wick in as seen in the following picture.

The longer the wick above the lid, the higher the flame will be. I recommend you leave the wick no longer than 1/2 inch.

Step 4: Finishing Up:

Slowly pour in your Lamp Oil, Kerosene, Vegetable Oil, whatever, making sure not to spill any. Screw on the lid with the wick in it. The wick should be long enough to where it's resting on the bottom of the jar, but no so long that it curls up.

Make sure you don't overfill the jar. I usually don't fill more than about halfway and it lasts plenty of time.

Step 5: Final Product:

All that's left now is to light it up. You'll notice I took it off of the wooden board I built it on for this part ;).

And that's pretty much it. A full jar of lamp oil is usually more than enough to get me through the time the power is out. This simple little lantern has helped me out quite a bit when I've needed it. It takes next to no time to make and doesn't require much to make. When it comes time to transport it, I just replace the lid with one that has no hole in it, this way it won't leak in my pocket. Hope everyone has enjoyed my first Instructable, and don't forget to vote if you liked it. Thanks.

Pocket-Sized Contest

Finalist in the
Pocket-Sized Contest