Pottery Oil Lamp

27 Oct, 2006 in art pottery by admin

Pottery Oil Lamp

Why the History of Lamps is as Old as the Greek Antiquity

Since the dawns of humanity lamps have been an indispensable item in any household; maybe at the beginning they were not more than mere carved rocks or shells with some form of fuel ignited within. After the appearance of pottery and other crafted objects made either of metal or alabaster, lamps diversified a lot, not to mention that the flame control also became possible by means of more advanced wicks. Even the name “lamp” dates back to the Greek antiquity where “lampas” was the term used to designate a torch. Further on, throughout history, lamps underwent constant improvement getting more and more specialized and efficient for illumination purposes.

Control over the air flow within the lamps, glass protections meant to increase flame quality and circular wicks are only a few of the most important improvements added to these “historic” illumination items. The fuels used for lamps covered a wide range of options: there were fuels for all pockets, from olive oil and beeswax to whale oil, sesame oil and nut oil. Animal fat and lard were also burned as fuel in the poorest households. It was as late as the mid 19th century that kerosene came to be used as a major fuel for lamps in both private homes and factories.

Gas for common lamps also became an important part of a flourishing fuel commerce, and later on, coal and petroleum entered the race for supremacy. Nevertheless, all such illumination elements are history if we think of what the discovery of electricity meant for our society. First of all, lamps are now an element of interior decoration, just as they used to be part of the religious service in the past. Functionality and artistic perspective meet together in the most harmonious of ways, allowing color, shade and intensity combinations to add subtlety and warmth to our homes.

The great controversy concerning lamps is now revolving around the type of energy-saving properties they share or not. Thus, the more revolutionary fluorescent lamps are considered environment friendly as compared to incandescent bulbs, and this means a lot on a planet where the energy use has reached unprecedented rates. Modern lighting systems and halogen lamps for instance are included in the same range of non-polluting items, since they generate only full-spectrum light, and not heat. The average consumer will not only save some money from the energy bill, but will equally contribute to the wide effort of keeping global warming under control.

About the Author

Muna wa Wanjiru Has Been Researching and Reporting on Lamps for Years. For More Information on Lamps, Visit His Site at LAMPS

i have a pottery factory manufacturing ancient pottery oil lamps, where can i find a buyers for my products???

Hi! I wish I could see some samples of your lamps. I have a building for an art gallery, gift shop, and tea merchant combined in one location. So, I would say that gift shops, art galleries, and tea rooms would all be good places to market your oil lamps.

There are a number of ways to do this—trade shows would be especially beneficial for you, not necessarily to set up a booth for display at this point, but simply to have a picture portfolio and business cards available and talk to people about carrying your lamps in their businesses—make some contacts. The World Tea Expo and the Gift Convention would be trade shows i would not miss.

Here is a link to Art Galleries you could contact:

http://www.google.com/search?q=Art+Galleries&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls

Information about Trade Shows:

http://www.google.com/search?q=Trade+Shows&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls

Links to Tea Rooms:

http://www.google.com/search?q=Tea+Rooms&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls

List of Gift Shops:

http://www.google.com/search?q=Gift+Shops&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls

This will help with Arts and Craft Shows:

http://www.festivalnet.com

Of course there are those who will tell you to sell them on eBay, art and craft shows, etc., and those are all viable avenues. It just depends on what you want to do—wholesale, retail, or both.

Hope this has helped you. Perhaps you can put some photos on flicker.com or somewhere that you can provide a link for people to see your work. Best wishes!

CERAMIC OIL LAMP BASED ON PERSIAN DESIGN FROM 4000-4500 YEARS AGO