• Home
  • Create
    • Cookbook
      • Recipes
    • Crafts
    • Grateful Hearts Giving Hands
    • Holidays
      • Christmas
      • Easter
      • Independence Day
      • Thanksgiving
      • Valentine’s Day
    • Ingenious Ideas
    • Printables
    • Sewing
  • Family Life
    • Farming
    • Genealogy
  • Homeschool
    • Art
    • History
    • Homeschool Encouragement
    • Language Arts
    • Learning Styles
    • Library
    • Math
    • Science
    • Unit Studies
  • Motherhood
    • Home Making
      • Establish a House
    • Me
  • My Faith
    • Celebrate the Family Proclamation
      • Family Proclamation Articles
    • Family Home Evening Lessons
    • Flannel Board Stories
    • General Conference
    • Memorize the Family Proclamation
    • The Living Christ: An Easter Countdown
      • Living Christ Lessons
    • Young Women
  • Contact
  • About Me

Cranial Hiccups

Every once in a while and totally unintentionally my brain spews out a good idea.

You are here: Home / Create / Crafts / Homemade Clay Oil Lamps

Homemade Clay Oil Lamps

March 28, 2012 by Montserrat {Cranial Hiccups} 42 Comments

oil lamp 10



Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.


And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.


They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:


But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. {Matthew 25:1-4}

oil lamp 09



Do I have oil in my lamp? Is my vessel clean, my wick trimmed, my reservoir filled? Am I ready to let my light shine now? Am I helping my children to fill their own lamps with precious spiritual oil?

oil lamp 06

“Be faithful, praying always, having your lamps trimmed and burning, and oil with you, that you may be ready at the coming of the Bridegroom” {Doctrine & Covenants 33:17}

To make your own clay oil lamps {that really work!} you’ll need oven bake clay and a candle wick.

oil lamp 02


Form the clay into the shape of an oil lamp, with a small spout for the wick and a hole in the top to add oil.

oil lamp 03


Decorate with designs. We just used toothpicks. Bake according to package directions.

oil lamp 05


When cool add a small amount of olive oil to the lamps reservoir. Place a wick into the spout making sure most of it is in the oil with just a small part sticking out of the spout. Let the wick soak for a few minutes, then light.

Oil Lamp 12


As you are making your lamps discuss what will fill our own spiritual lamps with oil.

“In our lives the oil of preparedness is accumulated drop by drop in righteous living. Attendance at sacrament meetings adds oil to our lamps, drop by drop over the years. Fasting, family prayer, home teaching, control of bodily appetites, preaching the gospel, studying the scriptures—each act of dedication and obedience is a drop added to our store. Deeds of kindness, payment of offerings and tithes, chaste thoughts and actions, marriage in the covenant for eternity—these, too, contribute importantly to the oil with which we can at midnight refuel our exhausted lamps.”

(Spencer W. Kimball, Faith Precedes the Miracle, p. 256)

Here’s an illustrated telling of The Ten Virgins for younger children.

This coloring page is also a search to find the five who have extra oil.

This article is also helpful in explaining what the ten virgins, the Bridegroom, the vessels, the lamp, and the oil represent in the parable of the ten virgins.

 

Share this:

  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest
  • More
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window) Pocket

Related

Filed Under: Crafts, Easter Tagged With: Easter

Comments

  1. Jen says

    March 29, 2012 at 7:10 am

    I love this, I will definately be using this as an object lesson in primary.

    Reply
  2. Becca says

    March 29, 2012 at 8:21 am

    this looks like a great activity! I will have to store it for when my kids are a little older.

    Reply
  3. Abby says

    March 29, 2012 at 8:53 am

    This is one of our favorite Easter activities. Thank you, thank you, thank you for the video link, I had only been able to find the short version of it, and I really wanted to show my children the full version.

    Reply
  4. Emily Fay says

    March 29, 2012 at 11:12 am

    I just came across your blog and have been spending the last few days going over all your past posts and I am so happy to have found you! Thank you for your wonderful blog and for blessing the lives of so many!!! 🙂 I am a homeschooling mom in Utah too (we are in Tooele…) Blessings for a beautiful week ~

    Reply
    • Chocolate on my Cranium says

      March 29, 2012 at 11:28 am

      My parents live in Tooele!

      Reply
  5. Emily Fay says

    March 29, 2012 at 2:53 pm

    Oh that’s wonderful! We love it here 🙂

    Reply
  6. All Ten Tanners says

    May 29, 2012 at 11:00 am

    This is exactly what I’ve been looking for and the best part is – it’s make it yourself! I’ve been looking for and wanting to buy a small oil lamp for object lessons or just as a display and this will work. Thanks for sharing your talents – and not hiding under a bushel! Right now I teach seminary (in our home) and I’m YW pres. so I appreciate the “leg” work you’ve done for me. TKT – CANADA

    Reply
  7. Vickie Hacking says

    June 20, 2012 at 1:41 pm

    Just wanted to let you know I linked to this post on my LDS-YW blog. Thanks!
    http://lds-yw.blogspot.com/2012/06/homemade-oil-lamps.html

    Reply
  8. Spencer Tingey says

    July 10, 2012 at 11:46 am

    Excellent. Thank you. Thank you.

    Reply
  9. Spencer Tingey says

    July 10, 2012 at 11:47 am

    Excellent. Thank you. Thank you.

    Reply
  10. Julie says

    July 23, 2012 at 7:43 am

    Love this idea! How much clay would you recommend for each person to use to make their lamp? We are going to make these stakewide for Seminary and wanted to know how much clay to give to each Seminar class.

    Thank you!

    Reply
    • Chocolate on my Cranium says

      July 23, 2012 at 10:08 am

      I think it was about 1 oz of clay per lamp {we had 2oz. packages and were able to make two lamps with each package}. How fun to do with your seminary classes!

      Reply
  11. Denise says

    August 20, 2012 at 11:18 am

    Just found this and am so excited! I wrote a blog post awhile back about the oil in our lamps. I’ve been wanting to figure out how to make one or order them in cheaply. (They aren’t cheap,by the way.) ;o) Can I have permission to add a link to your post on my blog post? Here is the link for it so you know what it is you would be saying “yes” too. ;o)

    http://www.allaboutbecoming.com/?s=oil+in+our+lamp

    Thanks for a great activity!!

    Reply
    • Chocolate on my Cranium says

      August 20, 2012 at 10:33 pm

      You are more than welcome to link! Your post was terrific, btw. 🙂

      Reply
  12. Jill says

    November 11, 2012 at 7:16 pm

    What brand of oven bake clay did you use? I want to make sure I don’t buy something that catches on fire 🙂

    Reply
    • Chocolate on my Cranium says

      November 11, 2012 at 10:22 pm

      I used the Sculpey brand of oven bake clay. It won’t catch fire but the tip where the wick is will turn black.

      Reply
      • Shawna says

        November 5, 2017 at 1:54 pm

        I made a lamp from Sculpey and baked it 15 minutes, as directed. When I lit the wick, it burned nicely, wicking the oil. The clay tip turned black. I noticed that the flame had turned a bit green at the bottom where the clay was getting darker, which I understood as an indication that the polymers of the clay were actually slowly burning.

        I made a second lamp and baked it twice as long. It acted the same way with a lit wick.

        I did have my Sunday school class make the lamps, but advised them not to use oil and light them, as the burning plastic would be unhealthy.

        Reply
  13. Jeremy and Brigitte says

    December 5, 2012 at 2:25 pm

    Thank you so much for this post. I found it on Pinterest! For personal progress tonight at young womens we are reading a story book about the ten virgins and I am going to explain that working on Personal Progress is like adding oil to our laps. Then we will make the lamps and while they bake set our next personal Progress goal. Thanks for the great post and inspiration!

    Reply
    • Sid says

      February 26, 2013 at 2:23 pm

      What shape do I cut the clay to make these lamps? I tried practicing w/salt dough and failed miserably? Do you have a template or dimensions to pass on?
      help please

      Reply
    • Chocolate on my Cranium says

      February 26, 2013 at 5:56 pm

      I don’t have a template to share. I just rolled a ball of dough, about the size of a walnut then flattened it into a teardrop shape. Then I brought up the sides of the drop pinching it to bring it together like the top photo of the tutorial.

      Reply
    • Sid says

      February 27, 2013 at 2:56 pm

      Thanks for answering. I think my biggest problem was that I used salt dough and it was too limp. thanks again

      Reply
  14. Renee says

    July 20, 2013 at 12:53 pm

    Do you think air dry clay would work for this craft?

    Reply
  15. JessieMomma says

    August 2, 2013 at 1:24 am

    Oh thank you! I love this idea for a FHE, we will talk about how Faith helps light up our lives.

    Reply
  16. dominique la'ulu says

    April 2, 2014 at 7:00 am

    Goung to be doung this for next weeks mutual! Thank you for the great idea!

    Reply
  17. Emily S. says

    April 17, 2014 at 11:54 am

    We made these this morning with sculpey clay I ordered from amazon. The 1 lb package was enough for five lamps. It could probably do six. Thanks for the great idea!

    Reply
  18. Paola says

    June 10, 2014 at 9:54 pm

    I absolutely LOVE this idea and will be doing this activity with my laurels soon but just out of curiosity, how long of a piece of wick did you use? Did you make it long enough for future use? I mean like, raveling a certain amount into to lamp so as to pull it out when the wick burned through? Thanks for the amazing ideas!

    Reply
    • Montserrat Wadsworth says

      June 11, 2014 at 9:43 am

      I can’t remember how long the wick was. It wasn’t rolled up in the oil. It was just long enough to use a few a times. Sorry I wasn’t more precise with that information!

      Reply
    • Paola says

      June 11, 2014 at 10:34 pm

      We just had this activity tonight and it turned out great! We had a hard time at first molding the clay into lamps but it was entertaining to say the least 🙂 and I ended up giving them quite a bit of wick since I had so much of it. Just in case they wanted to actually use them at some point 😉 Anyhow, thanks again for the idea and sorry for the double post 🙁 it didn’t seem to have posted the first time lol

      Reply
  19. Paola says

    June 10, 2014 at 9:58 pm

    Wondering how long the piece of wick that you used was. I am planning on doing this with the laurels soon and just wanted to have an idea. I LOVE your ideas and appreciate you sharing your talents with us 🙂

    Reply
  20. Deanna says

    December 14, 2015 at 6:38 am

    I used this idea Sunday for my 14-15 year old Sunday School class. They were so excited and we had the best lesson on the parable of the 10 virgins. Thanks for this great idea!!!

    Reply
  21. Marie says

    January 8, 2016 at 9:20 pm

    Where did you get the wicks for the lamps?

    Reply
    • Shawna says

      November 5, 2017 at 1:45 pm

      I got mine at Michael’s. Any craft store that has candle-making supplies will have wicks.

      Reply
  22. Claudia says

    July 28, 2016 at 8:03 pm

    Thanks for the great idea. I managed to make one and it turned out well. Am ready to try the wick part, and here might be a silly question. You mentioned olive oil. Can it be done with vegetable or canola oil which is cheaper?

    Reply
    • Montserrat {Cranial Hiccups} says

      July 28, 2016 at 8:54 pm

      That is a very good question! Unfortunately, I don’t know the answer. 🙁

      Reply
  23. Diana says

    July 7, 2018 at 1:59 pm

    Loved this! My daughter found this and we are hoping to use for a women’s conference!! Just one question! How much clay is needed per lamp… i need to make 10… !

    Reply
    • Montserrat {Cranial Hiccups} says

      July 7, 2018 at 10:17 pm

      It takes a walnut sized amount of clay for 1 oil lamp. Not sure how that translate into the different sized packages of clay…

      Reply
  24. Bernard Burreson says

    January 27, 2021 at 11:33 am

    I tried this a few years ago. After a few hours, the Olive oil would seep through the clay. After some reading, I found that clay needed to be baked and sealed. I could not find a satisfactory way to stop the oil from seeping. Any suggestions?

    Reply
  25. Bernard Burreson says

    January 27, 2021 at 11:37 am

    In my Bible study, several people have shofars. I have both shofars and drums. We blow our shofars,and bang on drums at the beginning of every Bible Study. It is one of the fun things that everyone looks forward to.

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. 9 Cute and Easy DIY Polymer Clay Projects says:
    June 10, 2015 at 1:09 pm

    […] Check out the full DIY tutorial HERE […]

    Reply
  2. Our Children Need to Hear the Sound of the Shofar | Torah Babies says:
    September 12, 2015 at 10:21 am

    […] Homemade Clay Oil Lamps […]

    Reply
  3. CFM Devotionals: Week of 12/31/2018 – Saving Talents says:
    October 22, 2018 at 6:33 pm

    […] Make oil lamp […]

    Reply
  4. Great and Holy Week Activities for Families:  From Carolina Chirdon - St. Mary Byzantine Catholic Church says:
    March 29, 2023 at 2:50 pm

    […] discretion to whether you think this is appropriate for your family. Great and Holy Tuesday Clay Oil Lamps: We make little clay oil lamps representing the ten virgins who went to meet the bridegroom. […]

    Reply

Leave a ReplyCancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Hello, I'm Montserrat. I'm a farmer's wife, mother of eleven, homeschooler, chocoholic, music lover, and like to play a good game of Scrabble. You can read more about me here. . .

You'll find a little bit of everything on this blog. It's my place to share all the ideas, activities, crafts, and resources that I have gathered and tried over a number of years. Feel free to browse around using the menu up top or doing a search in the box below.

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Archives

March 2012
S M T W T F S
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031
« Feb   Apr »

Return to top of page

COPYRIGHT © 2025 Montserrat Wadsworth at Cranial Hiccups • Lifestyle Pro Theme on Genesis Framework

[ Placeholder content for popup link ] WordPress Download Manager - Best Download Management Plugin