Pocket Camping Lantern

Sure, you can be one of those people who carts along everything but the kitchen sink when they go camping or hiking. You have to carry all of those heavy packs, though, and spend lots and lots of money on equipment. Or, you can be a person who shrinks everything down to a much smaller size, and carries it all around in your pocket. When you use a smaller amount of camping or hiking gear, you can free your hands for the trip. It's easy to make a pocket fishing kit, a little emergency kit, and even a miniature lantern. When you make a pocket lantern you can carry light around with you, anywhere you go.

Have you seen those little jars of jams and jellies, often packaged for holidays? The jar is so tiny that you don't get much more than a spoon or two out of it. Still, one of those jars - or a similar jar - is perfect for making an outdoor lamp. The jar should have a metal lid. It can be helpful to sand the lid so that, as you burn the lantern, the paint on the lid won't smell and emit fumes.

Remove the lid from a clean jar and lay it upside-down on a piece of wood. Hammer a nail through the middle, in through the bottom, and out through the top of the lid. Remove the nail to expose the wick hole.

Choose something to use for a wick. You can purchase wicks online or even make one from a shoestring. If you're using a shoestring, make sure it's all cotton, and that the plastic ends have been cut off. Push the wick through the bottom of the lid, and out through the top, leaving an inch or so of wick sticking out of the top.

Fill the tiny jar with lamp oil and screw the lid on tightly. Light it and you're all set. Put the jar lantern on a table, on the ground, or anywhere else around the campsite. Take some with you when you fish, hike, or otherwise enter the wilderness. They're useful, simple to make, lightweight, and so small that they fit in your pockets. Make sure the lamp has cooled, the oil has been poured out, and the wick has been pushed into the jar, before placing the tiny torch in your pocket.