Oil lamps are probably one of the oldest lighting fixtures around and the usage of oil lamps goes back thousands of years. They were the first lamps which you could carry around and were a very good and safe way to find your way in darkness. Nowadays we don't use them to guide our way but they only have aesthetic purposes. Patio oil lamps are a cheap and subtle way to illuminate your patio and you can either put them on the ground or use them as a table lamp. Designs vary from simple glass shapes lamps to copper and stone decorated lamps.
Antique oil lamps were made out of stone and could be carried around because they had a grip on one side of the lamp. They also had a votive and funerary function besides providing people with light. They were frequently used in temples and religious buildings and served both as a decorative and spiritual item.
You can use a patio oil lamp for much more than for only on your patio. They also serve perfectly as ambiance lighting on your deck or balcony. Because they are made of durable materials like copper, stone and glassm they endure almost all weather conditions and you can easily leave them outside.
The most basic oil lamp you can find is made out of glass and has the shape of a sphere. On top of the sphere there is a shell with a fuse running though it that sucks up the oil from the sphere. You can fill the sphere with ordinary lamp oil that you can buy in most shops. You can find them in many different colors and you can decide on the quality by looking at the thickness of the glass. Cheaper lamps run more risk on breaking when you accidentally run in to them and higher quality glass lamps can withstand a few bruises.
Glass oil lamps are quite popular because they are rather cheap but if you want to showcase something special on your patio than you should look in to copper oil lamps instead. Copper oil lamps became quite popular because of the animation movie Aladdin where he could summit a genie from an oil lamp. You can find such lamps in Arabian shops but look a like designs are available in many local design shops. Copper is much more durable and the designs often look much better than the 
ones made of glass or stone. They can be used as mood lighting and are comparable to candle lighting. They will form a great supplement if you already have a Moroccan outdoor lantern and you could even decide to decorate your patio Arabian styled.
Stone or ceramic is another material that is frequently used in the design of patio oil lamps. The shape is often spherical and inside the sphere there is a small depot that you can fill with lamp oil. On top of the sphere there is a shell with a fuse running through the shell. Ceramic oil lamps are quite popular because you can easily add all kinds of 
decorations on the exterior of the sphere. Often it is decorated with flower or plant alike designs and available in all kinds of colors.
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