Does Anyone Still Write Under Candles?

[Pepin]

I've done it and it feels awesome. Like the devil will appear any minute to offer me all the wikileak files to the IMF. :roflmho: I'm thinking of doing it again and am considering purchasing a candleabra. What do you guys think of such object for writing under candle lit?

[Tweel]

I do it every great once in a while, when a storm knocks the power out. On the downside, the dim, flickering light can get wearing on the eyes, and you'll have to trust your memory as to ink color. On the upside, the small circle of light and lack of electrically-powered distractions can help your concentration. I'd recommend white candles, as the wax itself will thus absorb less of the available light.

 

Not a romantic take, but there you go -- to those who grew up writing by candlelight, everything succeeding it was considered a huge boon.

[The Good Captain]

The energy-saving light bulbs we have to buy here in the UK sometimes seem as bright as candles. On a good day.

[stefanv]

The energy-saving light bulbs we have to buy here in the UK sometimes seem as bright as candles. On a good day.

 

Really? Ours are as bright as incandescent bulbs of four times the wattage.

[mstone]

Seems like a terrible thing to do to your eyes.

[Ghost Plane]

I prefer oil lamps when the power goes out. As it does regularly

[spiv]

yes - a 10 candle chandelier with a table candle to lighten the overhead shadows

 

OR

 

 

two really pretty bright Dietz #80 Hurricane Lamps (meaning power outage) I find when the power outage is happening, I LIKE writing letters... and the #80 does throw sufficiant light.

[Iranna]

I used to do it sometimes, when I still didn't have cats, which was a long time ago! But it's true, not being able to see the ink colour is kind of annoying in the long run.

[spinningtrees]

I used to live in Kenya in a house without electricity (and other things), and wrote every night by candle light or kerosene lamp with a dip pen. It was actually pretty neat, though now I most often use electricity and a fountain pen.

[Silent Speaker]

I've had to do so a couple of times this year: Living in a city where the power lines/generators cut out if there's even so much as a whiff of a storm, well, let's just say that one would be wise to stock up on candles.

 

A house full of flashlights and none of them bloody well work when they're needed!

 

The rest of the household is content with the candle arrangement; we usually all wait for the problems to be fixed in the downstairs living room with as many lit candles as possible (can't leave the things unattended around the house!).

 

I find that such occasions, times without the distractions of this Infernal Machine - this technological monstrosity which serves as my portal to the sordid and sinister world-wide-web of procrastination - are the best times to write in one's journal/diary/log.

 

I end up needing at least 4 candles - it's just too strenuous on the eyes otherwise (they are small candles).

 

Every time I've done it I marvel that probably some of the greatest works of the human intellect were penned in such illumination (or, rather, lack of it). No wonder why all scribes and intellectuals 'in the old days' ended up wearing spectacles!

 

And everything would have been that unpleasant shade of oily brown due to lamps or candles - the walls, the ceiling... Yuck!

 

Though I suppose that for the vast majority of humanity in ages past, life pretty much stopped after the sun went down...

 

Most depressing!

 

"The day is okay and the sun can be fun, but I live

To see those rays slip away"

[WhiskeyMan]

I wrote next to an oil lamp throughout Irene and her aftermath. I probably won't do it again unless I have to. I would probably get a Coleman lantern instead.

 

~WhiskeyMan

[Uncle Red]

I was at the Pensic War this year and practised my handwriting some of the evenings as the light got lower and one of my campmates lit the candles; it was quite romantic even if I was using a Pelikano Jr.

[jbb]

I only write by candle light when the power is out -- which seems to be anytime a bird lands on a powerline during a rainstorm. I took this picture for myHalloween Poem Writing Contest and since it conveniently has a candle in it I thought I'd mention it.

 

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6070/6150123213_3b078fc452_b.jpg

Edited September 26, 2011 by jbb

[The Royal Pen]

Oh the nostalgia...

 

I do it time to time, for fun, and it really inspires creativity for some reason.

 

Not seeing the ink colour REALLY drives be nuts though

[estie1948]

I did use candles for one night winter before last when ice on the power lines took away the electricity and I had not filled my kerosene lamps. For the next five nights I read and wrote by the light of a Juno Lamp (a round wick) and one of my Riverside finger lamps. Also used an Aladdin model #8 to light and heat the kitchen. The round wicks (Juno, Aurora, Rayo) and the round wicks with mantles (the Aladdin) produce a good amount of light and heat, especially the Aladdin. During the spring and summer when thunderstorms knock out the power, I only use the flat wicks like one of my Riverside lamps - not as much light and not nearly as much heat.

 

I don't like the Coleman lanterns during black outs for two main reasons: 1) the constant loud hissing noise, and 2) the risk from high levels of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide when used in doors. Now they are just the ticket for some night fishing on the river bank.

 

Since I like using some of my collection of kerosene lamps from time to time and depend on them during power outages, I do use them to write by. However, I must admit I did not think to call it "romantic". I am just to jaded, I suppose. And to think I once considered myself to be a romantic. Now I am depressed.

[Pepin]

Has anyone here tried writing in the dessert, at night, under candles? I hear all sorts of animal noises here and of course the symphony of crickets. It does get annoying at times when the military jets fly really close to the ground...

Edited October 3, 2011 by Pepin

[Paul_B]

Has anyone here tried writing in the dessert, at night, under candles? I hear all sorts of animal noises here and of course the symphony of crickets. It does get annoying at times when the military jets fly really close to the ground...

 

Well, I've written in the desert here, and heard the military jets going by and over. We did have a cricket but it either got eaten or chased off by the lizards. Not so many animal noises out here, though. Oh, and we can't have candles, it's a fire hazard.

 

More to the topic though, I don't think I'd like to put my eyes through the stresses of writing by candle light when other options are available. Romantic candlelit evenings with my wife are where I'd like to use my candles.

[Moagy]

I have one of those big scented jar candles lit beside me when I write, but it's for the smell rather than the light - although watching the flame flicker when musing is very satisfying. Alas, my eyesight is not what it was these days, and if I tried to write by candlelight I would probably end up having to use braille!

 

Lighting the scented candle has become part of the ritual of writing I find though: make a cup of coffee in a pretty, delicate, bone china cup; light the candle, pick up the pen and away we go - it's MY time!

[LuckyDog10]

I used to write just before bedtime with the candlestick on my nightstand; I did it regularly when I was in high school and college. It would be a bad move for me now. Not because of my poorer eyesight - because I have a tall, nosy, swishy-tailed dog with long hair. (He took out a scented candle at my mother-in-law's house when he was younger. I spent an hour picking lavender wax out of his tail.)

[Chrontius]

Only very occasionally; I have a huge soft-spot for those little single-candle night-stand candleholders, so that's usually what I'll use for the purpose.