The Long Winter, Chapter 19, "Where There's a Will"
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
[Ma] put the button in the center of the square of calico. She drew the cloth together over the button and wound a thread tightly around it and twisted the corners of calico straight upward in a tapering bunch. Then she rubbed a little axle grease up the calico and set the button into the axle grease in the saucer.
So, here's how we did it. We cut a piece of fabric about 2 1/2 by 3 1/2 inches and put a penny in the middle and pulled the fabric up around it,tying it off just above the penny, which stays flat. Then we put about 3 tablespoons of Crisco in the middle of a saucer and pushed the wrapped penny into the center of it. Then,we rubbed Crisco all over the fabric that was sticking up and then lit it at the top.
As a caution, it makes a bit of a big flame at first,and so we wouldn't have to worry about anything catching on fire, we put it in the middle of a cake pan.
My button lamp lasted an hour!
