Have you ever seen an antique insulator? The most common varieties come in various hues of blue and crystal clear glass. Their initial use was to protect homes from lighting strikes. As history pushed forward, antique insulators were used for electrical and telephone wiring. The first insulators were smaller, as they only needed to protect one wire. Over time more wires were present, hence creating larger insulators.
The peak of insulator production was from 1920-1950, when the Unites States moved to providing more telephone access to outlying farms and homes. In the 1950’s most electrical companies switched over to porcelain insulators.
I have often seen these and always wondered to myself what could I make with them? They are such a wonderful shade of blue and they carry such an interesting past. What better way to view that beautiful blue than to light it up at night! I wanted a lighting option that would be easy, so I chose solar lights that would charge by themselves and light up the night sky.
The first step in making this work was to ensure that placing the insulator on the top of the solar light would still allow enough light for the the solar portion to charge, and it does! These are the solar lights I used, they come in sets of 4 or 12. I put each of the lights into the ground with the stakes provided, placed an insulator on the top and then let the sun do it’s work!
Once the sun was down we were able to enjoy the soft glow from the antique insulators. I chose to do blue insulators in our backyard and the clear insulators in our front area. They are each equally beautiful. These glass insulators came in a variety of colors, including
- Amber
- Cobalt blue
- Green
- Two tone
- Yellow green
- Olive
- Light blue
As far as price, these are fairly easy to find. I typically pay between $1-$5 for each insulator. Depending on the color, manufacturer, size and rarity the price can bolt up to $200-$400 too! If you have hard wired lights for your outdoor area, these may work as well. The trick is just ensuring that your light and insulator are a similar size so that they coordinate nicely.
Comment below if you think you may give this a try! Such a wonderful use for a pretty piece of history. Below I have included a few other fun ideas and reproductions of insulators, as well as sources for you to get your hands on your own antique insulators and solar lights.
