Night lights are usually made of cerasin, or of a mixture of cerasin or paraffin with stearic acid, the latter being in the proportion of from 5 to 10 per cent. These lights are moulded, the wick being placed in the mould, or afterwards put in attached to a piece of tinplate. The lights are then placed in small cardboard cases; they are used in a saucer of water. The moulds may be cast in metal; for small quantities they may be made like bullet moulds, to open into two parts; but for large quantities they may be in the form of shallow troughs with circular depressions and plungers to force the lights out after they are cold. Probably the latter method would be preferable.

Night-lights are made by melting the material and pouring it into metal moulds in which the wicks have been previously placed, the commoner night-lights are made from paraffin wax, whilst the better ones are made from stearin (the fatty acids which are obtained from tallow or palm oil by saponification and pressure); or from composite, a mixture of paraffin wax or cerasin with stearin (glyceryl tristearate).