Oozing Goo - The Lava Lamp Syndicate

And here it is:

At first I thought..."Well there's a mathmos jet for $28.99 delivered...already wired for the US...in METAL?" Turns out what I thought was the bottom of the lip on the base of a jet was in fact the corporate logo for Washington Mutual.

I know people are going to think I'm...a bit off, but I have fallen in love with this lamp. To me, the proportions are just about perfect, and I love how...

...wait. I just went off about this recently, in another thread.

"...They look MUCH better to me, in all regards! Look how well the lid and base seem to be integrated with the globe...smooth, uninterrupted lines! So sleek! The base looks more sturdy to me, also. Some people might say the design is too simple, but I say the base and lid are there simply to enhance what's in the globe, not distract from it. I still want to see a slightly taller viewing window (same overall lamp height, but shorter lid and base), but that is such a small aesthetic thing. I doubt I'll be able to find the EXACT size ratios, in the exact right proportions that I'm looking for without a lot of custom modding."

Well it turns out I DID find it, and there it is!

I just bought one of these, but I think the chances that I'd find another one are slim to none. I did a google search, and found where someone on this board gave one to their mother as a gift. I didn't look to see who it was or anything (and I won't), but I know that others of these have surfaced from time to time.

Does anyone have a line on one that I might purchase or trade for? I want about 50 of these. :( Good luck with that, right? LOL!! I want to mod them into every possible configuration.

I also want to know who made this. Was it just something WaMu paid to have built, or was this made by a company that made them for other people also?

I know the houses for glitter thing is a little weird, but I think it's hilarious considering what WaMu did to the American housing market. Washington Mutual, for those who didn't remember, was the biggest bank failure in history, and the second largest bankruptcy in history. That dates this lamp to before 2008, and that post I found was archived from the old board and posted in 2006...so I know it's from before 2006.

I know I've picked a hopeless object to obsess over, but...maybe not? Maybe there are more of these around than I would imagine? I've seen lava lamps that have WaMu on them (like a clear/green rocket that I found), but they are much smaller, made of plastic, and look like "buy in lots of 1,000" from China kinda fare. This thing looks like showroom quality. In fact, to me it looks like it was built to be bolted to the floor of a submarine. I can't believe that was only $9 to ship!

Can anybody help me learn more about this lamp?


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I found another one!

Only problem? The switch was barely taped shut with scotch tape. I (very carefully) tried to turn it on. It came on for about a second, and then the switch fell apart in my hand. It hasn't worked since. I contact the seller, and he lies...saying that he hadn't taped the switch, when we both knew that he had. I told him that I had pictures of the taped-up switch, and he called me a liar and a scammer. LOL!!! Needless to say, I reported him. I was originally only asking for a $10 refund to cover repairs, but since he had to go be a jerkface, he's probably going to have to refund the total amount of $17.50 + $12.00 shipping. LOL!! I'll wind up getting this lamp for free. Serves him right. I REALLY REALLY HATE EBAY LATELY.

Sigh...anyway. I was really looking forward to modding this lamp, but the cap is hot-glued on. I might be able to turn the bottle upside-down in some alcohol and dissolve the glue...we'll see.

And I've been waiting for the best time to mention this...and i"m still not sure if this is it...but my crazy ass has gone and bought 100 of these from China. You seriously would not believe what I've been going through trying to get these damn things over here, and it's far from over yet.

I'm going to start modding them and selling them. :) My business model is simple: "Make people happy with beautiful things that they helped to design for a reasonable cost."

I'll make a separate thread about it when I get things better under control, but in the meantime...right now I can take one of these lamps and put 20 different colors of glitter in it, cut into 25 shapes (and counting, as I collect punches :)), paint the base any one of about 20 colors, and dye the oil in 10 colors.

I'm also working on a web interface, so that people can actually SEE the lamp they're designing while they design it. :)

OMG you bought 1000 from China?! LOL You really DO like them, don't you! :D

Good luck Loren! I'm excited to see how this turns out! 

Actually no...I WISH I could have bought 1000, but I couldn't afford it, and I had no place to put them all! I just bought 100. I didn't even think they were going to LET me just buy 100, but they finally did. However, there is NO variety in what I'm getting (no split palates, etc.). It's 100 silver glitter lamps with silver glitter in them. But since I'm modding them, that doesn't matter. I also had to pay a whopping factory surcharge that I would not have had to pay with a larger order. Oh well.

But now, I can make custom lamps for people that they design themselves! I'm so excited! :D

Oops! I read that wrong! I'll likely take one. :)

Sounds like you are getting a lava busnis up and running - i am intrested in seeing how it turns out.

I would be intrested in being one of your customers for thies but it all depends on cost of the item, how much I have to spend etc.

I'm thinking that my charges will be like this: $40 for a premade modded lamp, and $50 for a custom job, which can include custom handcut glitter, a painted base and cap, and dyed oil if you want. I tried to price things fairly, but buying a small lot was a killer, plus shipping, plus surcharges and supplies. That glitter stock (of all things) is just rudely priced.

Do those prices seem fair? I may be able to come down on the price if I find cheaper stock eventually.

And who knows...maybe one day I can get 1000 shipped over! That would be awesome.

Hey since you seem to know what you are doing as far as importing from china goes, do you think you could get some of those giant fluidiums imported? I know people would go nuts over them and you would have plenty of sales(one being me). Maybe we could do some sort of group buy.

http://oozinggoo.ning.com/photo/fluidium-knock-off

I'm still in the middle of trying to phenagle this order, but eventually I'd like to try and expand a little bit, and those would be cool. I don't just want to deal in this one type of lamp, as much as I like it. If you can find out who makes this, we can try to figure something out. That lamp should have a sticker on it, probably on the bottom, that will have the manufacturer in China written on it. If we can find that out, we can look them up online and try to contact them.

Like I say, all of my everything is invested in this order right now, but in the future I would like to import some of those and sell them, and in the meantime I can help you out if you want to try!

Oh, and just an update on that ebay seller:

I just got a full refund, with shipping, and I get to keep the lamp. LOL!!

And you know what the FUNNIEST thing is? HE ACCIDENTALLY GAVE ME POSITIVE REP. That allowed me to freely give him the negative feedback that he deserves without having to worry about him revenge-repping me. He'd already repped me!

I could just die laughing. Goober.

Oh and I've discovered that the paint on it comes right off with alcohol. I've been having a ball defacing that jerk's precious sports memobelia. "Extremely rare NASCAR lamp!" LOL! Not any more.

I've seen several potentially neat lamps from China, but yes, you have to buy in lots of 100 or 1000. I think if you look up the factory where Lava Lite gets their stuff, you can find the website where they have all other kinds of neat lamps we don't get here. 

This one cracks me up. I think it's a pic from a member here:

http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/285648161/Lava_lamp.html

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