(Lava Chat)

Search Results - fading globe

Topic: Looking to add another unusual lamp to my collection...: idn't realize, until after I'd washed out the towels and refilled the globe, that they retained liquid. Now my best globe is cloudy AND missing two inches of liquid. I'm pretty down in the dumps on this one. The first was due to my own stupidity at the moment (I put the globe aside on the floor, then knocked it over when I stood up) and the latter is, well, also due to my own stupidity at the moment (what, towels absorb and hold liquid? Who knew? ) My budget is rising again. First priority, ship a lamp I've owed to another collector for way too long (you know who you are, sorry about the wait!) Second priority... I just ruined one of my best lamps. No, a white squiggle isn't too unusual, but completely functional 1966 formula IS - I could run that thing (per the instructions) for days at a time, and it wouldn't overheat! I haven't added anything unusual to the collection in a few years... The thrift stores here get a whole lotta nothin'. Yesterday, I visited all my old junk shop haunts, and they're all either closed, or barren of lava. I found one lamp - a 1987 red/yellow Century, in a very beat-up 1960s (purple/pink/white) box, for the astounding price of only eighty five bucks! What a deal! Uh huh... So, does anyone have anything unusual they'd be willing to part with? I'm still looking for my first "Elegant". I have the Glitterlite version... Planter or Vase, brass base, silver base or flocked base, planter need not have orig. flowers, just as long as it has functional lava in a nice color. ("Nice" being relative - many would not call color 10, red lava/green mist, "nice", though I would) Would also love to find a functional Continental (steel oval) or Mystique (steel square) lava (I have the square glitter) Possibly... Fog Rider, might you sell that oval red/violet lava with the odd checkered design in the metal? Lamps I'm after but could not afford right now: Night Lite (clown Consort) or a Regency (larger Consort with metal or wood cap) Basically, I'm just peeved that I destroyed a lamp through my own sheer stupidity and, coupled with the fact that local lava hunting has been bad for well over a year, I'd like to add something to the collection without fighting off bidders on eBay. I don't have much of anything I'd trade, i.e. doubles (a plain Lantern in red/yellow, with lava crusts in the air space - I can't get the cap off to clean it; a later-style Enchantress Planter with orig. flowers, cream lava but liquid faded to clear) Sorry for the long, long post. ~ Jonas (Lamps pictured below are old photos off eBay. I do NOT own these lamps)…; Added by Jonas Clark-Elliott at 8:59am on February 13, 2008

Comment on: Topic 'Is lava lite making good lamps again?': nly obtained one green white so far. Old connections at Spencer's still linger not as good but hook ups on old displays still linger. As for bad China's I've only owned two bad ones with bad coils.So I will wait til the new 52's come out or buy a few 20oz Green Whites and do some transfers. I wish someone here had a spare I have four Red Whites and would gladly trade for a Green White or even a Purple White Jim said: Green/white 52 ounce is far from common and should fetch a tidy sum. Finding a 32 ounce green/white for my green swirl was hard enough, finding a 52 ouncer will be real tough. Might be easier to find 2 32 ouncers and do a refill. Stanley Post said: You should not have a problem finding one on Fleabay as this is a popular color combo. :) You dont want to take a chance on a new cheap one, trust me, you may get lucky and receive a nice clear one, but 9 chances out of 10, it will be cloudy. You dont want that frustration factor ;) If you live in the US, see if you can find a Spencer's Gifts store. That way you can SEE before you buy :) That, or one off Fleabay made in the 90's is your best bet. …; Added by mike mckevitt at 4:27pm on March 1, 2011

Comment on: Topic 'Century Model 101 - Was there such a thing?': r lava; the 1st-year brochure has actual photos that make all of these clear. Also indicating that it is early is the note to always use the plastic tray - the 1st-year models had a plain tray, without feet, that I assume snapped or pushed onto the base. Is your tray screwed on? Another indicator of it being early 2nd year is that, by that time, they had added 13 new models (but perhaps not put them in the instructions yet), so the space for writing in the wattage may indicate this since different models used different bulbs. All of this is just guesswork. Try cycling for a while, and if that doesn't work try filtering and see what color you get. It might be possible to re-dye the fluid with fluorescent ink from a yellow hi-liter or with the dye called fluorescein, which has the same color. I'd suggest getting an extra globe in a common color, popping the bottlecap, dying it, and letting it run daily for a week or so to see how it performs/whether the dye affects the chemical balance enough to screw with the action. I know 1960s formula is different, but it's as close as one can easily get, 'cuz if the test fails, it's almost better to just filter it and leave it faded because it's still the original fill and will have amazing snaky flow. For the test: Pry the rear end cap off a yellow - not green, these don't glow much - hi-liter type marker. The big thick kind. Use a bent paper clip to fish out the ink holder, a plastic tube full of cotton wick soaked with the ink. Suspend this, tube and all, from a piece of bare metal wire, threaded *through* the tube's sides so the tube can't come off the wire. Then dangle it in and rattle it against the sides of the globe to get ink to leak out. Stir frequently until you get a nice, vivid, electric yellow-green. Then do your tests, after you cork it or cap it again to prevent evaporation. Trust me that the yellow markers make the same color liquid shown in the catalog photo, neon yellow-green with a greenish tinge. Even without blacklight, it's an absolutely shocking color, especially with red wax...!…; Added by Jonas Clark-Elliott at 9:52am on September 28, 2011

Comment on: Topic 'Coachlite question': hat we call Gen. 1, were very likely made by Crestworth in the UK, as they're identical to a Crestworth Astro Lantern; the handle is in three pieces, sides screw into the base and top folds. They've got that cap where you add imaginary kerosene. Gleaming, mirror-polished anodized copper finish (no one but Crestworth did the bright copper so well). We suspect the metalwork was done in the UK and shipped here, then finished with USA electricals and a Lava Lite globe. These are mucho rare, and absolutely gorgeous. Gen. 2 was, I suspect, Lava's attempt to copy the Crestworth lantern. The cap was spun out of one, not two, pieces; the cap and base resemble Gen. 3 except for having a fill cap. The handle arrangement is very similar to Gen. 1. Finish on these was a pale copper lacquer over aluminum, which (like Century bases of that time, lacquered gold over aluminum) tended to fade to silver. The handle was a very red copper finish. Gen. 2a has an all-over red copper finish. Gen. 3 is your blue-green one, made from the mid-1970s until 1990 or 91. In the 70s, this came in red/clear, orange/yellow (really red/yellow) and green/blue (which was slowly being altered to cream/blue). In the early 80s, colors switched to "red/yellow" (what they'd been calling orange/yellow) and "white/blue) (what they'd been calling green/blue) but the Coachlite was the only lamp to retail red/clear - and from then on, that's the ONLY color it came in. About a year before it was discontinued, they added white/blue to its list. Yours is probably a 70s green/blue, an uncommon color in Coaches, as is white/blue. As both colors were similar, only way to tell is to tilt the globe (when cold), look up inside the cap, and check the date sticker. Your Gen. 1 may or may not be dated the same way. Your Gen. 3 might also be stamped on the felt bottom; some had a date, others had only "Model 6000."…; Added by Jonas Clark-Elliott at 9:20am on February 16, 2012

Comment on: Topic 'Magma Yellow vs. Lavalite Yellow': ed it, but eventually screwed it up trying to get a coil out and shredded the wax doing too much of a "stir" with a metal coat hanger....don't ask.......anyway, I did what Vox suggested and melted down the over-colored wax and added half of new clear wax. I had a tad bit of wax left, too little to make a whole lamp with, so that came in handy. Also, I'm not totally out of the thinking that it could be a bad batch of dye. I have been having such problems with MT's blue dye!!! It starts out a beautiful shade of blue, then turns a weird plum color. It's not in the sun, and the color doesn't fade into the liquid, it just simply goes away. I have to keep adding "speck" amounts of new blue dye to refresh it, until the point where I can't add anymore because it will be too dark. I was going to call Magma, but they will only offer to send me another blue dye pack and now I am out of goo so that is useless to me. Vox has used dye from a site that offers up dyes for people who make candles. It is oil based and liquid. I think the liquid is probably easier to use anyway. It's called Peak something or other. Vox??? Site addy? He has had good luck with it so far. Watch overheating the goo kits. Too much heat will turn your goo transparent again, but the bigger problem with too much heat is that the goo gets too soft and liquidy and starts to stick to the inside of the globe causing either a fog like haze on the entire inside of the globe or streaks from the wax starting to stick. When I first started to run my kits I was under the impression that I couldn't mess them up!!! Well, after I redid my favs 3 to 4 to 5 times, I finally gave up my pride and decided to give MT Goo a call and found out that their goo can be touchy as well as LL's. If you keep your temp consistant , you shouldn't have any problems. As far as fixing the yellow, it may have to be a redo unfortunately.....…; Added by Carol at 2:59pm on February 17, 2015

Topic: Selling Everything!: er's and my Nightmare Before Christmas. Everything else is up for grabs. Contact me at ravenwind77@yahoo.com to submit your offers. I really need all this to go and do not want to put anything on ebay at this time. I only deal through paypal and only ship to the main 48 states. Canada is extra. Each size is a different price for shipping and will only charge the exact shipping price. I can not garuntee that the globes would cloud a little durring shipping. However, I will make sure that there is insurance placed on all shipments. Make sure your offer has in mind of shipping because that will be the total price, including shipping. Usually shipping ground on grandes are around 25 and the the other sizes are around 10-15 USD. Canada should add an extra 10 USD to shipment because of the distance. You may ask questions in the post, but all offers should be sent to the email address. I also have to address that the rocket was a restoration project. One leg is not very sturdy. It is very nice in other aspects. I have a thread somewhere on here of the project. I found the thread: http://oozinggoo.ning.com/forum/topics/1566398:Topic:13164 Still have a lot of lamps! If anyone is interested, I also have another grande lamp not pictured. It is a purple/yellow and is in new condition, never overheats and flows just like the american made lamps. I really need to sell these off and officially only sold one lamp so far. I could part with my Nightmare Before Christmas lamp, but I have to specify one detail. A piece next to the base of the globe broke. It was a clean break and able to be fixed and is barely noticeable. I paid nearly $200 for this lamp so make me an offer I can't refuse. I hate to part with it, but I will. I have the original box for it and there isn't any paint that is warn or faded. It is in new condition except for that unfortunate accident. If you are weary of it, I can take a picture of the part that broke and show you that it isn't noticable at all. You can only see a very faint light when it is on. As I sell the item, I will delete the pictures from the Albums.…; Added by Brian at 6:08pm on October 23, 2009

Comment on: Topic 'Video of my 1st 2 Vintage Lamps!!': flow on those 2 vintage is CRAZY now!! I don't know if it's because I have been running them 8 hours on just about every nite then like 12 off, so it's kind of bursting them or what. Now that I look back I'm kind of embarrassed of what that vid looks like and it's only been a difference of 11 days!! I'll take a better one. Oh, that Wizard was bought back in the 90's when Spencers used to sell their bases and globes separate!! and let me tell you, it was like 55.00 which was a lot for a lamp back then. The liquid was purple and the wax was still the same color pink which is weird. The liquid color completely faded so now it is clear. Anyway I bought that for my daughter who will now be 21 when she was like 8 years old. She was cleaning out her room one day and had the lamp in the "throw away" pile. I said, "um, excuse me, why are you throwing out that great lamp?" She said it doesn't work mom, it won't lava anymore. It wouldn't lava so I put a higher wattage bulb in it and ran the crap out of it until it decided not to be stubborn anymore and now with a dimmer I can achieve some great flows out of her!!! Isn't it funny how we all have a story for our lamps??? They all have their own personalities......no wonder why we get attached to them!! lol!!!…; Added by Carol at 12:05pm on July 13, 2014

Comment on: Topic '"Baby Lava" - Haggerty Protypes': re less about the bases. I did place a value on what I would consider paying for a #29. This morning I was offered over twice that number for the Baby Lava set via a FB Lava Group. - You are correct, they will likely sell for cash instead of the #29. However, at this point all the 29's are in collections. I have several "once in a lifetime" items to offer to a collector. Hopefully a 29 will get sprang from the woodwork. Speaking of 29s. If your fluid is "barley a tint " it sounds like its faded. Every 29 I've seen the fluid is very pronounced. Also - A perfectly clear liquid should barely be seen unless its lighted. Its far easier to tell a color in an 02 when the lamp is cloudy. The 02 also has the issue of red lava dye bleed. The lime green lava never had this issue. …; Added by Jason G at 8:41am on January 27, 2022

Comment on: Topic 'Defective Century? Or am I doing it wrong?': 70s (faded gold finish, plastic feet on the base). Here is what the inside and outside of my Century base look like: [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v484/slantsixgoon/lava%20lamp/IMG...[/IMG] [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v484/slantsixgoon/lava%20lamp/IMG...[/IMG] It certainly looks like there COULD be a heat shield in the bottom of the top cup, there even seems to be a corrosion ring around the inner circumference. The plastic base is cracked an the inside is rusty. It is obvious that this lamp has had a hard 40 years so it is very possible the ring was there originally and has gone missing. Just for kicks, here are some glamour shots of my two Aristocrats: This one works beautifully: [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v484/slantsixgoon/lava%20lamp/IMG_1348.jpg[/IMG] This guy has to be run with a dimmer so he takes a while to wake up: [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v484/slantsixgoon/lava%20lamp/IMG...[/IMG] Any info on where I could find a heat ring for my Century and a new globe would be greatly appreciated. Hmmm. Looks like my photobucket links aren't working. If you click on them the picture will pop up. :(…; Added by Reed at 1:02am on January 21, 2014

Comment on: Blog Post 'My NEW Grande isnt so well..GRAND....': erhaul wax/water. More time is invested on keeping fluids/wax if it is a classic lamp as those materials just work better than today's stuff. Vintage lamps from the 60-70 era are built with some pretty nice poisons, they just work better. Salts, specific gravities and swearing occur if you decide to try and replace the water but keep the Lava brand wax, unless you are a chemical engineer. Take this on if you are feeling feisty. Filtering is an option, people have used Katadyne hand filters that do not involve activated carbon/charcoal as this strips needed ingredients from the water plus the murky junk. Coloring water can be interesting, OG member Keith has had great success with using highlighter ink. It seems to not fade as fast as food coloring will. Inkjet printer ink has also been said to be successful in creating nice water hues that last. GooKits are pretty cut and dry. if you over surf/under surf you can easily dump and start over or add more surfactant. Wax colors whatever you can dream up, I have had great success with liquid candle dyes to color my wax, easy to do and also easy to over saturate so be careful or you end up with black wax. GooKits offer dyes as well, I have not used them though. Being me, I would GooKit it. Since it is a new lamp you will probably achieve desired results if you scrap it and make it your own. If it was an older USA made lamp, Giant, I would do what I could to keep all ingredients intact. Just my two cents.…; Added by VOXul at 12:58pm on January 13, 2016