Oozing Goo - The Lava Lamp Syndicate

Cleaning a horribly dirty bottle while leaving wax in bottom intact

So won't go into a song a dance about the grande I just got, no sense repeating the entire store.

Last night after letting it burn for almost 5 hours, it seems the lava does have some life left in it but how much life is not known as I need a flashlight to see what it's doing but it does make columns and some huge blobs with little blobs that fall of it like rain drops. The columns were odd though, kinda like sperms with a head and long string tails but in the shape of intestines if that makes sense. Sorry for the details, hahaha.

I would like to conduct an experiment with the groups help before I clean the bottle out entirely and save to convert to a kirk glitter special :)

#1 I would like some pointers on how to clean the nasty bottle interior while leaving the wax inside and intact. I assume cool water as to not upset the wax? I assume a bottle brush could helpful used carefully? Can some dish soap be used, if so, would dawn work? The wax splatters seems to have melted away when the lamp warmed up but the nasty white residue needs to be removed.

#2 If #1 goes smoothly, what can I do economically to see if the lamp can be brought back to some normalcy? I need chemicals to be available locally and not online. I have read somewhere about epsom salt, distilled water and dish soap. If this is a inexpensive viable option to PLAY and see what happens, what are the steps to try? If not the right chemicals, can someone give me a list of what to get to see if I can find locally and at a reasonable price.

I say to myself, if I can play at a budget and get it to work until conversion time, why not? It will be a good learning process but I don't buy online to much. I have ace hardware and many other good stores in my area (home depot, lowes, blah blah blah)

Thank for the help and putting up with my pestering!!

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Keith, yes, all fine and dandy, I'm not worried about cleaning a bottle in general, I would like to know how to clean it properly while leaving the hard wax in the bottle?

If I am going to the trouble to have to remove the wax to clean, I'll leave the bottle empty and not bother to try and fix this lamp as a lava lamp.

I am not interested right now in melting out wax, keeping it, putting it aside, cleaning the globe, and putting back in, etc.

I am trying to keep this to a simple experiment to see if I can bring the lamp back with simple means.

There are some questions in my OP that I would love some help with so I don't bother and waste my time and mess up the wax somehow if I leave in while cleaning.

If the playing does not work, it will be a glitter lamp down the line so no harm no foul at that point.

The goal is to try and see if the lamp can be brought back to some better operation with minor out of pocket expense while I save for a full glitter conversion or leave it if comes out decent.

I forgot I think I can get that scrubbing bubbles toilet wand at a local target, so yes, that will surely help.

Some answers that might help.

Drain and rinse globe first.  Most of the cloudy particles will be removed.  Try scrubbing with a mild dish soap/water mix.  I'm pretty sure the haze coating the globe will remove easily enough that way.  If not then use Dawn.  Rinse well and drain.  But try to drain by siphoning after cleaning so the wax left in the globe doesn't leave streaks on the glass.

I recommend using distilled water and propylene glycol with a surfactant for replacement fluid.  Propylene glycol is the stuff in fog juiced used for special effects (it's diluted with water).  It is also available at farm supply stores like Tractor Supply

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/ideal-animal-health-usp-p...

Using "Miracle Bubble" for surfactant has been recommended and many have success with it.  But when I used bubble solution with a fragrance my Grande clouded again.  I would recommend "sodium lauryl sulphate".  I don't have a suggestion of where to look locally except to say it is used sometimes in soaps, lotions, etc.  I purchased some on ebay a while back but haven't used it yet.  One of our resident masters a lamp restoration, Critter, uses it a lot.

I'll have to look at recommended amounts to use before commenting further, but those are not exact usually anyway.  It takes a little tinkering to adjust the flow to your desire.

The flow you describe sounds promising and worth trying to fix the globe for.

Keith, very helpfull, again, thank you.

So, first things first, this weekend gonna clean the bottle with wax inside and get that scrubbing bubbles thing hopefully today or tomorrow. I will take some photos when done :)

Now with regards to fog juice, I found this at spencers but must see if they carry it in the stores. Anything look like it would fit the bill? Would a quart suffice or do I need a gallon?

https://www.spencersonline.com/catalog/search.cmd?form_state=search...

Now with regards to the surfactant, would a high quality dish soap work? Did you notice that on the same link above there is something called "bubble juice" lol. If I see that in the store, what ingredients should I check for.

Of course, I'll take this one step at a time and once the bottle is clean with wax inside, I will not go further unless I can locate these needed chemicals. At least at that point, I'm not staring at gray rocket ship lol.

Oh, I also have these stores near me

http://www.partycity.com/product/fog+juice+gallon.do

So, long story short, the bottle is 100% clean including removing and disposing of the old wax. The wax just did not want to behave while I was cleaning the bottle and at one point broke into several pieces. The wax looked quite grainy, not sure if that is normal or not.

The quality of the bottle itself is not the best, many air bubbles, what appears to be a mold mark going round the globe about mid way up and the bottom looks lopsided on the INTERIOR, not the exterior, the coil for sure what not sitting totally flat, would have always been on an angle due to the bottom.

The entire lamp is clean and waiting for me to save up for a kirk glitter kit or a goo kit but leaning more towards glitter but there is time to mull it over.

I am excited for when this lamp will be fully working again. Until then, an empty conversation piece in my living room lol.

Well you gave it a fair go.  Sounds like glitter would be better for that globe!

Yep, definitely gave it a fair go but just didn't pan out this time. The liquid was just knarly and you were right, the residue didn't even put a fight. I would have to assume this bottle was early china production.

With glitter though, I think you wouldn't even notice some of the oddities.

The inclusions (sparkly bits in the glass from tiny air pockets) may not even be noticeable with glitter.

I concur!

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