Crestworth Snowflake

[Glitterbug]

Hi all,

I bought a Crestworth Snowflake fiber optic lamp on eBay, but I think I got scammed.

The light is very dim and the color effects/changes are very underwhelming and kind of strange, so I decided to open the lamp to take a look inside, and I have a few questions:

1. It has a 12v 20W bulb. Is this the correct one for this model, or does it need higher wattage?

2. The fiber optic spray is not held together by a metal piece as you would expect in a lamp of this quality,  but by white plastic (see picture: on the left you can see the spray of my Crestworth Snowflake, on the right what I would have expected in a lamp like this: metal). Even though the spray is made out of real glass fiber, I'm still wondering if this is the original one?

3. Take a look at the picture of the color wheel. It's really weird. I own 10 other fiber optic lamps, and I've NEVER seen a color wheel painted like this. It looks like it was done by hand and by a complete amateur. I mean, I know there are some crazy designs for color wheels out there, but in this kind of lamp, where there's nothing fancy and the colors just change one by one without any special effects, the lines of the colors are normally always very straight and clearly delineated/traced, as if done by a machine. But here it's such sloppy work! This cannot possibly be the original wheel, can it?

So, any knowledgeable people or owners of a Crestworth Snowflake lamp who can help me out with this? Please do send pictures of your spray and especially your color wheel because I want to confront the seller with this if it turns out the lamp doesn't have the original parts while this was not mentioned in the description of the item. So disappointed! I paid a LOT of money for it!

Thanks!

[Arne]

The colourwheel looks original to me, its the typical pattern and the ones I had/have look the same. Cant say anything about the spray fitting, might be original although plastic is indeed strange...on the other hand the crestworth traction lamp came in two versions and the later one had all the moving parts replaced with plastic instead if metal as in the earlier one.

The spray does look somewhat dirty to me though, a good cleanup might boost brightness and vividness.

[Glitterbug]

Thank you so much, Arne! This is very helpful!
Any tips on how to clean the spray and what product(s) to use for it? I've never done that. Or maybe you could point me to somewhere here where I can find more info? Sorry, I'm new here: first day!

Arne said:

The colourwheel looks original to me, its the typical pattern and the ones I had/have look the same. Cant say anything about the spray fitting, might be original although plastic is indeed strange...on the other hand the crestworth traction lamp came in two versions and the later one had all the moving parts replaced with plastic instead if metal as in the earlier one.

The spray does look somewhat dirty to me though, a good cleanup might boost brightness and vividness.

[Glitterbug]

Oh, I forgot: and how about the bulb wattage? Is 20 watts correct or should it be more?

Arne said:

The colourwheel looks original to me, its the typical pattern and the ones I had/have look the same. Cant say anything about the spray fitting, might be original although plastic is indeed strange...on the other hand the crestworth traction lamp came in two versions and the later one had all the moving parts replaced with plastic instead if metal as in the earlier one.

The spray does look somewhat dirty to me though, a good cleanup might boost brightness and vividness.

[The Lamp Caretaker]

I would not attempt to clean the spray.  There is a chemical that was applied to each glass fiber stran when they were made that due to age comes off when wet.  I've heard nightmare stories of people who have come to me after they attempted cleaning with water, alcohol etc.  A lot of times the fibers when wet will also stick together and do not come apart or they break from the weight of the water.  If you do try and clean please consider posting before  and after photos.  By the way - everything you showed is original to the lamp and you are very fortunate to have two sprays.  That's unheard of.  I would consider myself very LUCKY.  You should also be aware the SNOWFLAKE lamp is not very bright like the Fantasia Lamps because Fantasia lamps used way more fibers than most others.  I compared my snowflakes to your photos and all seemed original to me.  

[andy ross]

Hi, I also own a couple of Snowflakes (a light snowfall?) and am intrigued by your post.

On the sprays, you will generally find they came with metal ferrules, but you really need to post photos of the sprays in situ on the lamp; there were further sprays made with plastic ferrules that were every bit as good - if not better - than the metal versions.

I'm not 100% certain that the plastic-ferrule sprays were actually sold by Crestworth, but even the metal ones were sourced from elsewhere originally I believe. 

I differ from TLC on cleaning sprays, you can often tell when they have been cleaned it's true, but if you dry them properly they will be okay - and my instructor taught me to dry them for seven days, which I follow; as even the slightest dampness results in clumping. I would try a less important spray first if you're worried... there are several methods around, message me if you want the one I used. 

The colour wheel and electrics are even more intriguing. Again it would be good to see the whole thing - in this case the lamp insides. The colour wheel and 12v system looks and sounds like the (later model) Jupiter, but there were some later Snowflakes issued, I am told. (I believe they were confusingly called Cosmos...) They could have carried the later 12v system and wheels. The trouble is, when the company was taken over, much of the paperwork was junked, so not much of the history remains.

One final thing - It never ceases to surprise me how little these Snowflake lamps often fetch - they were the top fibre optic lamp in the Crestworth stable but seem to go for no more than the static-spray (and more common) Phantomlite - odd. Any ideas why this is the case?

[Arne]

I have cleaned several sprays and never had any issues. what I do is put the spray on flat surface like a sheet of perspex or so and spray the spray with window cleaner a lot untill its totally soaked. then I let it soak for a few hours with some cover to avoid evaporation of the cleaning solution. then I grab it by the solid part and tilt it a bit with the fibres pointing down and rotate the whole thing while spraying more cleaner. the dirt runs down the fibres and into the sink. as soom as I think its as clean asnit gets I hold the spray still the same way and put under running water still rotating it gently so the water gets everywhere and flushes the cleaner out. I put it on a towel and drag it along there a few times to remove the majority of water and as a last step I hang the spray somewhere upside down and wait till no more water is dripping off the fibres and then every now and then I use a blowdryer and very gently blow towards it while with every time more and more fibres come detached from the sticking wet eel (sticking coz of surface tension...dirt is all gone by now). Takes a few hours untill everynlast fibre is dry and separated but well worh the hassle. when you put it out of hand always do it with a draggin movement so the fibres are straight all the time and dont bend around and break.

[Glitterbug]

Guys, thank you so much, this is awesome! I wasn't expecting so many very helpful answers!

@The Lamp Caretaker: I totally understand that you advise against cleaning the spray, and I do appreciate your warning. However, firstly I think a lot of people go about this without properly informing themselves, which creates a lot of problems, and secondly, I'm afraid I have not other choice: although I understand now that the Snowflake is not very bright because you told me so, it's too dim and really unacceptable for me. Tastes differ, and it's even possible that Crestworth deIiberately tried to create a more subtle effect by making the lamp less bright because looking at pictures online I can see how the colors are really beautiful and much softer (a bit pastel-like) than for example a Fantasia lamp, which may (in part?) be caused by the less bright light. I have nothing against that, quite the contrary, but I do think that the lamp I personally got is dimmer than it is supposed to be because the spray has become dirty, so I think I will try to clean it. I promise I will take before and after pictures. By the way: the lamp did not come with two sprays. This was just to better illustrate what I was trying to say because I didn't know the correct word in English for the part that holds the spray together. Now I know thanks to andy ross: it's called a 'ferrule'.

One more thing: nobody clearly answered my question whether the bulb wattage of 20W is indeed correct? Could anyone check? If you don't know, all it takes is loosening two screws on the bottom of the lamp which allows you to take the lamp housing out. It's maybe 5 or 10 minutes work.

When I have more time I will also answer more specifically to each of your posts, and I will take pictures of my lamp with the spray mounted and disassemble it to take pictures of the inside.

Thanks again everybody!

[andy ross]

Hi Glitterbug, well I call it a ferrule, don't know if it's the right name, but it seems to convey the information!

I meant to get back to you again, as I didn't spell out clearly what may be your problem in my last post...

20w is right  but the voltage should be 6v (not 12v).

The colour wheel is clearly a Jupiter wheel (I have had several of these lamps and this wheel is standard for the Jupiter)

You need to check if the electrics have been converted to 12v, if not - then a 6v 20w bulb may sort it

[Jonas Clark-Elliott]

Ferrule is correct. And plenty of owners of Fantasia glass-fibre lamps have cleaned sprays with water without harming them, myself included. You just have to be extraordinarily gentle, as they CAN break, and they will shed fibers (which make the world's most nightmarish splinters-- they hurt and they;'re invisible!) It's no wonder Crestworth's first enclosed them in a sealed plastic dome.

[Simon Lloyd]

Both spray and colourwheel look consistent with Crestworth.