"Got any lava lamps?" "What color?"

[Jonas Clark-Elliott]

Last week, I visited family on Vashon. Vashon is a large island west of Seattle, which is reached by large ferries. It's a relatively sleepy community, but spread out all over the island, with one long, drawn-out "town" and several small villages with shops. Vashon is home to Granny's Attic, a lovely little charity thrift store. My uncle, known locally as Captain Jim Sir, shops there weekly-- on the three days a week that it's open-- and always seems to find amazing things I'd never find in a thrift store anywhere else.

I try to visit on days when Granny's is open. I've never seen a lava lamp there... and neither has Jim, I suspect, because if he saw one, he'd probably buy it for me. As I have before, I asked an employee, "Got any lava lamps?" "Not right now, I don't think." I saw the staff door ajar, poked my head in, and asked the woman in there the same question. Her answer was curious: "What color?"

...okay? Not sure what that could mean, unless she has a variety somewhere. Turns out, she likes them, and she hoards them back there. Once a year, whenever she gets around to it, she has a 'lava lamp day' and puts them all out. She pulls me into the back... and there, I find a shelf with a 2x2x2 cardboard box which is both filled and surrounded with a mountainous heap of bases and cords, tangled worse than Christmas lights, peppered liberally with assorted globes. Holey moley!

I ask if I can help her sort them. Trouble is, she can't leave me back there unsupervised, and there's a lot of rigamarole about getting volunteer status. She offers to help me pack it all into two boxes, and we haul it out to the rear parking lot where I have daylight and room to sort it. After putting all the globes into a box and making two piles of bases, this is what I'm looking at:

http://imgur.com/pMzxH5H

I set about separating bases and wrapping cords. After that, it was matching globes and bases. Here's the lot after sorting:

http://imgur.com/Nez95sq

The end result was as follows, and I'll list by parts since I have no idea which ones truly went together:

--Two 8oz. bases with caps

--Nine 20oz. bases, eight satin silver, one chrome, and five satin silver caps. Eight 20oz. globes: red/clear, blue/clear, (probably faded blue) white/clear, cloudy yellow/purple, three yellow/blue, one purple glitter. Plus a complete 20oz. red/purple in its box/tube.

--One 52oz. China red/purple globe, cloudy.

--Eight Midnight bases, one with Lava logo; three plastic Midnight caps. One gloss blue Elec-Trick base. Three silver Wizard bases, one with Lava logo; four Wizard caps, three silver, one black.

--Ten 32oz. globes: two faded white/clear, one faded yellow/clear, one slightly cloudy white/blue, one grayed-looking black/clear, one each lime/clear and emerald/clear, one pink/clear, one white/orange, one silver glitter, one dark blue China glitter.

--One Safari tortoiseshell cap. Two late-90s Century internal heat reflector rings.

--Several import parts, most not matching, including a neon green base & cap, a translucent purple base & cap, a silver faded yellow/purple squiggly globe sans cap, a black purple/blue Flo-Oozy (switch, not dimmer) sans cap, etc.

--One murky red/clear Link'd lava.

After sorting, I ended up purchasing the following: All three silver Wizard bases/caps, one Midnight base & cap (with Lava logo), and the gloss blue Elec-Trick base. Five globes: silver glitter, dark blue China glitter*, white/orange, white/blue, faded white/clear. Plus the Tortoiseshell cap and the Century heat reflectors. The shop threw in a tiny blue strobe light and a CFL blacklight bulb!

I've never, ever seen this many second-hand lavas in one shop, and I had a blast sorting these. I pointed the employee to OG, and promised to send her a list of lamps to look for. The tortoiseshell cap and Century rings are available, if anybody wants them; the Elec-Trick base is spoken for, and two of the Wizards (with silver glitter globes added) are on eBay as a pair.

~ Jonas

[Jeff]

Wow that's awesome.  I would have jumped on that Electrik base...bummer its already spoken for.  The one I bought from another member on here got damaged in shipping and has a big dent in it and missing paint :(

Did you by chance by the groove tube?  I would be interested in that globe if so.

[Jonas Clark-Elliott]

I did not get the Flo-Oozy/Groove Tube, sorry. I would have if it had the cap.

[Jeff]

Ok thx.  I don't need the cap actually, just looking for a globe.  If you ever come across another blue elektrik base, let me know.  Thanks!!!

[Jonas Clark-Elliott]

I can pick up more next time I'm over, and I may do that.

The blue China glitter is awesome. Reminds me of the blue-purple Florence Art glitters, in that when lit, it's deep blue at the bottom, but changes to a wine-purple at the top. It must be a knock-off, since it has a sealed metal top with a rubber plug inside instead of a crimped bottle-cap. But I love it.

[Josh Langley]

Jonas I'd like to talk to you about both your century heat rings and if you go back the loose cap to a black wizard.

[Jonas Clark-Elliott]

Send a friend request and PM me, Josh. Or email, jcefoundit@gmail

The heat rings won't cost you anything.

Edit: Never mind, got it.