Homemade Lava went wrong after adding wax coloring... Sticking problem

[Innotic]

Hello Goo heads

I've recently mixed new batch of wax using classic wax+perc formula for my girlfriend.
She've seen lava lamp first time in my room and she's more interested in it than me so I decided to redo a unused lamp I have for her :D

I used some ooooold, big piece of white wax (transparent after melting), weighted correctly and poured into bottle. Lamp worked really good - nice flow and clear wax/clear liquid was making interesting "lens" effect. I ordered green wax coloring for the final touch. Coloring I've added two flakes of coloring to make desired colour, but now I've got problem - wax is sticking to the globe... I'm changing liquid, adding more dish soap and things and none of these seems to solve this sticking. What should I do with my goo to fix it up? Help me, please :(

[Carol]

Did you clean your globe out super good to start with??  I use straight up acetone, boiling hot water, a bottle brush, you name it and I have even been having streaking problems inside of my globes of my homemade goo kits.  If you're adding plenty of dish soap, you shouldn't be experiencing sticking unless you have dirty spots inside the globe that is attracting the wax.  Is it always sticking in the same place, or random places?  Also, before you pour your wax, immediately after you clean your globe, you might want to take a small amount of dishliquid and water and mix it together in a separate container, then put a small amount in the globe and gentle swish it around to coat all sides of the globe.  If you use too much or swish too fast you will get too many bubbles, so take it slow.  You can also order surfactant from Magma Towers , but that basically is going to do the same thing as the dish soap as far as preventing sticking.  If you go to the link at the top of problems and questions about goo kitting there are some tips on the tutorial as far as prepping the globe for pouring the wax.  That might help.  What kind of water are you using?  If your area has "hard" water, that isn't going to help your sticking problem.  Try using distilled water and see if it makes a difference.  You may have to take down the whole globe, clean it and redo it from scratch unfortunately. 

[Innotic]

Thanks for Your reply. I think its rather goo-related problem. As I said before, lamp worked good before coloring it. Another tip which made me think like that is the wax sticks on random places. When I swirl globe a few times the wax separates from glass, flows good for a few minutes and sticks again in other place. Yes, my water is hard, but my last tries were based on destilled water so its not the water. I think this wax coloring may be based on some broken wax or something and I'll have to remix the wax again. But I have no idea what should I add to wax to make it working again. Also I'm bit confused about its appearance when solid - goo looks like its not completely mixed... (I think photo is needed here) I don't know what to do - hope some of things I described would be some kind of hint for You :)

[Carol]

So you say you  made your own goo?  There is also a tutorial on here about making one's own wax.  It's under the poor man's lava lamp.  Although not what you're making, it may give you some insight on what you may be missing.  I don't think many members have made their own goo that I know of, but that doesn't mean that I am right.  There have been hybrid mixes where Lava Lite (LL) wax is mixed with Magma Tower's goo, and older LL wax has been filtered and restored, things like that, but making it from scratch can be trial and error at best.  Truthfully, I'm surprised that you even got a homemade wax to flow!!!  That's awesome!!!  What did you use?  Like candle wax?  Maybe someone else has attempted this that will be better informed to answer this then I.  My only option would be to order some MT goo and make her a lamp going that route.  I've made several and they all came out nicely with awesome flow.  I have had some issues with streaking on the inside of my globes as I have said, but still haven't solved THAT MYSTERY!!!  lol!!!  Good Luck!!

[Innotic]

Making my own goo is nothing new for me. I've used wax and tetrachloroetylene to make it. The problem is I don't know what type of wax I used this time because the piece of wax I have is about 1kg big, solid rectangle about 30 years old...
Maybe I have to buy some candles and make it one more time, maybe wax I have is not good for lamps somehow.
There's no way I can get things like Goo it or Magma Tower wax - I live in Europe and ordering such things from US would cost me a lot.

[Carol]

Ohhh ok Innotic, didn't know you weren't in the states!!  Well again, that's awesome that you can make your own goo and it works out for you.  I would try using some new wax then and see how that is.  I wouldn't think that wax would go bad, but again, if it has been going from hot to cold and hot to cold in the matter of 30 years, I guess it could. 

[Innotic]

News ahead:
I poured all of lamp contents to another bottle and... no sticking!
I have no idea what's going on, but created a short video showing how this lamp flows. It seems I have too much salt solution here, but take a look anyway :)

http://instagram.com/p/uYrOZGDbeP/

[Carol]

Thats pretty awesome for homemade goo!!