(Lava Chat)

Search Results - Midnight

Comment on: Topic 'Newbie Question : How long/safe to run your lamp?': alamps. Nice way to kickstart your collection!!! If you want to keep the lamp in shape as long as possible, you may not want to exceed the run cycle beyond 5 or 6 hours. Also: Keep it away from sunlight (and water, and whatever you do: Do NOT feed it after midnight! *knickknack*) Set it up in a place where there's no draught. A little air-circulation is okay and needed, because you want to avoid the heat from building up around the lamp (as could happen in a closed showcase like a Vitrine). Only clean it when it's cold, only use the proper cleaning agent for the glass and if a soft dry cloth doesn't suffice for the plastic parts, wet it in warm water with a few drops of dishwash. That should do... And absolutely never (and we mean never) shake or stir it when the lamp is on and heated. That should be all for the "how to handle" department... About damages: I would yet have to hear of a fire being caused by a properly funtioning(!) lavalamp. As you may know, the safety rules applied to electrical devices in Germany are rather strict and, as far as I know, all Mathmos lamps have the official "GS" and "TÜV" seals of approval. So the risks of running it for too long, like over night, rather affect the lifetime and quality of the lamp's content. The most probable damages overheating may cause are: Damage to the vacuum seal which results in the lamp not working properly the next time you turn it on; Clouding and accelerated discoloration of the liquid phase; Damage to the wax, known among the forum as "Bubblitis" or foaming, simply put: the wax will start to look ill and ugly. But what I consider the most likely damage to occur with a jet that overheats, is that the lightbulb will just give, the way they normally do when they're worn out! I hope this helped.…; Added by Novemberchild at 5:06am on November 27, 2008

Comment on: Topic 'Fiber optic questions, Kris...': erything else gets caked on these things. Water alone will not make a dent in getting them cleaned. I have perfected the cleaning process (after doing it so much) and can pretty much return any dirty spray back to like new condition. I have not run into one that I was unable to clean up. The only hitch is with some of the finer spray bundles. Sometimes the fibers all get tangled together and there is not much you can do. They can get untangled, but it takes time. However for the most part, the spray looks really good. Better than it did before. I don't mind sharing my cleaning info with you. Just let me know. I will also offer to do it for you if you would like to send me your sprays. Turn around time would be about a week. Clean, dry, re-fluff and testing. My technique is patent pending (lol j/k) :) - But seriously if you want to ship them out I will get them cleaned up for you. No charge or anything. Yes, would love a clear/blue midnight century. That's the big 52oz black lamp with pin holes in the base right? If so, yeah, that one. Always loved those lamps. Trades are always welcome. I will keep an eye out for you on some lamps. I honestly do not care if people bid on eBay. I don't have the rights to it and anyone is welcome to bid. I do appreciate you not wanting to though. If it's a lamp I want, I will bid as much as I can and if I don't get it, I don't get it. Seems I already have a competitor that is driving up the costs crazily. I hope that dies out soon. Someone is spending a ton on these things unnecessarily. Is there a specific lamp you are looking for to complete your collection?…; Added by Kris at 10:15am on October 24, 2009

Comment on: Topic 'Problems with a 1996 Lava Lite and may simply GooKit it': too much money as well. If it doesn't have good lava then I could always use the gookit on that (if I get it that is). I like the Grande idea, but I haven't seen one on my local Craigslist... the few lava lamps on the Boston area Craigs are kind of hard to place (size/model). I almost bought a dimmer the other day but figured it wasn't worth it... now I might reconsider since I could probably use it on some lamp someday. The thing that has me a bit concerned about this 1996 lamp is that the liquid just isn't clear. I suppose I could use some food coloring to at least make it an actual color. I think I just top it up a bit, though... from looking at the pictures here of 1996-era midnights, it seems like they have fluid to the bottom of the removable cap at least. I imagine a little distilled water? What about replacing just the liquid? Is that simply going to be distilled water or could I follow the liquid portion of the gookit directions? As a side... I was going to see about ordering a lamp from loren here on the forum but it took so long to get approved to post... that I fell in love with a Mathmos telstar on lights.com and ordered one. It was 10% off the price and free shipping at least. I kind of wish I could take a business trip to Europe soon! In any case I am going to have to watch the shipping on my Mathmos.... worried about the cold weather. Will watch the tracking and try to time my arrival at my house... These things are addictive... especially when you see nice videos on this website and just want your lamp to look that good! By the way...thanks for the welcome... cool site indeed!…; Added by ChuckM at 9:43pm on January 20, 2014

Comment on: Topic 'RARITY OF CENTURY LAMPS.': Uncommon colors are ORANGE/yellow (switched to blood-red by the early 1970s) and GREEN/blue (switched to cream, same time). Copper-finished bases are very uncommon-- they have an inner cylinder attached to the top half of the base, which will slide part-way out if lifted. Aristocrats are slightly less common-- Midnight Aristocrats are MUCH less common, especially with screw-on caps. The black Aristocrats were first introduced as a Target-only model in yellow/blue or yellow/purple. The rarest are the high-waist Aristocrats from the early 70s (with a taller, narrower upper cone) and the Commander, a short-lived early-70s matte-black version. Silver appeared in 1997, then black, and both had screw-on caps for a bit before 52oz. lamps transitioned to crimped caps. These were also produced, as far as I know, until 2003. Both are uncommon, though more so with screw-on caps. In 1997, screw-cap silver came in red/yellow, white/blue, pink/pink, red/clear, blue/clear, purple/clear and black/clear. Screw-cap black came in these plus pink/clear and dark green/clear. Screw-cap, 52oz. pink/pink or white/pink, red/yellow, and blue/clear seem to me to be less common. Crimped-cap black, silver and brass Centuries aren't rare, though I think brass ones with crimped caps are less common than black or silver. The truly rare Centuries are models like the ceramic-base type (one known to exist), the early models with a heat sensor in the base (zero known to exist), and the very early models with no seam in the base's pinch, a switch on the base, and liquid-when-cold lava (possibly one known to exist).…; Added by Jonas Clark-Elliott at 2:24am on July 14, 2015

Comment on: Topic 'WANT TO BUY: midnights, elec-tricks, centuries, GIANT...?': ite, green/white, purple/white...and clear/orange, even though I have that one already. I do not have many rarer globes, but I do have a lime/yellow, a lime/clear, and a pink/pink. If you have any rarer ones I would pay more for those, but I can't go insane. :-p Deb said: Wonders if the 50th lamps are still available... hmmmm. My heritages seem to flow fine for me but have both grouped on a table with 2 other grandes so I'm guessing the heat generated from all 4 keep them warm enough to flow properly. The aluminum foil thing I might add just to get them going a bit sooner. I love those lamps. The flow is good and amazed sometimes to see them both with exact same goo formations no matter how crazy it gets. (I'm easily amused) xD Oh and a good way to get the coil to behave is use a magnet. Ive had a few lamps flip theirs and the magnet rights that prob easily. @Loren I have a lot of 32s I may be interested in selling.. I plan to rearrange my 200+ lamps after the holidays and prefer the larger lamps nowadays. Are you looking for particular color globes? Merry Christmas everyone ♥ …; Added by Loren at 5:29am on January 8, 2016

Comment on: Topic 'Are the 50th Anniversary Lava Lites any good?': got on eBay showed up in decent condition, but the lava was pretty much shot by my standards and I ended up goo kitting it. As I said earlier, I've kind of given up on ever getting one I'm super happy with. This is just another product that's not made nearly as well as it used to be. I actually have no problem with things being made in China. What I have a problem with is that Lava Lite has moved things to China ONLY to save money. There is high quality manufacturing in China just like there is here, but Lava Lite didn't seem to bother with that. They just sold the production to the lowest bidder who could pump these things out the fastest. The alternative is buying an older one on ebay or somewhere like that, but I've found that what the seller considers "good working condition" is usually not what I consider to be acceptable. This one I got at Spencer the other day is actually a decent lamp. The flow is ok, and the colors look nice. I discovered the other day that there is a tiny ding in the base. I could probably return it because of that and get a different one if I wanted to, and I'm considering it. Also, the little pinpoints of light in the globe drive me crazy sometimes, but they also kind of look appropriate against the midnight blue liquid/purple wax combination. Kind of like a night sky. So my alternatives now are: 1) Keep it, get used to the speckles in the globe, roll out the dent with a spoon. 2) Return it and take a gamble. I'm thinking the first option is probably better, because who knows what I'm going to get next time. Sad state of affairs for lava lamp fanatics in 2016. I still haven't learned my lesson.…; Added by Chris at 7:19am on February 3, 2016

Comment on: Topic 'Evaporated master fluid in my' midnight series globes': ell. Don't want to go too high with topping the globe off. Have to have an air gap in there to allow for expansion. The master fluid is not distilled water. There are goo kits out there that do go with a lighter wax and distilled water with using a lower wattage bulb, due to the lighter wax. But lets not get going down that road prematurely. I had success with topping the fluid off with distilled water and the coloring with a couple drops of food coloring. Some have experimented with "sharpie markers" must be "sharpie" as the colors don't fade as quickly. If you use a little distilled water, this is where tweaking the lamp might come into play. Hopefully a little distilled water will not upset he specific gravity of the master fluid. If the wax after adding distilled water does not rise the use of epsom salt comes into play. This makes the water heavier so the wax lifts. If it does, you might need to add some epsom salt to it. I just use a small glass of distilled water and dissolve a teaspoon of epsom salt into it, then take this and slowly and with small amounts add to the master fluid until the wax rises. I also used a drop or two of surfactant or you can use Sodium Laurel Sulfate- SLS or some use a certain dish washing liquid. This has an effect on the wax the more you use the smaller the blobs get. Use less and you get the long stretchy blobs, which are my favorite in my humble opinion. Coloring the fluid is not really a big deal. The key is to keep the balance between the wax and master fluid. Sure the guys will chime in here shortly. Again, welcome to the forum, great bunch of gooers here. Keep us up to date with your revival :P …; Added by Mr MaGoo at 8:04am on November 18, 2017

Comment on: Topic 'Global Mystery ;) (Sorry I could not resist)': lly during the melting process. The colors I get most of the time when the lava is flowing normally in the middle and not touching the glass. When it reaches the top the top of the lava turns white and it returns to the bottom it turns spring green. If enough lava reaches the bottom and touches the glass the bottom turns neon yellow. It is absolutely amazing to see it in action. The color the light it appears to project in the room. I think I am out of testing and have started Cast Member previews. A few of my friends that have seen the lamp in action were blown away by the colors. "Oh, my gosh, those colors are SO YOU!" I am really lucky to have a Midnight Aristocrat. I glad I did not paint it. So am I cleared to seal the lamp yet? …; Added by MichaelN77 at 5:31pm on April 28, 2018

Topic: Lava Lamp Newb With ?s: e lava bug back in the early 90s and had a midnight series, black base, clear liquid and purple wax as my first lamp. Had a few here and there back then but had all but forgotten about them until I started watching re-runs of "That 70s Show", and now I absolutely have to have another one! Now, Im not the type to just go out and bu the first thing I see at target or walmart, I always research purchases like this, and it is looking like I may have been smart in doing this... Lava Lite seems to have gotten really bad since the 90s by looking at the posts here and in various reviews around the internet. I have found numerous posts here referring to production being moved back into the US here but the main source of this information was from last year. Has this move happened? Are the Lava Lite lamps sold at target and walmart back up to par with what they should be now? Are the forumlas perfect for good flow again? Second, I just found out about Mathmos the other day and got all excited. This excitment quickly left me when I found Mathmos's US site with no listing for the Astro that is oh-so-drool worthy... What is going on there? Are they going to produce the Astro for the US market here or what? I would much rather save my pennies for a perfect Mathmos then play the gambling game with a target bought lamp... Thanks in advance! This is a wonderful site and I look forward to this new interest becoming an obsession ;) Jamie…; Added by Jamie at 11:04am on May 13, 2013

Comment on: Topic 'Introducing the new Lava Library!': matching with the series... by all means, add away :Dポップタルト猫のサーアンドル said: We already have the color codes here. But the model code set is useful. There do seem to be some conflicting numbers though based off of some of the vintage photos we have. I will sort it out and get them implemented. Thanks.☆VixenGypsy☆ said: Here's my series & colors lists... I'm sure I'm missing some, so add to it as needed. Hope this helps. Lava Lamp Series #'s! Prefix # Series 1-- Century Gold 2-- Century Silver 10-- Fluorescent 11-- Gold Aristocrat 12-- Fluorescent 13-- Fluorescent 14-- Midnight Aristocrat 16-- Silver Aristocrat 17-- Accent 43-- Toady Ceramic 52-- Galactic Ceramic 53-- Sharks Ceramic 54--Black Starship 56-- Silver Starship 57-- Red Splotch Ceramic 58-- Purple Splotch Ceramic 66-- Wizard 70-- Blue Psychedelic Swirl 71-- Red Psychedelic Swirl 73-- Green Psychedelic Swirl 74-- Purple Psychedelic Swirl 75-- Zebra Safari 76-- Cheetah Safari 77-- Tortoise Safari 79-- Snakeskin Safari 80-- Princess 81-- Enchantress 84-- Midnight 86-- Silver Streak 9--- Electric* Red Base & Cap 91--* Yellow Base & Cap 92--* Green Base & Cap 93--* Blue Base & Cap 94--* Pink Base & Cap 95--* Orange Base & Cap 96--* Purple Base & Cap 97--* 99-- Lightning & Wave Machines GLB Giant Lamp Black GLS Giant Lamp Silver …; Added by ☆VixenGypsy☆ at 9:55am on July 12, 2011