My first attempt (Lava lamp with beeswax) opaque

Comment

Comment by tim on February 5, 2022 at 5:34pm

looks nice. i have always had good luck with beeswax, the only problem is the cost!

Comment by Tevfik Dogruman on February 5, 2022 at 4:15am

The melting temperature of beeswax is 62-65 °C. The melting temperature of the paraffin or vaseline I use is 48-52 °C. For this reason, the beeswax remains dispersed in them before it melts completely. This also provides opacity.

Comment by Jsmooth on February 4, 2022 at 10:51am

I’m going to try this. I have used the plans you have for the blue DIY lava lamp and have had success, but I am looking to get complete opacity. At first spikes form and everything is opaque but when things really get flowing, the goo becomes translucent. Luckily, I just harvested some beeswax from my hive (and honey of course) and would like to try it in a batch. I’m guessing you used beeswax in place of solid paraffin and then the regular ratios of liquid paraffin and kerosene and perc? 

Comment by Tevfik Dogruman on February 4, 2022 at 10:29am

The opacity is due to the emulsion formed by beeswax, paraffin and SLES.

Comment by Jsmooth on February 3, 2022 at 9:30pm

The opacity is great! Did you have to use SLES to get it to be opaque or is it already opaque naturally?