Mid-60's Yellow/Orange Century Restoration pt. 2

I finally got the color right, and the flow about perfect, and the wax is now staying on the coil! Yay!!!!!

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Comment by Marley's Ghost on May 3, 2013 at 1:32pm: They are great photos. Hopefully one of these days I will be able to get a freakin photo to post here. No luck so far. @Loren, if lamps learn from each other, I'm putting all mine next to the Telstars. LOL

Comment by Brad on May 3, 2013 at 12:26pm: very nice job, loren, great photos of the progression, too.

Comment by Loren on May 3, 2013 at 12:02pm: Weird! I've had lamps that would not spike at all no matter what...but you put it next to another good spiking lamp, and suddenly it's a spiking fool. LOL! Which means, of course, that lamps teach each other things. Yup.

Comment by Marley's Ghost on May 2, 2013 at 10:44pm: Well, this sounds odd, but of my three Telstars, only one of them did not spike at all when turned on, but after heating up, flowed great. The other two spike beautifully before starting to flow. Today, after all the talk of running our lamps too long, I turned it off for about 3 hours and then turned it back on. It was the only one I did turn back on. I have never seen such lovely spikes in any lamp I have. One big one right up the middle, then branches all over going to the sides and all over. I was shocked. I have no idea what caused that, but it was the first time I have turned it off and on twice in one day. I hope you can get yours going too.

Comment by Loren on May 2, 2013 at 10:06pm: Thanks! I really tried my best to restore it to the way it was, but since I never saw it before, or another like it in person, it's kinda hard. I love the flow of this lamp, it's staying on the coil completely, and most of the bubbles have worked their way out, but my only complaint now is that it just doesn't spike right any more...one big spike, and maybe a secondary one before flow. :( BORING! It actually spiked better before i restored it, even though there was no flow, and the liquid was almost totally opaque. I wish I knew how to make this lamp spike beautifully again! It flows so well...it's just a shame.

Comment by Marley's Ghost on May 2, 2013 at 9:00pm: I love that lamp and the colors, Loren!! You did great!!

Comment by Erin on May 2, 2013 at 8:29pm: Sweet! Thanks for the tips! I've got bubbles and SLES (or is it SLS) and salt, so I'll give it a try. Thanks Loren! I wan to restore this one... The wax has tons of white stuff in it though... it's so gross.

Comment by Loren on May 2, 2013 at 8:23pm: Oh, also...I tried to heat the coil and totally ruined it. :( Those old coils are sooooo delicate, it just curled into a ball. However, I replaced it, and now this lamp is running better than ever. :) This is now one of my favorite lamps that I own!

Comment by Loren on May 2, 2013 at 8:21pm: What I did was add about a tablespoon of rock salt (the kind you put in old fashioned ice cream churns) to about a cup of water, and heated it in 30-second intervals in the microwave, stirring after each interval, until the salt was melted. oh, it's this stuff:

I added plain distilled water until the globe was a little over half full and ran the lamp. Once the wax was melted I added a TINY bit of the salt water at a time until I got flow. I also added just a tiny drop of clear dish soap. Try to find the really pure kind...I think ivory?

Comment by Erin on May 2, 2013 at 8:02pm: Loren, I am trying to restore the exact same lamp. Can you tell me what you mean by "rock salt" and how much you used? Did you dissolve the salt in water before you added it to the lamp?