Critter's Posts - Oozing Goo - The Lava Lamp Syndicate2024-03-28T11:01:35ZCritterhttps://oozinggoo.ning.com/profile/Somhtamhttps://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3138710894?profile=RESIZE_48X48&width=48&height=48&crop=1%3A1https://oozinggoo.ning.com/profiles/blog/feed?user=0rppx552k4y0i&xn_auth=noMy Colossus Exploded and all I got was this lousy T-Shirt.tag:oozinggoo.ning.com,2015-01-31:1566398:BlogPost:5697852015-01-31T01:30:00.000ZCritterhttps://oozinggoo.ning.com/profile/Somhtam
<p>On December 6th at 3:35AM my Purple/Yellow Colossus exploded.....yes you read that right.</p>
<p></p>
<p>I had to get a bit of distance between then and now before I could post about this. The week that this happened had to be one of the worst weeks of my life. Here's the low down........</p>
<p></p>
<p><strong>Monday</strong>....go to work to find that a power outage at work and as a result I had to deal with (I.T.) problems that resulted, not the worst day but a good start to a bad week…</p>
<p>On December 6th at 3:35AM my Purple/Yellow Colossus exploded.....yes you read that right.</p>
<p></p>
<p>I had to get a bit of distance between then and now before I could post about this. The week that this happened had to be one of the worst weeks of my life. Here's the low down........</p>
<p></p>
<p><strong>Monday</strong>....go to work to find that a power outage at work and as a result I had to deal with (I.T.) problems that resulted, not the worst day but a good start to a bad week as it took a couple hectic hours to get fixed up.</p>
<p><strong>Tuesday</strong>....my little dog "Chia" whom I had had since she was six weeks old died....she had just turned sixteen the week before. This coming just five weeks after the death of my 20.5 year old Chihuahua named Romeo.</p>
<p><strong>Weds</strong>......more severe electrical issues at work which caused the failure of a battery backup device and the attached server.....total loss of the server hard discs. Email and file server down!</p>
<p><strong>Thursday</strong>.....server recovery mode all day.</p>
<p><strong>Friday.</strong>.....more server recovery mode, all day again, and finally the end of a stressful work week (server back up and data restored). </p>
<p><strong> Friday night</strong> I figured I needed some liquid wax motion to destress. Came home from work and turned on the Colossus which had not run since last Spring this would be the first run for the cold season. Oh, and FYI the lamp was in the master bedroom on my side of the bed. My wife and I went out to dinner and we had a late evening on the town. I came home at about 11pm the lamp was flowing and just beautiful. I went to bed with the lamp running and planned on running it all weekend.</p>
<p><strong>Saturday</strong> (3AM) wake up for a bathroom run. The lamp was flowing great, I sat there on the bed and watched it for about 15 minutes and dozed back off. 3:35AM <span class="font-size-4"><span class="font-size-3"><strong>"BOOM!!!!!!!"</strong></span><span class="font-size-2"> suddenly we are awakened by the loud sound of the Colossus globe exploding, a slight concussive effect was even part of the event. Oh, and I cannot forget to mention the sudden rush of 11 gallons of hot water and hot wax going EVERYWHERE!!!. The lamp contents went across the floor covering about a 175 square foot area and all over the side of the bed, and under the bed and beyond. Well, shit now we're up for the day!!!! </span></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4"><span class="font-size-2">The Clean Up:</span></span></p>
<p></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4"><span class="font-size-2">Step one make coffee, lots of coffee!!! Then to clean up this epic mess we had to basically move out of the room for two days. My house has stained and sealed concrete floors and I can promise you that the wax and surfy water covering the floor was slicker than cat shit on linoleum. I slipped and fell more than once during this event. If we had carpeting in the room the room would have needed to have new carpeting installed without a doubt as the wax left its yellow stain on everything it touched....and it was permanent....as you will see in a bit.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 10pt;">I was instantly devastated by the loss of the lamp and just frigging confused as to how this could be happening. The lamp had not run in at least seven months, it had the Lava Lite provided Phillips light bulb and had been fine for the last run the previous Spring. Never-the-less, I decided to try to make the best of it and since our home is carpeting free as I cleaned up the wax (scraped it up with a metal pizza peel) I sat it aside. It took us until about noon to get the wax and fluid up and have the floor be safe to walk on. We had to get out a heavy duty wax stripper (liquid wax remover) to help get up the Colossus wax and have the floor be clean. We had to reseal the concrete the next day and move furniture back in.</span></p>
<p></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Well, the wax stained the wall paint on the wall near the lamp's location, we had to repaint that area of wall but we have plenty of touch up paint so no big deal. </span></p>
<p></p>
<p><font size="2">Well, while we cleaned up the room I noticed that our home's alarm system started to act up too and was giving off this annoying beep that it does when it needs a new backup battery or when one of the sensors is out. I figured it was just par for the course as this week from Hell was still going </font>full<font size="2"> blast.</font></p>
<p></p>
<p><strong><font size="2">Saturday afternoon....</font></strong><font size="2">needed to go to town and wash wax infused towels because those towels were not going in our washer!!! We also needed to get a battery for the alarm system (or so I thought). We were starving too so we decided to grab a quick bite to eat while we were in town. I get the new battery, then we go to a local fast food joint and order a late lunch. The restaurant staff were really slow and it took close to twenty minutes to get a few tacos and a coke. Well just as they call my name and put my tray on the counter for me to pickup some old guy cuts in front of me, snatches the tray from my hands as I pick it up, and then he scurries off. I tell the girl at the counter that he grabbed my tray.....she says "no, I'm pretty sure that was his". Nope, he rummages through the food, bites into a taco and comes back up and angrily says "you got my order wrong". I look at this guy and say "no, you stole my tray and you should have to eat that as it should not go to waste". Well, the clerk takes the tray and they take off the partially eaten taco and try to give me back the other items that while uneaten were opened by him and his wife. I'm thinking "really? what the Hell else can happen this week?". Well they decide I'm right and the order should be completely re-made (another 10 minutes) I finally get the tray of tacos, etc and go back to the table with my wife. I sit down and just as I go to take a first bite my wife's phone rings and it's our neighbors calling.....the alarm system is going off and one of the other neighbors has called the cops. "Aw F***" is what rings through my head as I tell my wife I'm headed back home to deal with the situation. She stays at the restaurant and has her lunch. I get home as the sheriff gets there and they check out the house....I've already told them that it's a malfunction but they just gotta look around. Well, they were decent guys and they understood when I explained to them what was gong on. We chat a bit and as they leave and back out of my driveway they back over my mail box knocking it to the ground and damaging the back of their vehicle. HOLY CRAP! Really???!!!!! I go back to get my wife and maybe eat my lunch...nope cold, soggy tacos I gave up and just trashed them and went back home.</font></p>
<p><font size="2">The new battery did not fix the alarm problem and I was a bit stumped, then I checked our phone lines and they showed to be busy without a phone being off of the receiver base. I looked about for the problem and discovered that when the Colossus blew a tiny bit of wax had gotten into a phone jack that is behind my night stand, it completed the circuit making the line appear busy and the alarm system was going bonkers because it had been hours without a dial tone. The Leviton brand phone jack was fried and I had to replace it....no biggie just a few bucks.</font></p>
<p></p>
<p><strong><font size="2">Sunday </font></strong><font size="2">spend the afternoon building a new mailbox stand, digging a new hole and getting that fixed so we can have mail delivery for the coming week. Oh, and I pray hard that on Monday it's a new week and that Hell Week was over.</font></p>
<p></p>
<p><font size="2">Well I called Lava Lite that following Monday just to tell them about my experience and see if they could shed light on what could have happened....no light was shed. I also sent them a bunch of pics thinking that maybe it would help down the road if they decide to do a Colossus again. Oh, and I wanted to see if they would help me replace the globe. Now I don't feel now (or then) that I was due a warranty replacement because this lamp was well past its 90 day warranty. But I had been at Lava headquarters earlier in the year and saw a couple empty globes there and a returned globe or two as well. I wanted to <strong>buy</strong> an empty globe so I could get the lamp going again. Sadly that did not work out and I could not get an empty globe. Lava L. did offer me to file an insurance claim for damages....but not to replace the damaged lamp just anything that the lamp might have damaged. Well there was some minor repainting to do, a few bucks for a new phone jack and the bedspread had been ruined by wax staining it. However, it was not an expensive ($70ish) bedspread and we had used it for a year or two and frankly I'm just not that petty. There was one other casualty as I had dropped a white T-Shirt on the floor next to the bed when I went to sleep and it too got covered in yellow wax.</font></p>
<p></p>
<p><font size="2">In the end I had a really CRAP Week at work, lost a beloved little dog and my favorite Colossus. The gain....a newly yellow (tie dyed looking) T- Shirt and salvaged Colossus wax and Colossus coils. Yep that's right all that wax I scraped up, I melted it and strained it three times through progressively smaller sieves and used it to refill my Princess....seen here:</font></p>
<p><a href="http://oozinggoo.ning.com/forum/topics/crestworth-rocket-aka-princess-update"><font size="2">http://oozinggoo.ning.com/forum/topics/crestworth-rocket-aka-princess-update</font></a></p>
<p><font size="2">I told you guys that the Princess got "Chinese Wax" and that the source of the wax was a "Shocker".....well is it?</font></p>
<p></p>
<p><font size="2">I guess when life serves you Lemon colored wax you try to make Lemonade Wax out of it and refill another lamp. LOL</font></p>
<p></p>
<p><font size="2">I didn't know if that wax would work after it had been on the floor and filled with lint, bunnies, etc but I just had to try. I managed to get three good quarts of Colossus yellow wax out of this catastrophe. Two quarts are in use in the Princess and the third is on reserve for another day. Oh, and the T-Shirt, you can bet your ass that I am wearing that....probably the world's first fully Colossus Wax dyed shirt!</font></p>
<p></p>
<p><font size="2">Here are a bunch of pictures of the whole fiasco, etc:</font></p>
<p></p>
<p><font size="2">Lamp Before:</font></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3099972054?profile=original" target="_self"><font size="2"><img width="400" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3099972054?profile=RESIZE_480x480" class="align-center"/></font></a></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p>The aftermath:</p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3149138269?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="400" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3149138269?profile=RESIZE_480x480" class="align-center"/></a></p>
<p><font size="2"> </font></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3149138285?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="400" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3149138285?profile=RESIZE_480x480" class="align-full"/></a></p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3149139957?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="400" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3149139957?profile=RESIZE_480x480" class="align-full"/></a></p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3149140434?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="400" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3149140434?profile=RESIZE_480x480" class="align-center"/></a></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3149140533?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="400" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3149140533?profile=RESIZE_480x480" class="align-center"/></a></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p>The mailbox down:</p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3149142310?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="400" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3149142310?profile=RESIZE_480x480" class="align-center"/></a></p>
<p></p>
<p>What Came out of it</p>
<p></p>
<p>StrainingWax....<a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3149142682?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="400" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3149142682?profile=RESIZE_480x480" class="align-center"/></a></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3149143234?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="400" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3149143234?profile=RESIZE_480x480" class="align-center"/></a></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p>Cleaned up wax! <a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3149144607?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="400" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3149144607?profile=RESIZE_480x480" class="align-center"/></a></p>
<p></p>
<p>In the end</p>
<p></p>
<p>A Yellow Shirt!</p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3149145250?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="400" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3149145250?profile=RESIZE_480x480" class="align-full"/></a></p>
<p></p>
<p>A happy Crestworth Rocket / Princess with wax donated from the Late P/Y Colossus:</p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3036789986?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="400" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3036789986?profile=RESIZE_480x480" class="align-center"/></a></p>
<p></p>
<p>My Precious Chia:</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3149146645?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="400" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3149146645?profile=RESIZE_480x480" class="align-left"/></a></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p>I now am trying to close the dark chapter that was 2014. I really did have a kind of bad year last year and am looking forward to a better 2015. I hope to pick up another yellow Colossus (Humongo) some time this spring/summer. With 2015 being Lava's 50th Anniversary maybe there will be some cool new lamp or two to help make this a great year!</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p>Critter</p>Another Restoration leading to a first meeting.....50 years in the makingtag:oozinggoo.ning.com,2014-06-17:1566398:BlogPost:5336702014-06-17T03:30:00.000ZCritterhttps://oozinggoo.ning.com/profile/Somhtam
<p>I've had a remarkable year where Lava Lamps are concerned. I had been looking for an Imperial for a good while and thinking I might never find one. Sure, I knew where there are five or so, but they are in the hands of people who love them. I was quite shocked to get the chance to buy Jim's Imperial this past March. The funny thing is that I almost passed on it when he made me the offer. I'm sure many would wonder why I even gave that notion a thought. Well, last Fall I stumbled on to…</p>
<p>I've had a remarkable year where Lava Lamps are concerned. I had been looking for an Imperial for a good while and thinking I might never find one. Sure, I knew where there are five or so, but they are in the hands of people who love them. I was quite shocked to get the chance to buy Jim's Imperial this past March. The funny thing is that I almost passed on it when he made me the offer. I'm sure many would wonder why I even gave that notion a thought. Well, last Fall I stumbled on to an even more epic opportunity and could not pass it up and that was the opportunity to buy a Crestworth Princess (Rocket actually but more on that at another time). </p>
<p>I initially began assisting the former owner with the restoration of the lamp, we were talking via email. About six weeks into the discussion about restoration the former owner decided that it was going to be too expensive and difficult for her to do. Suddenly I was asked if I would consider buying the lamp. Of course I said "yes", we found a comfortable price for each of us, I arranged professional pick up, packing and shipping and three days later a Princess that was in need of much love and TLC was in my hands, it had crossed an ocean and half of a continent and survived.</p>
<p>I was really excited to help restore this lamp, and even more excited when I got the opportunity to do it myself. In researching this lamp and the history of the Crestworth Rocket (the Princess' true name) I had realized that this lamp was probably one of the six that was featured on the Dr. Who show in the mid-late sixties. Being a Dr. Who fan and Sci-Fi nut in general I knew that no expense would be spared bringing this lamp back to its glory. Even if I am mistaken and this is not one of the Dr. Who six.....that's of no matter as these lamps are VERY important pieces of Mid-Century Pop Culture and must be preserved. I had to do this.....if not me maybe no one would. Besides, about a month before this lamp was discovered I began working with Johnny (a Princess owning OG member) and he was helping me document the Princess/Rocket lamp. Johnny is a GREAT guy and tirelessly answered A LOT of emails and provided me with detailed dimensions. I had no idea at the time that Johnny's info would be put to use by me, so soon. This was truly meant to be and I was meant to save this lamp.</p>
<p>I received the lamp and as I knew based on photos it was in fair/good shape. The plan was to have it look brand new when finished, so no expense was spared as this had to be right. The globe was cleaned thoroughly and the exterior of the glass was polished, by me, to remove any fine scratches. The hand spun copper metal bits were packed up and shipped to the East Coast and put in the hands of a metal restoration specialist who removed any dings, waves, scratches (by hand done metal work) and then the copper was polished and sealed. The metal now?...it's as close to perfect as it can get. The lamp was placed in a newly done up stand and the UK electrics were removed and updated with vintage style U.S. electrics. The lamp arrived with UK electrics but it was apparent that they were not original and had been replaced, so I had no problem removing (and storing) the electrics that came with it. The new electrics feature a vintage style black ceramic medium base socket, 18 gauge cloth wound electrical cord with vintage two prong bakelite plug. I even found a round, foot activated, floor switch (like the original) and put it inline too.</p>
<p>I opted not to use Mathmos Monster fluids when refilling the lamp. Mathmos is too proud of those fluids and with shipping I would spend around $800 for fluids that last only about 2000 hours. I opted to go with M.T. Goo because I plan to run this lamp and run it a lot. I Goo Kitted this cylinder four times before I got it to run without any sticking. My first attempt was Clear with White Goo, it ran great on its first run...I ran it for three days and then I shut it off. The second run it stuck really badly. I removed the Goo and tried again, and this time for luck I changed the color and went with a Pink/Green combo, it was awesome!! It too ran great the first time and then proceeded to stick on its second run. One more attempt...this time Purple/Pink....same thing, it stuck on the second run. I finally decided that this had to be a bad batch of Goo. It took about a month to get replacement Goo from M.T. and this time I went back to Clear/White. This batch of Goo worked flawlessly first run, second run, third run, etc. As I write this tonight the lamp runs, it's been running for four consecutive days. It is crystal clear and just runs and runs, no over heating, no coil separation, etc. I'm so pleased.</p>
<p>So finally tonight I want to let you all see the restored lamp and also to see pics of the World's first meeting of the Crestworth Princess and the Lava Lite Imperial.....it's a meeting that has taken nearly 50 years to happen. The pictures below show the lamp in its various color morphs as I Goo'd and Re-Goo'd.</p>
<p></p>
<p>This pic the newly finished lamp about to run for the first time since restoration:</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3099956765?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="550" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3099956765?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="550" class="align-center"/></a></p>
<p></p>
<p>Metal Bits:</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3149138625?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="550" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3149138625?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="550" class="align-full"/></a></p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3149140062?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="550" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3149140062?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="550" class="align-full"/></a></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p>Plug:</p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3149140847?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="550" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3149140847?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="550" class="align-center"/></a></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p>Stand:</p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3149141252?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="550" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3149141252?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="550" class="align-center"/></a></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p>The Lamp in it's various color morphs from first attempt to current state:</p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3099954980?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="550" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3099954980?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="550" class="align-center"/></a></p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3149143552?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="550" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3149143552?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="550" class="align-center"/></a></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3149143622?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="550" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3149143622?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="550" class="align-center"/></a></p>
<p></p>
<p>Present State (crystal clear):</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3099954828?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="550" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3099954828?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="550" class="align-center"/></a></p>
<p></p>
<p>At Last....Romance? A Princess meets her Imperial Leader.</p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3099954940?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="550" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3099954940?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="550" class="align-full"/></a></p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3099954733?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="550" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3099954733?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="550" class="align-center"/></a></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p>Earlier Meet (previous goo attempt):</p>
<p></p>
<p>The two here seen with a Green Heritage Grande'</p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3099957169?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="550" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3099957169?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="550" class="align-left"/></a></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p>\</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3149145198?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="550" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3149145198?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="550" class="align-center"/></a></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3099954889?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="550" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3149147606?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="550" class="align-left"/></a></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>