D Newnham's Blog – June 2010 Archive (5)

Despite not having enough wax to start, then filling the lamp with so much liquid it nearly burst at the seams, I now have a beautifullly flowing custom lamp. Quite surprising as the minute it started to flow for the first time I knocked it off it's stand and sent millions of tiny bubbles of wax whooshing through the liquid. If anything though that seems to have helped the flow.



I now have a dilema though, i was going to post photo's of my work to date, but now the lamp is so close to… Continue

Despite a slightly heavy weekend I've had a go a making my own custom bottle lamp. I got an old knock off lamp from the market on saturday and emptied, heated, poured etc this evening. I think I'll have to see the results (I am anxiously waiting for it too warm up as I write) before deciding what I did right or wrong. However I have definately learnt how messy a process it is. Once the wax is out of the bottle it has a life of it's own. By the time you account for all the little bits stuck to… Continue

Just a quick post today. I'm very tired from helping a friend collect boxes and pallets to move house, picking up my own junk from storage at a friend's and squeezing in time to pick up two ebay purchases. Was nice though I got home unpacked the car (amazing how much will fit in a VW Polo) and discovered my other two ebay purchases had arrived. Plugged everything in to try it and sat down to check my email whilst it all warms up. Really lovely to find friendly responses to my blog,… Continue

Looking at my new/knackered Color Fountain, I made the assumtion that is was an oil/water mix and that the water must have become full of bacterial goo over time. I carefully drained the lamp, making a real mess as I did and then haphazardly filtered it through kitchen towel. I realised it was all oily substance and tried mixing a little WD40 with a sample of it to make up for lost liquid. Not a great success. I refilled the lamp and switched on. The bodged circuit board wasn't holding so that… Continue

Where it began...again

I've had many lava lamps over the years and like my Action Men, Star Wars Toys, watches etc I failed to realise what they were worth until they were long gone. Then a…

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