I need general beginner's info

I'm new to lava collecting - so before I start opening and tinkering with my lamps, I'm trying to gather as much knowledge as I can from all you veteran Gooheads! Here are my novice questions for today: First - how do you know the difference between a China Lamp globe and one of the older ones for sure? There is info on the bottlecaps (in various stages of smeared or incomplete ink) but I don't know how to break the code. I can surmise which ones are newer or older, but I can't always tell for sure. Second - how does one open up the other kind of bottle; the kind with the new style of top as opposed to the old fashioned bottle cap? And Finally, (sorry I don't have a photo yet) I have a 52 oz globe in which the lava has separated into two different components. Part of it floats permanently on the top of the liquid, the other part never leaves the bottom. When cold, both parts are solid and opaque. When heated, the part that floats becomes a clear liquid, sort of. And it stilll floats on top of the regular liquid! Has anyone else had this happen? What have you done about it? Anyway - I've gotten loads of good info already on this website, and hope some of you have my answers.

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Keith on June 15, 2010 at 12:49pm

Hi Trish, a couple of quick answers: this discussion might help with determining whether a globe is USA or china
http://oozinggoo.ning.com/forum/topics/how-tell-the-chinese-lamps?i...

As for the separated wax, read my blog. This particular globe has a screw-cap, so it was easy to work with. Others have had success with different methods than mine, so it is not the only way to do it. If you have any questions on my method, please feel free to ask
http://oozinggoo.ning.com/profiles/blogs/lamp-repair-2-separated-wax

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Trish Baumann on June 15, 2010 at 2:50pm

Thanks, Keith - This info helped! I had seen your tutorial on fixing lamps earlier, and wondered if this would help my broken globe. As for the date thing, I cant tell the exact year on all of them, cause of smeared or missing ink, but I guess if they have the old logo, I can interchage fluids from one to the other in repair jobs? Have you noticed that the color of the lava and the liquid make a difference in how well the lamp works? All of my blue with white lava lamps work beautifully, but the pink & purple with the dark pink lava are too slow, as is my one with black lava. I have two others with yellow lava, and the yellow sticks to the globe. Is this just MY lamps, or does it have to do with the other colors of lava being newer formulas made in china or whatever?