Fast glitter & Living Jewel questions

[Astralav]

Hi,

I was never fond of glitter lamps, until I bought my CrestworthTelstar Living Jewel:

I love this lamp! ( this is my fave right now).

And I want to know more about this kind of lamps.

I believe they contains toxic liquids (Perchlo or Trichloethylene) and not manufactured anymore for this reason.

And I was told the way to recognise them is to check if all the flakes stay at the top when the lamp is cold.

I saw this lamp for sale:

Definitively a modern china lamp, but as you can see, the flakes stay on top.

So, do the chineses continue to use forbidden toxic liquids, or is it something else?

Another lamp I saw on ebay:

This Jet has the same flakes like the ones in fast glitter lamps, but I asked the seller if they stay on top when cold, and he told me not: they go down when cold.

So is it a fast glitter lamp, or a slow one with big flakes?

Any infos on glitter lamps (fast, slow, glitterlite, living jewel) is welcome.

I know there is a lot of knowledge on this board, so it is time to show off :-)

Thanks

[Simon Lloyd]

Hi Astralav,

The older Crestworth Living Jewel glitter bottles have fast moving silver flakes that float to the top (when cold).

Crestworth glitterlite bottles (coloured liquids, with much smaller glitter flakes - often 2 sizes) are slow moving.

The mathmos glitter bottles the flakes sink to the bottom & tend to be slow moving.

[Jonas Clark-Elliott]

Yeah, the Jet is a slow glitter. That was the "Glitter." The early Crestworth "Glitterlite" models came in 'fast' (solvent) and 'slow' (oil) liquids. Oil, whatever it is (unknown) is in the 'slow' Glitterlites, and also in the US-made MasterCrafters and Florence Art Co. lamps; the later Glitter used a diluted version. The earliest Lava Corp. glitter, also called the Glitterlite, used oil as well.

Most glitter solutions have flakes that rise; only in slow/oil glitters do they usually sink. Modern imports aren't solvent - I don't know what they DO have, and I sure wouldn't drink it, but it isn't solvent. Solvent of some or other sort is found in Living Jewels, Crestworth 'fast' Glitterlites, Hunter Sata-Litterlites, Lava-Simplex GemLites, Wizards and Firefly lamps, Fantasia Products Glitter Lamps, Cosmic Windows and Glitter Graphics, and assorted glitter lamps made in Italy, Germany, the USSR, Denmark, China and Taiwan in the early 80s (like the YAPS, Phantom Color Lite and TLC Hollywood) and almost (but not all) French glitters (a few used oil).

[Astralav]

I think slow glitter lamps are made with glycerin.

I never heard about fast glitterlite. I saw an add of Crestworth mentioning: " available in slow of fast glitter" but I think they were speaking of glitterlite (slow) and living jewel (fast), but maybe I'm wrong.

[Astralav]

Anyone knows if there is another liquid than Perchlorethylene or trichlorethylene in the fast glitter lamps?

Is it possible to mix both liquids or is it dangereous?

[Jonas Clark-Elliott]

The early Crestworth "Glitterlite" first came in slow only, then later in slow or fast. These began with slow only in the early Cosmos export model (cylinder with round pedestal base & stem), moved into the Nordic (cylinder on cone) and wall sconce models, then into the Telstar (flared base, flat cap) wherein you had "slow" or "fast" liquid. It was after that that the "fast" Living Jewel" came about.

There were many chlorinated solvents used in these. The Living Jewel used a "safer" (not really) fill called trichlorotrifluoroethane. The Lava brand GemLites used some sort of mix which included freon. I don't honestly know whether or not mixing is dangerous.

[The Blob]

I have some 70's glitter lamps all have the fast moving solvent based contents, but depending on the lamp, the flakes will stay at the bottom when cold as with my Fantasia glitter, or on my Gemlite, the flakes float on top when cold.

[Astralav]

trichlorotrifluoroethane is Freon.

So this is what it is in Living Jewel?

Jonas Clark-Elliott said:

The Living Jewel used a "safer" (not really) fill called trichlorotrifluoroethane. The Lava brand GemLites used some sort of mix which included freon. I don't honestly know whether or not mixing is dangerous.

[Astralav]

Very interesting.

But so it's going more complicated to know all the chemicals involved in "fast glitter"...

The Blob said:

I have some 70's glitter lamps all have the fast moving solvent based contents, but depending on the lamp, the flakes will stay at the bottom when cold as with my Fantasia glitter, or on my Gemlite, the flakes float on top when cold.

[Astralav]

On this picture we can see what is in a Fantasia Glitter:

So, in perchlorethylene, flakes stay at bottom.

that's interesting.

[Erin]

I have a handful of US Lava Lite glitters and most of them have glitter at the top, but one has glitter at the bottom when cold. They are all considered "fast" glitter. 

[Simon Lloyd]

I am now in the same position - i have received a living jewel - but it is low on liquid ( & it is wearing a tall cap!)

[Jonas Clark-Elliott]

Apparently, Living Jewels contain freon, then! Thanks for that, Astralav! The old Living Jewel ad says that they contain "trichlorotrifluoroethane, a liquid many times 'safer' than that found in home stain removing kits." Perchloroethylene, sometimes known as Perc, is or was used in the USA for dry-cleaning.

I know some people have had good luck topping off French lamps using the bottles from the Fantasia "Glitter Lamp" shown above.