Glitter Question

[Pretzel Gal]

Has anyone here ever made their own glitter lamps? Is it hard to do? How do you do it? I'm thinking about making a glitter globe for my Aristocrat.

[Jonas Clark-Elliott]

So far, I have seen zero satisfactory homemade glitter lamps, which is strange because there are plenty of homebrew lava lamps, and you'd think the much simpler convection effect of a glitter lamp would be easier.

The best formula I can suggest trying uses glycerin diluted with water as the liquid, and the thinnest aluminum shreds (far, far thinner than kitchen foil) as glitter. This type is what's called a "slow glitter" (moves slowly). Slow glitters were made by Crestworth (Slow Glitterlite) and Mathmos (Glitter/Glitterbaby), Lava Corp. (Glitterlite), MasterCrafters Clock & Radio Co. (Magic Lite, Action Starlight) and Florence Art Co. (Astro Lite).

The "toxic" liquids referred to are freon and chlorinated solvents such as perchloroethylene ("perc" or "perk"), trichloroethylene, and trichlorotrifluoroethane, which are also used for dry cleaning and give off nasty odors which, if breathed for extended periods in a closed room, could be fatal. These are known as "fast glitters" (glitter moves quickly) or "solvent glitters". Lamps using solvent fill include the Lava-Simplex GemLites and Lava World 'Wizard' glitters, Crestworth (Fast Glitterlite) and Mathmos (Living Jewel), Fantasia Products Glitter Lamps and Glitter Graphics, 80s Chinese and Taiwanese imports, and vintage French, Italian and Russian lamps.

Solvent glitter bottles CAN be used as refills if you take the proper precautions and use low wattage bulbs, but I usually advocate using solvent glitter lamps as they are - both because the vapors stink so badly, and because they're usually too interesting to want to empty. Hot Rock brand glitter lamps and some of the Groove Tube lamps can sometimes be found in thrift stores, have big silver glitter flakes in clear or colored liquid, have fast action, and make good refill supplies with fairly safe liquid (though it has no odor, I don't know if it's truly non-toxic; I'd wash my hands after refilling anyway).

Best thing to do for a glitter, if you already have an empty 52oz. globe, is to buy a brand new 52oz. Lava brand glitter and use that to refill. If you DON'T have an empty 52oz. globe waiting, buy the same lamp and just use its globe on your base; sand the metal cap lightly and spray with metallic gold paint. Even if new Lava brand lava lamps are of poor quality, the glitter lamps work very well.

[Christian Fletcher]

The best thing to use for glitter is the mylar type metallic gift wrap.

  This is sometimes marketed as metallic tissue. It is a metallic thin plastic sheet that comes in many guages and coloures including silver and holographic patterns.

 Simply cut it into small pieces or use a hole punch to create circular flakes. There are as many densities of  this product as there are brands, so a bit of tinkering is needed to find a suitabe liquid to make the lamp work properly.

 If your mylar glitter floats in water then try using mineral oil or other types of oil. If your mylar sinks in your oil try adding a little perc to the oil to make the oil more dense and quicker to convect. Try to get the density so as the gitter stays suspended in the liquid when cold. Remember that when the liquid is heated it will expand and become less dense and therefore less likely to suspend your glitter. There is nothing more anoying than geting your glitter lamp to work beautifuly only to find that after an hour it all gets stuck in the bottom of your bottle.

 If your plastic glitter flakes sink in water then try mixtures of water with glycerin, glycol and or saline. while adding salt will make your glitter more likely to float and cycle, adding glycol will have the same effect but will make the convection currents wider by thickening the liquid a little. Crestworth used to use propylene glycol in their slow glitter lamps. A good source of propylene glycol ready mixed with glycerin is found in smoke machine fluid. Try Jem/Martin fog fluid. This stuff is also good for refilling Lava lamps when mixed with the right amount of distilled water. Hope this post helps

[Astralav]

Do you know if it is pure propylene glycol, or mixed with water and other stuff?

Because I've got a Crestworth Cosmos missing one milimiter liquid, so do you think I can add propylene glycol in it without ruining it? (Actually I can only see  the liquid missing if I'm level with the lamp, so it is not really an issue, but if I can fix it, why not :-) )

Thanks

Christian Fletcher said:

 

  Crestworth used to use propylene glycol in their slow glitter lamps.

[Christian Fletcher]

sorry for the very late reply. If it is slow glitter in your bottle then top up with propylene glycol or a very small amount of water if the gap is very small

Astralav said:

Do you know if it is pure propylene glycol, or mixed with water and other stuff?

Because I've got a Crestworth Cosmos missing one milimiter liquid, so do you think I can add propylene glycol in it without ruining it? (Actually I can only see  the liquid missing if I'm level with the lamp, so it is not really an issue, but if I can fix it, why not :-) )

Thanks

Christian Fletcher said:

 

  Crestworth used to use propylene glycol in their slow glitter lamps.

[Astralav]

Thank you, but I already took the risk and done it with propylene glycol :-)

No problem for glitterlite and glitterbaby, it works perfectly.

[Astralav]

Today I cut few bits from a survival blanket (you know the one with one face gold, other face silver) and throw them in some liquid I had left from a Mathmos Glitter bottle.

It worked!

This blanket is made from polyester (13 microns thick).

So I need to find a way to cut regular size flakes from it and I'll do a full test.