Color changing lava lamp

[Jeremy Blakesley]

Hi all,

I just joined the forum.  Wanted to let people know that I am working on a color changing lava lamp.  Mine will be called the Fire Light.  I'm hoping to get it on kickstarter soon.  I have a working prototype running now.  I'm also building custom, heavy duty steel bases for them.  I'm in the process of finding parts suppliers and getting costs for the parts.  Just wanted to see if there was any interest in this.  I am working now on getting 3 or 4 different prototype designs of bases built so that I can put together a video for kickstarter.  I'll get some pictures posted soon.  I am having a problem with my phone camera not capturing the colors very well.  I'm not sure how I'll deal with that when I try to make a video.

 

jb

[Carol]

Try natural lighting and no flash......

Another trick is to turn the lamp off when it is in full flow, and super quick snap a shot.  Try both and see which one comes out better.  Without a super nice camera where you can change settings, some colors are difficult to capture.  I think a lot would be interested.....can't wait to see some pics and vids of the finished product!!!!

[Jeremy Blakesley]

Hey Carol,

Thanks for the info.  I can try bringing it outside for natural light, but I can't turn the light off, because you won't see the color.  I'll try a few things.  I'm hoping to get those remaining bases put together this weekend, and I'll get pics of those.

 

jb

[Carol]

You can even do natural lighting in the house.  I just meant take the pic during the day without the flash on your camera.  I find that catches a lot more of the true color.  Of course you have to be in a well lit room during a sunny day.  You can even try on a cloudy day inside to see if that will work.  You really have to play around with this stuff.  Are you using your own goo formula?

[Jeremy Blakesley]

I'm using the goo kit from Magma Tower. 

[Keith]

There is indeed interest in a color changing lava lamp.  Definitely want to see your prototypes!

[Jeremy Blakesley]

Give me until this weekend to get some of my home made bases put together and get some pictures posted.  It's all being done in my garage, so prototypes aren't going to be super pretty.  I'm working on better ways to build them.  More details to come.  Here is a picture of drawings I was doing on inkscape of base/leg designs.  The body is a piece of 3 inch ID schedule 40 steel pipe, and the legs will be 1/4" steel cut out with my cnc plasma cutter.  There will be three legs.  And I'm not much of an artist, either. 

[Jeremy Blakesley]

I saw that.  From what I could see, they only changed through two colors.  And it looks like they don't sell them any more.  Mine will do the whole spectrum, with several color changing speeds to choose from, and you'll be able to set it to any static color. 

[VOXul]

This will get interesting. Excited to see progress and updates!

[Critter]

Sounds like a fun project but you better alter the bottle shape a bit. Your drawings are cool but it is too close in shape to the Lava Lite brand bottle and Lava Lite has that shape trademarked for the USA and other areas. Even though Lava Lite is not the original creator and designer of this shape they hold a trademark and I promise you they won't be happy to see a lamp so similar to theirs.

Good luck!

[Jeremy Blakesley]

Yes.  I am working on getting my own bottles made.  That's looking like the most expensive, time consuming part.  I'm new to this whole business thing.  There are a million details to work out.  I did submit my provisional application for patent on my design, and I registered my business name a couple weeks ago.  Preludio Metal Works.  I want to do electronics/metal art.

[Keith]

One very important consideration on the bottles.  They should be as free of occlusions (air bubbles in the glass) as possible.  I repurposed a bottle to make a lava lamp and it is full of occlusions.  It takes away from the simple beauty of the lava.

By the way, I really like the leg designs, especially the one with the round holes.

Jeremy Blakesley said:

Yes.  I am working on getting my own bottles made.  That's looking like the most expensive, time consuming part.  I'm new to this whole business thing.  There are a million details to work out.  I did submit my provisional application for patent on my design, and I registered my business name a couple weeks ago.  Preludio Metal Works.  I want to do electronics/metal art.

[Marley's Ghost]

Ditto what Keith said about occlusions in the bottles, which everyone dislikes.  The legs are nice, both types.  That scroll/deco one is very unusual.  Best of luck to you.