Crestworth princess/rocket, recent purchase.

[Steve Sag]

I recently bought this princess, all original. The bottle flows great but the liquid is cloudy. Unsure what to do with it yet, think the best bet is to ditch the contents and refill with mathmos stuff. Slightly nervous about breaking the glass and the actual contents inside. 

[MonsoonStorm]

I'd say it would be worth contacting mathmos directly.  I'm sure they'll take an interest given the rarity of these.

[andy ross]

Nice one Steve - wow - great condition too

I would certainly hang on before ditching the fill, let it settle and try running it up slowly

It looks like liquid lava, there are almost none of these left working

Two or three guys on here have refurb'ed theirs and can advise, my original fill is glitter

[Steve Sag]

I get the feeling if it isnt a bottle that can be bought off their site they aren't interested. They even gave me a warning on their facebook page after I mentioned opening bottles to refill discontinued ones. I'm certain the contents are nasty stuff, the liquid base part at least, maybe someone else on here had opened and disposed safely of the original stuff.

MonsoonStorm said:

I'd say it would be worth contacting mathmos directly.  I'm sure they'll take an interest given the rarity of these.

[Steve Sag]

[Critter]

You can get with Mathmos and purchase their Monster wax and fluid for a refill.  It is expensive but they will work with you to purchase it.  Johnny (another member of the forum) did a monster wax refill on his lamp a few years ago.  He may be a good resource to discuss the pros and cons of such.  You can also use Astro bottle contents to refill with it takes like 16 bottles.  You can also use glitter or Lava Lite brand waxes too.  Did you purchase this lamp from another forum member?

[The Lamp Caretaker]

Lamps worth more as is than if you swap contents.  Lamp looks fine to me.  Older lamps had not yet perfected clear liquid so a and lot of the wax color leached into the liquid making it darker but that's the charm of the vintage lamps.  However - it's your lamp to do as you please so if clearer fluid is what you want I would buy a couple of Grande lamps and replace the fluid and liquid.  Much cheaper and it works beautifully.  You can even use the same coil from the Grandes and need only one.  

[Critter]

Steve Sag said:

The fill looks pretty much spent, but I've seen worse.  Don't worry about ruining any value with a replacement of the fluids, there was no "set original configuration".  These lamps were never sold to the public as they were promotional items intended to help sell Astro Lamps.  A person couldn't go into a store and say "I'll have the Crestworth Rocket in the Yellow/Orange"...they weren't for sale.  These moved from store to store as a display item to pique the interest of passersby, etc in hopes of an Astro sale.   This was the early years of the Crestworth company and Edward Craven was keen to sell Astros and build the business. These were filled and unfilled many times over as they had to be emptied of fluids and refilled for each move to a new display location.  The fill you have in the lamp is highly unlikely to be of mid-sixties origin.  If you are concerned about such you can always siphon off the fluids here into some new buckets and seal it up and store it.  The Mathmos Monster Wax formula works and flow the same way as the liquid wax fill that the lamp probably has.  The biggest downside to this fill is its cost and longevity (it's fairly short lived) it is also easy to disturb and the lamp cannot be easily moved about while filled with this type of formula.  I would suspect that every remaining Crestworth Rocket has been filled  and/or refilled dozens of times over its life and each has probably been filled with Crestworth Glitter formula too at some point.  These lamps got around!!!   Their value comes from their rarity and their hand crafted elegance and of course their place in the history of a pop culture icon....the Lava Lamp.

I suppose that ideally the Mathmos Monster formula will be the most "accurate" to the experience of these lamps back in the mid-sixties, but I tell you what...if you see one filled with Astro bottle contents you will be floored as to how it flows...it's spectacular!

If you want to see how it would look with current Mathmos Monster fill (the liquid wax formula) see this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uzdq9pWLYvc

That video is of the available liquid wax formula and it flows wonderfully.  I would encourage you to contact Johnny though as he's been through a batch recently and would be a great resource for info on the wax, the swap process and how long it will last.  Here is a link to Johnny's profile:  http://oozinggoo.ning.com/profile/Johnny518

Here is a video of a the Rocket in Mathmos' collection being refilled with new Monster Wax formula...it takes some care and patience:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODPyoEpih4g 

This is a video of my vintage Rocket:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNRZay_TlZU

Congrats and Good Luck!

[Steve Sag]

Hi Critter, I actually commented on your youtube vids a few months back. I actually bought a replica rocket about a year ago, since I never thought the opportunity to own a real 1 would appear. I also bought a spare globe which I was intending to wax fill before I got this one. I'm still undecided on colour combination, but if I ditch the fill in the real one I could fill both with new wax. Do you have any advice on opening the top up, it appears their is a black gasket under the metal, and I presume this will have some sort of glue between it and the glass.

Critter said:

Steve Sag said:

The fill looks pretty much spent, but I've seen worse.  Don't worry about ruining any value with a replacement of the fluids, there was no "set original configuration".  These lamps were never sold to the public as they were promotional items intended to help sell Astro Lamps.  A person couldn't go into a store and say "I'll have the Crestworth Rocket in the Yellow/Orange"...they weren't for sale.  These moved from store to store as a display item to pique the interest of passersby, etc in hopes of an Astro sale.   This was the early years of the Crestworth company and Edward Craven was keen to sell Astros and build the business. These were filled and unfilled many times over as they had to be emptied of fluids and refilled for each move to a new display location.  The fill you have in the lamp is highly unlikely to be of mid-sixties origin.  If you are concerned about such you can always siphon off the fluids here into some new buckets and seal it up and store it.  The Mathmos Monster Wax formula works and flow the same way as the liquid wax fill that the lamp probably has.  The biggest downside to this fill is its cost and longevity (it's fairly short lived) it is also easy to disturb and the lamp cannot be easily moved about while filled with this type of formula.  I would suspect that every remaining Crestworth Rocket has been filled  and/or refilled dozens of times over its life and each has probably been filled with Crestworth Glitter formula too at some point.  These lamps got around!!!   Their value comes from their rarity and their hand crafted elegance and of course their place in the history of a pop culture icon....the Lava Lamp.

I suppose that ideally the Mathmos Monster formula will be the most "accurate" to the experience of these lamps back in the mid-sixties, but I tell you what...if you see one filled with Astro bottle contents you will be floored as to how it flows...it's spectacular!

If you want to see how it would look with current Mathmos Monster fill (the liquid wax formula) see this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uzdq9pWLYvc

That video is of the available liquid wax formula and it flows wonderfully.  I would encourage you to contact Johnny though as he's been through a batch recently and would be a great resource for info on the wax, the swap process and how long it will last.  Here is a link to Johnny's profile:  http://oozinggoo.ning.com/profile/Johnny518

Here is a video of a the Rocket in Mathmos' collection being refilled with new Monster Wax formula...it takes some care and patience:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODPyoEpih4g 

This is a video of my vintage Rocket:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNRZay_TlZU

Congrats and Good Luck!

[Critter]

These things don't seal worth a damn in their original state.  Since Crestworth didn't plan to sell them they didn't need to seal them tight (for shipping) ike Lava Lite did with the commercially available Imperial.  These lamps lose fluid like mad through evaporation as they run since they don't fully seal.  To open it just take out the screws and twist that "spider" contraption to get it out from under the metal "hooks", then just lift off the metal plate.  The rubber gasket may or may not be glued into place, mine was just fitted to the cylinder and held in place by the pressure exerted when the whole assembly was screwed down so it came off and went back on quite easily.  It's a piece of rubber pretty much like some weather stripping that a car or RV window might have used.   Feel free to PM me with any questions, etc too.

Critter

Steve Sag said:

Hi Critter, I actually commented on your youtube vids a few months back. I actually bought a replica rocket about a year ago, since I never thought the opportunity to own a real 1 would appear. I also bought a spare globe which I was intending to wax fill before I got this one. I'm still undecided on colour combination, but if I ditch the fill in the real one I could fill both with new wax. Do you have any advice on opening the top up, it appears their is a black gasket under the metal, and I presume this will have some sort of glue between it and the glass.

Critter said:

Steve Sag said:

The fill looks pretty much spent, but I've seen worse.  Don't worry about ruining any value with a replacement of the fluids, there was no "set original configuration".  These lamps were never sold to the public as they were promotional items intended to help sell Astro Lamps.  A person couldn't go into a store and say "I'll have the Crestworth Rocket in the Yellow/Orange"...they weren't for sale.  These moved from store to store as a display item to pique the interest of passersby, etc in hopes of an Astro sale.   This was the early years of the Crestworth company and Edward Craven was keen to sell Astros and build the business. These were filled and unfilled many times over as they had to be emptied of fluids and refilled for each move to a new display location.  The fill you have in the lamp is highly unlikely to be of mid-sixties origin.  If you are concerned about such you can always siphon off the fluids here into some new buckets and seal it up and store it.  The Mathmos Monster Wax formula works and flow the same way as the liquid wax fill that the lamp probably has.  The biggest downside to this fill is its cost and longevity (it's fairly short lived) it is also easy to disturb and the lamp cannot be easily moved about while filled with this type of formula.  I would suspect that every remaining Crestworth Rocket has been filled  and/or refilled dozens of times over its life and each has probably been filled with Crestworth Glitter formula too at some point.  These lamps got around!!!   Their value comes from their rarity and their hand crafted elegance and of course their place in the history of a pop culture icon....the Lava Lamp.

I suppose that ideally the Mathmos Monster formula will be the most "accurate" to the experience of these lamps back in the mid-sixties, but I tell you what...if you see one filled with Astro bottle contents you will be floored as to how it flows...it's spectacular!

If you want to see how it would look with current Mathmos Monster fill (the liquid wax formula) see this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uzdq9pWLYvc

That video is of the available liquid wax formula and it flows wonderfully.  I would encourage you to contact Johnny though as he's been through a batch recently and would be a great resource for info on the wax, the swap process and how long it will last.  Here is a link to Johnny's profile:  http://oozinggoo.ning.com/profile/Johnny518

Here is a video of a the Rocket in Mathmos' collection being refilled with new Monster Wax formula...it takes some care and patience:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODPyoEpih4g 

This is a video of my vintage Rocket:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNRZay_TlZU

Congrats and Good Luck!

[Johnny]

I used the monster refill kit few years ago and first attempt the fluid clouded within a couple of months i was running it on 100w standard type bulb, mathmos said i had over heated it but it never showed signs of over heating and was on round 5 hours a day, i got another one and that did the same so thats when i stopped on a lava refill.

I use goolamp fast glitter in mine and works great, there slow moving glitter tends to pool around the bottom of the bottle edge

Another option is refill with Astro bottles some has done that and the start up time to flowing about 3 hours compared to lunar contend which is alot longer

[Jonas Clark-Elliott]

If it were me, I'd deal with the cloudiness and keep that fill. The flow is incredible.