Some Imperial pictures

[fog rider]

Here are some pics of my newly restored Imperial. I've had the lamp for about a year now. The first picture is a "before" shot. The last two are pictures of the lamp after restoration:

[Manix5]

Very nice restore job. The lamp looks great, but now I want one.

[fog rider]

Got the lamp on e-bay. The winning bidder backed out of the deal, so the seller offered it to me (I was the second highest bidder). The lamp came from San Fransisco. It was very well packed, and survived the trip up here.

Here's a video of the flow. I had the camera tuned sideways, so you have to crank your neck over a bit to view it:

[Modulo '70]

Awesome job dude!

[chainsofsilver]

Congrats on the restoration! That must have been a job, but it looks great.

[lava4me]

Very nice indeed ;-) One would look great in my living room! maybe one day :-)

[PiercedTrailerParkDiva]

Wow that's an awesome find of well,imperial magnitude congrats

[Purity!]

Seriously nice work there, and quite a transformation.

That first pic looks like someone had the runs into the jar :O

[Bryin]

Hey Fog Rider - I have an empty Imperial (don't even have the coil) and I have been dying to restore it. Can you tell me how you did it? I WOULD REALLY APPRECIATE IT. Thanks, Bryin

[Roger Stenstrom]

WOW so very cool. How did you clear up the lamp.

Roger

[fog rider]

Hi Bryin.

Fortunately I was able to re-use the original wax. It's very light compared to the wax found in later lava lamps. I tried to filter the existing liquid several times, but it kept clouding up on me. Finally, out of desperation, I dumped out the liquid and removed the wax (cold, with the coil still embedded in the wax). Then I washed out the globe, re-installed the wax, and filled the lamp with distilled water. Some tinkering with sea salt, a little dishsoap, and 3 drops of blue food dye was all it took to balance the globe.

I think, in your case, I would use the contents of 3 modern Grandes to re-fill the lamp. The only problem is that the colors aren't quite right.

I think that if you dye the yellow wax from the Grande with a little bit of blue candle wax (very little is required) the yellow wax would tint a light green color. Then I would use the liquid from the Grandes to fill the lamp, but only part way. The blue color is way too dark in a Grande. I would try maybe filling the lamp 1/3 full to start, then top up the lamp with distilled water, and then balance the whole affair with sea salt (Always dissolve the salt in water before adding it to the lamp. If you add sea salt directly to the lamp it'll sink to the bottom in granular form and imbed itself under the wax).

Hopefully you'll end up with a color combination that closely resembles the original green/blue colors of the Imperial.

Cheers.

[Bryin]

Thank you so much. I don't know what to do about a coil, though.

[fog rider]

The coil is simply spring wire, about 3/8 inch in width. You might be able to find some at a hardware store. You may have to wind a few pieces together in order to get a coil that fits completely around the inside of the globe.