(Topic ID: 275268)

Lava lamps

By swampfire

3 years ago


Topic Heartbeat

Topic Stats

  • 607 posts
  • 129 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 3 months ago by Mattyk
  • Topic is favorited by 57 Pinsiders

You

Topic poll

“Which best describes you?”

  • I love EM pins, and I love lava lamps 114 votes
    60%
  • I love EM pins but have no interest in lava lamps 12 votes
    6%
  • I hate EM pins but I like lava lamps 49 votes
    26%
  • EMs and lava lamps are slow and boring 15 votes
    8%

(190 votes)

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There are 607 posts in this topic. You are on page 10 of 13.
#451 1 year ago
Quoted from vid1900:

Lava lamps keep the internet Secure.

Thank God!! I was worried the internet wasn't safe!

#452 1 year ago
Quoted from paulace:

Thank God!! I was worried the internet wasn't safe!

It's still not safe at THOSE sites you visit.

#453 1 year ago

Wait.

100 lava lamps... on an open shelving rack... in *San Francisco*... determine SSL encryption...?!

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(OTOH, at a combined 4500W that might use less power than a server cluster trying to do the same thing with a pure algorithm. Pain-LOL)

#454 1 year ago

In case it hasn’t been mentioned yet, you definitely want to add a dimmer to your lava lamp(s). When the bubbles start getting small and clustering near the top, you can turn down the heat. Once you find the sweet spot, it’ll flow really nice indefinitely.

Hate that I missed out on the lunar LL at Spencer’s.

#455 1 year ago

Add a dimmer?

#456 1 year ago

Couple of options…

1. Add an inline dimmer like this one. I use these on all of mine, but they’re a pain to install (hard to get the halves together):

https://www.snakeheadvintage.com/inline-dimmer-cord-switch-leviton-full-range-lamp-rotary-dimmer

2. Add a plug-in dimmer like the Leviton TBL03-10E.

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#457 1 year ago

Came across this cool thread by accident and thought I'd pay homage to my lamps. The orange one I bought in 1995 when I was 16. Somehow it has not faded one bit after a quarter century. The plasma lamp is around 20 years old and is still solid. It's not technically a lava lamp but the shape is the same so... The orange/pink guy is a new addition. It was purchased on Amazon last year and is (unbeknownst at time of purchase) smaller than the 'original' lava lamps. It still looks good and is, along with my 1987 Coors Silver Bullet beer sign, the source of ambient lighting over my mini arcade collection. Apologies for the poor quality photos. My phone is a dinosaur and should've been retired 5 years ago.

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#458 1 year ago
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#459 1 year ago
Quoted from vid1900:

.....
The lamps all had a white, sperm like lava, that flows and flows; never overheating or getting stuck at the top. (it looks green in the pic, but in person, it's white)
You can leave these plugged in for a week, without a dimmer, and they just never stop flowing.
...

Blue juice with white spooge. Check. This one only cost a zillion "Camel Bucks".

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#460 1 year ago

So I've been buying Lava lamps ( 5 ) at Salvation Army when I find them and they are around $10. . I did find a Haggerty made in USA , but most are just unknown brands . Last week found a still in the box Lava Lamp brand 16.3 " = Lava: yellow - Liquid: Purple larger lamp globe . The funny part was it looked like they had pluged it in because the wax was just starting to work . Because it is large it takes almost 2 hours before it works as it should ! They must have gave up after 1.5 hours thinking it was broken . The one with the best action is a small 13" red: lava clear liquid , gets going in about 45 min. All in all very Relaxing watching them ! Still looking for a Mathmos !

#461 1 year ago
Quoted from balzofsteel:

Blue juice with white spooge. Check. This one only cost a zillion "Camel Bucks".
[quoted image]

Wow, a lava lamp, a Heathkit receiver and an electric meter converted into a lamp. That's a neat combination.

10
#462 1 year ago

Here is my blue and spooge one.

Early 2000s had a cool large one when i was living with my sister. I wonder if she still has it.

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3 weeks later
#463 1 year ago

Not Lava, but grabbed this electrostorm today for $15 bucks!

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#464 1 year ago
Quoted from Aladdin:

Not Lava, but grabbed this electrostorm today for $15 bucks![quoted image]

I remember always seeing those in Spencer's Gifts in the mall back in the early 2000's.

#465 1 year ago
Quoted from MoSeS_1592:

I remember always seeing those in Spencer's Gifts in the mall back in the early 2000's.

I still have the big 18" one I bought from there in 1997, still looks and works good as new. Green with adjustable sound sensitivity. Paired well with my Panasonic Talking Clock when that worked!

15
#466 1 year ago

Got my Mathmos Lunar XXL today for the Gameroom, love it

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#467 1 year ago

I had to stop at Spencer's to pick up some bondage gear, and they had a bunch of new LavaLamps!

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#468 1 year ago

Even some adorned with pentagrams, for those seeking to summon Lucifer
 Arise Dark Lord Arise Dark Lord

#469 1 year ago

Most amazingly, all the lava lamps appeared to have clear liquid, something you never get from Amazon
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I'd open the box before purchacing, just to make sure the liquid is clear.

Do not assume it will clear up with use, it usually doesn't.

The goth broad said no Grande or other large lamps were currently available....

#470 1 year ago

Not bad. How about the S&M gear selection?

#471 1 year ago
Quoted from RyanStl:

Not bad. How about the S&M gear selection?

Pretty good.

I got the lace bed binding straps and medium sized gag.

#473 1 year ago
Quoted from vid1900:

I had to stop at Spencer's to pick up some bondage gear, and they had a bunch of new LavaLamps!

#474 1 year ago

But, there are much better places to get bondage gear. Was told by a friend….

#475 1 year ago
Quoted from undrdog:

But, there are much better places to get bondage gear. Was told by a friend….

No doubt.

But here is something I've found out about chicks:

1. They don't want any used gear. (They want it all to be brand new, and exclusively for them).

2. It has to come in a retail package that you gift to them.

Guys will happily accept you with a duffel bag full of ropes and whatnot, but chicks....it has to be a friggin elaborate system.....

#476 1 year ago

An oldie but goodie.

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#477 1 year ago

I bet the one with the flocked base will sell out fast. I need to get over there at lunch, I don’t have one with white lava.

#478 1 year ago

I hadn't read your post, Vid - but happened to go into Spencer's today and saw some of the new lamps. I got the orange lava/clear liquid with the 70's swirly base. It's heating up now.

Also, for summoning the big guy, a dead goat is much better than a pentagrammed lava lite....though the pentagram WILL keep the lava safe from eternal damnation. (At least, I think so...)

#479 1 year ago
Quoted from swampfire:

I bet the one with the flocked base will sell out fast. I need to get over there at lunch, I don’t have one with white lava.

I think I got the last flocked one in metro Atlanta. Looks great next to the red one. Thanks for the heads-up @vid1900!

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#480 1 year ago
Quoted from swampfire:

I think I got the last flocked one in metro Atlanta. Looks great next to the red one. Thanks for the heads-up vid1900!
[quoted image]

Was going to ask before because I thought maybe I was missing something obvious. No seeing you blue on is flocked. What's that mean?

#481 1 year ago

Man... I want a bunch of the liquid / wax combos in bases that don't have all that silly crap on them. And yeah, what is flocked?

#482 1 year ago
Quoted from RyanStl:

Was going to ask before because I thought maybe I was missing something obvious. No seeing you blue on is flocked. What's that mean?

Quoted from Chalkey:

Man... I want a bunch of the liquid / wax combos in bases that don't have all that silly crap on them. And yeah, what is flocked?

It's fuzzy.

#483 1 year ago

I have to say, Lava lamps have kept their price very well over the years. I got my first lamp in the very early 2000's at Spencers and it was $40, a blue liquid with white wax, black base. I only remember this because my siblings and I were all out at the mall shopping together, and my birthday was coming up. My brother in law insisted he get me that lava lamp I liked in Spencers, but it was $40, my father would flip if he knew how much he spent, my dad always asked the price of things.. So we agreed that if he asked, the lamp was only $10.
True to form, my dad asked how much it was after I showed it off after we got back. I said, "$10". Everyone nodded in agreement.
He looked at it and said, "Jesus.. you paid way too much for that." Lol. my old man

#484 1 year ago

Oh, I see it now.

#485 1 year ago

Ok! So, I'm not the only one who likes Lava Lamps....
My avatar is a pic of my shop. It's hard to see in the picture but I have 3 lava lamps in the window. I have 4 windows and they all have lava lamps in them.
I love these things and have been collecting them for years now. I've found them in antique stores, yard sales, Sal-Annies and junk shops. I have quite a variety of them in different shapes, colors, vintages and sizes. Some of them are quite old. If I see one with the "Lava Lamp" logo, I have to own it! I'm running out of room for them.
Some of my friends think I'm weird for continuing to buy them... but screw them... I like them and they relax me when needed.
It's nice to now that I'm not alone!
Go Lava Lamps!

#486 1 year ago

Remember not to leave any valuable lava lamps in the window, the sunlight fades them.

Neon color can be ruined in just a few months

Gross:

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#487 1 year ago
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#488 1 year ago
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#489 1 year ago

I've never had any issues with water clarity on the 7 or so Lava Lamps I've purchased from Amazon over the years. Guess I've just been lucky. Here's my most recent one warming up for the first time. Liquid is crystal clear. Should be a blue lava but it looks like the dye has separated from the lava itself. Don't recall ever seeing this before.

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#490 1 year ago

Is there a place to buy plain bases for the 17” lava lamps (the middle size)? Sometimes I see a lava/fluid combo that I love, but I don’t like the base. I guess I could paint them though.

#491 1 year ago
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#492 1 year ago

If the 70s collection was filled with 1970s lava formula, that would an announcement

#493 1 year ago
Quoted from xian222:

I've never had any issues with water clarity on the 7 or so Lava Lamps I've purchased from Amazon over the years. Guess I've just been lucky. Here's my most recent one warming up for the first time. Liquid is crystal clear. Should be a blue lava but it looks like the dye has separated from the lava itself. Don't recall ever seeing this before.[quoted image]

reissues or OG? looks like a cab at the end there.

#494 1 year ago

A friend that is moving cross country gave me this grande a few weeks ago. Apparently, he got it for his daughter, and she didn’t like it, so it sat unused in his basement for the last 15 years.

I ran it a few times, and it was very cloudy, and never appeared to be clearing up any with subsequent runs. I’ve always liked yellow wax with clear liquid for the nice glow they put off, so I said what the hell, let’s clear this baby up.

I pried the cap off, dumped the cloudy purple master fluid, and rinsed everything out with distilled water. I filled it back up about 3/4 with distilled water, and 50 mls of SLS for surfactant and let her run to see if I would need to make the fluid denser with glycerin. A few hours later after everything had melted, the wax was just a blob at the bottom, so I added about 12 ounces of glycerin to get it flowing nicely, which happened to top the globe off perfectly. I added a couple more drops of SLS to get the globs a little smaller and more flowier. Replaced the cap (while hot and running) with a 2” expanding pipe clean out cap.

The pics don’t really do it justice for how well it flows, and how clear it is. I have it on a dimmer and have basically ran it nonstop for a couple of weeks, and it is still crystal clear.
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#495 1 year ago
Quoted from Grandnational007:

A friend that is moving cross country gave me this grande a few weeks ago. Apparently, he got it for his daughter, and she didn’t like it, so it sat unused in his basement for the last 15 years.
I ran it a few times, and it was very cloudy, and never appeared to be clearing up any with subsequent runs. I’ve always liked yellow wax with clear liquid for the nice glow they put off, so I said what the hell, let’s clear this baby up.
I pried the cap off, dumped the cloudy purple master fluid, and rinsed everything out with distilled water. I filled it back up about 3/4 with distilled water, and 50 mls of SLS for surfactant and let her run to see if I would need to make the fluid denser with glycerin. A few hours later after everything had melted, the wax was just a blob at the bottom, so I added about 12 ounces of glycerin to get it flowing nicely, which happened to top the globe off perfectly. I added a couple more drops of SLS to get the globs a little smaller and more flowier. Replaced the cap (while hot and running) with a 2” expanding pipe clean out cap.
The pics don’t really do it justice for how well it flows, and how clear it is. I have it on a dimmer and have basically ran it nonstop for a couple of weeks, and it is still crystal clear.
[quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image]

Nice work! I tried many time to fix mine from when i was younger with 0 luck. Couldnt get the ratios right

10
#496 1 year ago

These 2 are from Spencer's - the orange one from a week ago, the blue from last year sometime. The blue doesn't show up all that well on photos, but the wax is a gorgeous shade of blue..kind of Carolina blue. Liquid in both was very clear...maybe I lucked out.

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#497 1 year ago

Nice flow you have going there too.

#498 1 year ago

They're good ones.

#499 1 year ago

I once gifted a colleague a metallic purple lamp. After a year the wax disentegrated. I think it was the metallic-like flakes in the wax. Wouldn't recommend that type. I like the dimmer idea. I'll post a pic of the lamp from my office once it warms up.

#500 1 year ago

The blue on this one is superb as well. Seems a bit lighter shade than the blue I've had in the past. Really pops. Flow is excellent. My new favorite.

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