Cool Cloud Lamp!

Make a very neat lava-like lamp for less than $10 in parts. Uses only soap and water. No chemicals, easy, fun, and the results are incredibly neat!



I added some cheap plastic eyeballs and suspended them from the lid with thread to make an Eerie Halloween Display!

Step 1: Supplies You'll Need

The main things you'll need are a 6" piece of THICK PVC pipe, a 15-25 watt bulb (you can go as high as 40, but the base can get pretty hot at 40), and "pearlized" liquid handsoap that contains glycol stearate or glycol distearate (should be listed on the ingredients of the bottle). Avoid anything that has moisturizers or additives like aloe, etc. Click on the pictures for a full list of the supplies I used.

Comments

[exabopper]

I've completed a couple of these, and this is a great idea!  I have put up a video of my build, since it looks like the one in the Instructable isn't there anymore, you can see it here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEN-UU8NwCs

I used "Softsoap with rich moisturizing Shea Butter Beads" for my lamps.

[seansippo]

this is interesting, but im interested in the bubble effect of a lava lamp. i have been reading around about using a mixture of mineral oil and rubbing alcohol, not sure if it works yet. any idea what should be used for the more BUBBLE effect? thank you

[macrumpton]

According to wikipedia the original lava lamps were filled with wax and carbon tetrachloride.

[Kill_Roy]

carbon tetrachloride can cause many health issues when concentrated so thats probably why they stopped using it. I would be suprised if you could buy it.

[Erfunden]

I tried getting my hands on some a few years back and couldn't manage it.

[kelvinmead]

food dye and vegetable oil works for a while! (with a yellow tint!)

[ThingArthur]

I once mixed some bronze powder with white spirit and got good 'clouds',
put between 2 sheets of glass, I could leave a 'hand print' in the cloud,
was going to add a lamp to warm up one end to make a 'hurricane'...
and hang it on the wall
might try again with some thrown out double glazing...

[antioch]

pics! plus instructable! now!

[alloneword19]

If you have a blacklight, fill the bottle with tonic water instead of regular water, makes it glow in the blacklight, sooooooooooo cool!!

[ashbegash]

Awesome!! Love it!

[iok]

haha, that so awesome bro
when u put that eyes..cool
nice job

[Shadow Of Intent]

I'd love to see something like this with toy arms and legs in as a replica of Sid's lava la mp in Toy Story XD

[nmvb]

lots of shampoos have glycol stearate or distearate in them.

[shortblock]

Hey what brand of soap did you use.

[TOMCRADICK]

I CAN,T FIND LIQUID SOAP WITH GLYCOL STERATE OR GLYCOL WITH  DISTERATE. PLEASE LET ME KNOW BRAND AND WHERE TO BUY. EVERYTHING ELSE IS FINISHED. TOM

[knotherexx]

cvs brand handsoap, softsoap, mine is the "milk and honey" version. i'm about to make the lamp so i'll let you know if it doesnt work....

[fidgety2]

how would glycerol work as a substitute for the soap just asking

[pigsrock]

can you see the clouds with out the light?

[tubanator-2.0]

this is really awesome especially because im using this in a old coke bottle and putting a nuka cola clear lablel on it. : )

[andyellison]

So whats the effect of adding more soap? or what about colored soap (ie soap with food coloring in it)?

[babblin5]

More soap = thicker clouds. Not sure about colored soap, but I think the ratio to make any difference would be at least 25% soap, which would ruin the effect 8(

[TOMCRADICK]

I NEED THE SOAP, NAME AND WERE I CAN BUY IT. THANKS

[babblin5]

But food coloring might work fine... haven't tried that as I usually just "paint" the bottoms of the jars with permanent markers of different colors. You can get a really nice sunset effect by coloring one half of the bottom yellow, and the other half red. =D

[spock155]

To tell you the truth, it took me forever to find soap with glycol distearate... lol...

[TOMCRADICK]

WHERE DID YOU FIND IT AND WHAT BRAND

[DasBus]

 This is way cool!  You should definitely enter it in the upcoming Halloween instructable contest!

[JORDAN180592]

I love it......i made more than $500 dollars !!!! thank you Jordan huges from mexico!!!

[babblin5]

Excellent! =)

[corn fluffleberry]

i dont know about youse guyses but i LOVE IT i am going to steampunk this

[egjr79119]

HEY GUYS I USED A GREEN PARTY BULB, THE ONLY THING IS A 40 WATT AND IT DOES LOOK COOL BUT IT DOESN'T SHOW THE EFFECT THAT IT SHOWS IN THE VIDEO.

[egjr79119]

THIS WAS A VERY COOL IDEA, THE ONLY THING I COULDN'T FIND 25 WATTS BULBS.

[jokerrabit]

I seen a tut once (not sure ware) that said to mix a t-spoon of artist oil paint in a color of your choosing with 1/2 a cup of mineral oil put it in a jar about the size of a caning jar or bigger and fill the rest with distilled water. also most lava lamps I have see have a coil at the bottom that looks like it was made of aluminum wire probably to help heat the oil. BTW I did try this but I could never build a proper base to make it work though I didn't try pvc.

[blakeredfield]

LOL, how cool. Nice nice.. +sub

[rippercito]

the effect is amazing, and it is so-so simply! thanks for sharing m8!

[spock155]

Awesome.

[voltskaterzb]

thank you very much

[voltskaterzb]

can i add soap + food coloring?

[voltskaterzb]

coool thanks

[redstar.crvenazvezda]

tried this a while back.... doesn't really work... it needs something moving the "clouds around. great idea though!

[Crusty_07]

The heat generated from the light bulb moves the soap around in the bottle. It is basic science. There is no way it couldn't work and the video in the instructable shows it working just fine. A great instructable.