Cool Cloud Lamp!

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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

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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.

Step 2: Build the Base

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Sand off and trim any plastic leavings on the top and bottom of the PVC pipe. Notch the bottom of the pipe for the cord. You can glue the bottle to the base, but I recommend using an old mouse pad and fashioning a rubber seat you can place the bottle on and glue the ring to the top of the PVC pipe. See pics for illustration.

Step 3: Prepping the Bottle

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Soak off any labels in soapy water and rinse thoroughly. Fill the bottle about 3/4 full with warm water. Add 7-10 squirts of the handsoap, screw on the lid and shake well until the soap is mixed. Then "top off" the bottle by adding water to about 1" from the top. (This allows for air expansion as the bottle heats up). I recommend creating a rubber seal for the lid by cutting another piece of the mousepad you used for the base. Cut to fit inside the lid. This helps insure that no water leaks out of the top.

Step 4: Get ready to Rock!

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You can leave the bottom of the bottle clear, but adding some color with magic markers can give it a nice dramatic effect. Place the bottle on the base, plug in the cord, and watch as clouds form and swirl around in the jar. Pictures really don't do it justice. If you'd like, you can view my video on this project below. Expect to have your friends ask you to make these for them! 8)

Step 5: Halloween Mod!

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Here's a Halloween Mod I came up with. I used a red permanent marker to draw the dripping blood on the base and the bottom of the jar for the color. I then used some cheap plastic eyeball favors and drilled holes in the backs to fill them with water. I then used sewing pins to suspend the eyeballs from the lid with white thread, and the Eyes of Doom Lamp was born! The coolest part is that the eyes sway with the water currents while mystical swirling red clouds float around them... AHHHHHHH!!!!! 8D

exabopper says: Mar 18, 2013. 4:20 AM

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 says: Nov 20, 2008. 9:18 PM

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 in reply to seansippoApr 30, 2009. 8:01 PM

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

Kill_Roy in reply to macrumptonMay 24, 2009. 6:52 PM

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 in reply to Kill_RoyAug 27, 2009. 6:42 AM

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

kelvinmead in reply to ErfundenDec 18, 2012. 3:24 PM

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

ThingArthur says: Mar 28, 2012. 1:44 AM

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 in reply to ThingArthurAug 7, 2012. 10:43 PM

pics! plus instructable! now!

alloneword19 says: Jul 26, 2012. 2:52 PM

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

ashbegash says: Mar 24, 2012. 5:43 PM

Awesome!! Love it!

iok says: Jul 8, 2011. 2:55 AM

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

Shadow Of Intent says: Jun 18, 2011. 11:05 AM

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 says: Apr 18, 2011. 8:58 PM

lots of shampoos have glycol stearate or distearate in them.

shortblock says: Jan 8, 2008. 11:16 AM

Hey what brand of soap did you use.

TOMCRADICK in reply to shortblockNov 3, 2009. 2:37 PM

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 in reply to TOMCRADICKDec 20, 2010. 7:36 AM

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 says: Nov 3, 2010. 2:18 PM

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

pigsrock says: Jun 26, 2010. 9:42 AM

can you see the clouds with out the light?

tubanator-2.0 says: Nov 14, 2009. 4:57 PM

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

andyellison says: Oct 4, 2007. 1:17 PM

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

babblin5 (author) in reply to andyellisonOct 4, 2007. 5:30 PM

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 in reply to babblin5Nov 3, 2009. 4:11 PM

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

babblin5 (author) in reply to babblin5Oct 5, 2007. 1:59 AM

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 says: Dec 22, 2008. 4:06 PM

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

TOMCRADICK in reply to spock155Nov 3, 2009. 3:03 PM

WHERE DID YOU FIND IT AND WHAT BRAND

DasBus says: Oct 8, 2009. 5:02 AM

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

JORDAN180592 says: Feb 24, 2009. 6:24 PM

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

babblin5 (author) in reply to JORDAN180592Aug 31, 2009. 2:59 AM

Excellent! =)

corn fluffleberry says: Aug 27, 2009. 6:11 AM

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

egjr79119 says: Jul 1, 2009. 11:18 AM

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 says: Jul 1, 2009. 11:06 AM

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

jokerrabit says: May 21, 2009. 8:35 AM

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 says: Feb 28, 2009. 9:29 PM

LOL, how cool. Nice nice.. +sub

rippercito says: Jan 11, 2009. 7:49 PM

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

spock155 says: Dec 21, 2008. 5:22 PM

Awesome.

voltskaterzb says: Dec 20, 2008. 12:19 PM

thank you very much

voltskaterzb says: Dec 20, 2008. 10:53 AM

can i add soap + food coloring?

voltskaterzb says: Dec 10, 2008. 9:55 AM

coool thanks

redstar.crvenazvezda says: Oct 31, 2008. 10:43 PM

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

Crusty_07 in reply to redstar.crvenazvezdaNov 2, 2008. 10:53 PM

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.