As the title suggests, lava lamps for sale are special type of lamps whose primary purpose is decoration and not illumination. They constitute slow and interesting rise and fall of different shaped blobs of wax. Differently shaped balls of wax in the lamp slowly rise and fall like lava, creating a mesmerizing, almost hallucinatory effect and hence their name.
The bulb is normally of 25 to 40 watts and it generally takes 20 to 60 minutes for enough heating of the lamp to cause the wax blobs to rise. These lamps fare considered to be great soothers and are used for mood lighting.
Floor Lava Lamps
These lamps were invented by Edward Craven-Walker in 1963, whose patent was bought by 2 entrepreneurs in 1965.
As with any decorative item, the primary factors to be considered with them are design and colour. Their are many colour variations available to you. Another point of variation is that the wax can be transparent, translucent, or even opaque. The wax is usually mixed with other substances such as carbon tetrachloride.
An alternative to these lamps has also hit the market - The glitter lamp, these have sparkly like confetti (rather than wax) in the liquid and have a motion which resembles that of the lava lamps but are not considered true lava lamps. However, they provide a great advantage in that they start up in under a minute rather than 30 minutes.
Although they can be made at home and there are methods publicly available to do so, it is actually quite difficult to reproduce a classic lamp. The reason for this is that manufacturing these lamps requires lot of precision and care. In effect, each lava lamp for sale is equivalent to be custom-made. Also, the ingredients, in the wax and the liquid (commonly water) that are used by manufacturers are closely guarded secrets.
Hence, even though many sites talk about producing a lava lamp at home, it is best advised to buy one from various places that offer lava lamps for sale like local stores and online websites.