Lava Lamps

The idea is quite simple really. Take water and wax that don't mix together and add a little heat, in this case the bulb. The heat from the bulb makes the wax warm and less dense and so it rises in the water and, as it cools it falls. This process repeats creating that groovy lava effect.

The idea for the lava lamp came to a man in a pub, Edward Craven-Walker, when he watched a home made egg timer bubbling on a stove. He worked with a British inventor David George Smith to develop the idea into the product you see today. So that`s who invented the lava lamp.

Following the teaming up of Edward Craven-Walker and David George Smith the Astro Lava Lamp was invented in 1963 and patented in the UK in 1964. It was also submitted for patent in the USA in 1968 by their company 'Crestworth'. Lava lamps have been in production ever since.

The exact ingredients are kept secret by manufacturers but essentially water & wax. Water is used as it is see-through and dyes can be added to colour the water. The wax, a mix of mineral oil and paraffin wax is coloured in contrast to the water to create a vivid display. Add an incandescent or halogen bulb for light and heat.

This all depends on the size of your lamp, the bigger it is the longer it will take. Normally a small lava lamp will take thirty minutes and a larger lamp up to one hour and a half. If your lamp is new and has never been used it can take up to six hours!

It is possible that you can leave a lava lamp on all day and all night but it is not recommended. The lava lamp if it gets too hot can cause the floating blobs to split into smaller & smaller blobs losing the great lava effect. Use your lava lamp for 8 hours or less and it will reward you with years of service.

Lava lamps are not really capable of casting huge amounts of night to illuminate a room, more they are used as accent lighting. They are said to be the fist mood light and they can be used to theme a room or create a calming space

When the lava lamp was invented in 1964 it became an instant hit, became an icon of the era and they sold in their thousands. Today they are more popular than ever

Right here! The Glow Company offers two different sized bulbs for lava lamps. Check which one fits your lamp and you will have your Lava Lamp lit up, moving and looking cool in no time. See our spare lava lamp bulbs.