|
If you're feeling adventurous, you might well want to have a go at making your own lava lamp. Not only are lava lamps beautiful to look at, but you'll have the pride that goes with making your own things! Here are a few basic steps to get you started.
First of all, you'll need a suitable container for your lava mixture. You don't necessarily need a traditional lava lamp shape, but a tall heatproof glass container is good, and it needs to be something that closes properly.
The next thing you'll want is the ingredients to make the lava, and the liquid that surrounds it. Buy some 90% isopropyl alcohol (which you can either get in a drugstore, or order from them very easily), and also a bottle of 70% isopropyl alcohol which is also known as rubbing alcohol. You can buy this from a grocery store. These two will form the liquid that the lava floats in. You will need to buy some mineral oil to use as the lava.
Next, you will need to mix these ingredients together! The quantities are up to you, and are a matter of experimentation, so take things slowly. Pour in as much mineral oil as you want. Then add the 70% and 90%. You'll need more of the 70% than the 90%, to make sure that the lava floats. Pour them in gently, stirring to mix. You may need to add some paint solvent into the mixture to make the lava ‘stick' together. You should also add a heating coil, so that the mixture heats up more easily. Three stainless steel springs, joined together in a triangle shape, are ideal.
Place the finished glass container over a 40 watt bulb, and watch as your lava lamp comes to life! The mineral oil will not act in quite the same way as lava, but will do a nice job. What if you want a colored lava lamp though? You'll need to add some extra ingredients. To make the lava itself colored, you'll need to add some artist's oil paint to the mineral oil, right at the beginning. To color the liquid around the lava, add food coloring. But remember that the food coloring will affect the consistency of the liquid, meaning it will affect how the lava flows, so proceed with care. Good luck!
|
