Beyond Tiki, Bilge, and Test / Beyond Tiki / Rain Lamp
Post #528770 by lefthandedgoth on Fri, May 7, 2010 11:15 PM
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lefthandedgoth
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Fri, May 7, 2010 11:15 PM
Hi! I found Tiki Central because I was looking for info about rain lamps -- wow... I love this site. Actually -- somehow I came across TikiSkip's tiki rain lamp and just went NUTS over the idea of modding one for myself. I didn't used to like tiki stuff, but I think it's because I had never heard of a tiki bar (I live in Oklahoma) and since hearing of the idea a year or two ago, I've experienced it properly. I bow down to the mysterious and awesome tiki now. And some day, I think I might just open a tiki bar of my own. Anyhow. I didn't want to just rip off TikiSkip's idea, because 1) it's not my own idea and 2) wouldn't fit too well with my home decor. I'm a huge fan of Halloween and so after a little thought it was obvious that MY rain lamp needed to be a gothy type. Maybe with red-tinted mineral oil. Muhahahahahaha So, I've been restoring an ancient rain lamp. It's the 3ft high swag lamp type. I painted it first with black enamel (uh-oh... mineral oil + enamel = not good...) and then used acrylics to mottle and daub it to look more like stone. I will seal it well with polyurethane, oh yeah. Couple coats at least. The Venus chick in the middle looks like she's disrobing, has a scarf or toga or something draped over her shoulder. The scarf comes from beneath her bare butt (?!), drapes over her shoulder, across her boobs, covers up her privates, and then cascades to the ground along her left leg. She's no longer gold toned, and the horrible casting job now looks like pits in the statuary. I painted her like stone and then draped black and white tulle over her where the scarf thing was molded in. I'm not done yet. I'll seal that with a satin polyurethane and go over that with a black wash to add dimension. Maybe a leetle eety bit of sparkle. Then I will add some small silver silk flowers to her hand so it doesn't look like she's playing with herself anymore, perhaps some to her hair as well. I picked out some plastic ferny type foliage -- all mine came apart when I washed it. I tried to find black and silver aquarium plants in bulk but never did, so I wound up with a grey-green from the silk flower aisle. I might spray paint it black but I'm pretty sure the mineral oil will eat off the spray paint. I also got some red and black roses. The bands around the outside were a crusty metal, so I'll put a black ribbon there instead and a thinner silver ribbon over that. I have some very small rhinestones, but ya gotta be careful with the glitz. I just want a highlight here and there, not Elton John. I knew already that the motor was frozen. I got it from someone on Craig's List, paid $20. The motor was covered in a thick stinky orange goo (the seller said they used crisco oil in it). It's the type where the motor is not supposed to be submerged in anything and there was orange goo caked inside the electric box, so I cleaned it out as best I could, plugged it in and... nothing! (The light works, though.) The cord looked quite mysterious anyway, like chewed, so I just chucked the electrical. I had to use a whole box of baking soda to absorb the goo so it could be scrubbed away. Then an industrial degreaser on the rest with a lot of elbow grease. Finally I got it to the point where I could soak it in the bathtub with detergent. It's clean now, but it took a LOT of work. Finally got round to painting it this week and looking forward to installing a brand new submersible pump in the bottom. I actually had a little color changing LED I took out of a different fountain and wired it into the electrical, but when I plugged it in to test, I got an arc between a couple of the connections that were too close to each other and zap! Fried the light. I hadn't soldered or wrapped the connections yet because I wanted to test it first. Um. Oops. I'm now using a 6 volt pump from a "fountain magic III pump kit". It says it can pump water 18", and the rain lamp innards are about that high. It has two "layers" of fishing line, one at an angle and the other vertical. I think baby oil (light mineral oil) will flow through it pretty well. This is not the one I'm using -- but I can't find the one I'm using. If this project works out pretty well, I'm going to make more to sell. I googled "indoor submersible pump lights". Here's what I will probably use if I do another (or fry this one, ha ha). This site has a whole line of the submersible pumps with replacement bulbs, too And finally a large supplier (probably has a minimum purchase requirement) My plan is to use silicone to glue the pump to a metal plate (or possibly a frisbee CD) so that it won't fall over in the bottom. If I adhere it to the bottom of the reservoir I won't be able to get the pan back off to clean it, ha ha. If I need to add weight, I'll silicone some of those flat marble things to it. Mineral oil does not eat silicone so I think it should work. I've seen posts from people who say they've had good results from baby oil, so I'll start with that. If it's too loose I'll add some heavier mineral oil. Sound good? Bad? Stupid? Let me know what you think... Ande |