Help! What are those globe/bubble hanging lamps called?

Looking for the swag lamps that are round in shape and have netting or rope wrapped around them. They are usually colored lights. Does anyone know if these lamps have a specific name? Thanks in advance for any help....

BatFinker

They are called "Glass Float Lamps". Originally made from Japanese glass fishing floats!

PTD

THANKS so much-- I owe ya one.....

They are called "Glass Float Lamps". Originally made from Japanese glass fishing floats!

...which used to get torn from the nets during storms on the Japanese coast, from where they floated to Hawaiian shores, where they were beachcombed by locals and used as decor for homes and bars. :)

:lol: I love a happy ending. :)

If you are looking for some fish float lamps, our very own Polynesiac makes them! I have a couple of his in my bar area - they're great! Here's more info:

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=20904&forum=18&vpost=253123

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=21320&forum=7

"It's Mai Tai. It's out of this world." - Victor Jules Bergeron Jr.

[ Edited by: Mai Tai 2007-08-09 17:58 ]

I have many of these lights.
Most are from the Kahiki.
Of the 6 I have from the Kahiki
only 1 is a true glass fishing float.
Most are plastic or just vases with netting tied on them.
Look at a Trader Vics or the Mai Kai next time you go.
This is it.

That puffer-fish-in-glass-float light is the best! I have only seen ONE like it in all my travels, at Oceanic Arts.

Here are various types of floats which "floated around" :) in Polynesian pop :

faux float out of resin, from Kelbo's

real fishing net float out of thick old glass and rope, brought back from Tahiti harbor

faux glass float, made for decoration nowadays

midcentury-modern "float", from The Tikis

here are some ideas for float treatments from an old OA catalog:

Very few are actually fish floats. Folks here can testify as to the difficulty in cutting the real things to make lights. And with the number of killed floats to good ones ratio, it is a tough task. Even finding the glass globes the size you see in the vintage TVs is a tough thing.

I've just ordered a 24" diameter reproduction glass float that I'd like to turn into a light. Any suggestions for the best (i.e. least likely to cause it to shatter)way to create the hole for the light? I think someone recently did it by sandblasting?

Where did you find a 24" diameter float? That should make a cool (and enormous) light.

[ Edited by: Fugu 2007-08-10 15:04 ]

Nice lamps, Sven. Here is another example, it's one that I picked up at the Alameda Antiques Market a couple months back. I'm going to put a pufferfish lamp inside of it. I'm unsure if I'm going to put rope netting around it though, because that would cover up it's cool faux translucent tortoise finish.

"It's Mai Tai. It's out of this world." - Victor Jules Bergeron Jr.

[ Edited by: Mai Tai 2007-08-10 15:43 ]

GREAT BALLS OF FIRE!!!!! cool posts' yall, and thanks for the props, mai tai - I owe you one at FI next time I'm up!

tikiskip - the one at OA looks just like yours - that's a beauty you got! lucky bastard! :)

Bigbro - nice collection, did you pull that one out of the water yourself? I hear these things wash up in droves along the north coast of japan still. I'd love to beachcomb there and find glass globes rather than all the styrofoam lobster floats around here.

I've just ordered a 24" diameter reproduction glass float that I'd like to turn into a light. Any suggestions for the best (i.e. least likely to cause it to shatter)way to create the hole for the light? I think someone recently did it by sandblasting?

try it, but make sure the globe isn't too thin. the sand blasting will destroy it. I've seen some vintage 24" globes and they are not the same thickness all the way around, so I would guess that the repro one might be too thin.

On 2007-08-10 15:38, Mai Tai wrote:
I'm going to put a pufferfish lamp inside of it. I'm unsure if I'm going to put rope netting around it though, because that would cover up it's cool faux translucent tortoise finish.

Mai Tai,

Look at Party City, they have thin fishing nets that stretch very well to leave large open areas. I bought a net from there years ago when I started assembling decor for my bar. I had planned on using the net as part of an art project, but I didn't have room for it. When I pulled it out of the packaging (which is about the size of a small manila shipping envelope) I noticed that what I had on had would work great for a float net. Plus if it doesn't work for you, you didn't really spend that much.

ok - how did the pufferfish get into
the small opening ?

On 2007-08-10 12:33, bigbrotiki wrote:

On 2007-08-11 07:28, icebaer69 wrote:
ok - how did the pufferfish get into
the small opening ?

That's easy! You get a glass float, then catch a baby puffer fish. You put water in the float, and it becomes a fish bowl. The baby sized puffer fits in through the opening fine. You feed it steroid fish food, which makes it grow too fast and eventually gives the poor thing a heart attack (puffer fish always puff up when having a heart attack!).
Now comes the difficult part. Pour out the water, and put the float on a low flame, to dry the fish. This might become a bit smelly. Next: How to replace the innards with a light bulb:....

:) I think, ultimately this is a question that only the the wise elders of Oceanic Arts can answer.

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2007-08-11 07:45 ]

I highly recommend Polynesiac's lamps also. A few years ago
I made this lamp with a vintage 12" float. I used a Makita
grinder with a diamond blade. This was the second attempt as
the first one cracked. After cutting the hole just insert
puffer head first and turn.

My second favorite Poly pop lamps right after the blowfish-in-glassfloat are these mini diorama sea life lamps like they had a the Royal Hawaiian in Laguna Beach (R.I.P.), with shells, coral and starfish on sand INSIDE....here in the O.A. catalog:

When I discovered OA a long time ago, they still had one of those Beachcomber bottle lamps.

The detail is cool, they lacquered the drift wood and sprayed it with beachsand so it would look like just found.

What's with the fake plants?

lol!!!

Somebody dumped those on me. Just showed up one day and said "Here". I didn't wanna be rude and refuse.

...but while we are on the subject of fake plants, allow me to mention again something I hinted at before. For the Tiki traditionalist, like I am, the only way to be completely authentic in your mid-century Tiki decor is to find and use PLASTIC plants. This nowadays is as tough a challenge as finding old Tiki lounge lamps, because the new generation of fake but convincingly real looking FABRIC plants has practically wiped out plastic plant production. Yet in my mind plastic is good tacky, fabric is bad tacky. I realize this is a hardcore attitude, so please don't go and toss all your fabric foliage now. I am merely theorizing. Check out the Chin Tiki's main foyer:

This jungle is ALL plastic! That was all they had back then. And the term "PLASTIC PLANT" is just so much more associated with artificially created environments.

It is, of course, nothing wrong with REAL plants. You may use those too :)

On 2007-08-11 18:50, bigbrotiki wrote:

The detail is cool, they lacquered the drift wood and sprayed it with beachsand so it would look like just found.

WOW I'd love to make a few of those, any more pics?

I made all the float lights at Thatch. I went to Hippo Hardware, a place of used and vintage hardware with the whole upstairs full of lamps and lamp parts.

I'm sure your city has a similar store of used lamp parts, look for the lamp repair guy and ask him.

Next, I went to the local craft store and bought some aerisol cans of "Krylon stained Glass Paint" allowing you to paint on glass. The red and blue took just a couple of coats. The green and amber almost the whole can to get the desired depth of color.

Back at the lamp part place, I bought the innards and these spring things which hold the bulb and innards in place.

I also used some sheet metal to make a cover for the hole since I didn't want all the light to escape out of the top.

Then, some old rope netting or even some new stuff available at party supply stores, to wrap it in and you are done.

UL testing is for suckers.
robertiki

We won't believe a word you say until you show us pictures! :D

On 2007-08-10 15:03, Fugu wrote:
Where did you find a 24" diameter float? That should make a cool (and enormous) light.

[ Edited by: Fugu 2007-08-10 15:04 ]

Bought it on ebay from a company called Atlantic Coral Enterprises. Price was dirt cheap (99 cents), but, of course, everyone pads the shipping cost. Still, not too expensive.

On 2007-08-12 10:59, bigbrotiki wrote:

And the term "PLASTIC PLANT" is just so much more associated with artificially created environments.

"PLASTIC PLANT" - That reminds me of a good book I own:

http://www.amazon.com/Vinyl-Leaves-America-Institutional-Structures/dp/0813314720

Finally I got around to wiring mine and I am extemely pleased with how it turned out...

Glass float lamp from the Stockton Islander.

Thanks for looking!

Psycho Tiki D (I know I am and how's it hangin')?

We won't believe a word you say until you show us pictures!

Well, I don't know about the lights at thatch, but I did one using the stained glass spray and it came out pretty good.

The red one in the picture above was a clear 10" diameter globe. I put about 2 or 3 coats of the red spray on it. The bulb inside is a 15 watt white bulb, but I had a lower wattage red one in there for a while too. I think it turned out pretty nice!

(PS - the light on the right hand side is an ONATIKI - he makes great stuff!!)

Here's some I made.
I will try to dig up my old ones later.

These are some I made as well.
I made all but the last two.

I would like to build my own beachcomber bottle lamp, bigbro do you have more pics from this you can upload in this post?

bump...
something to make with those little blow fish!