chunk swag lamps

glad these came up, i love chunk lamps. I have two of the circular orange yellow (fireball) ones in my living room. Though the same color, the chunks on one are rectangular, the chunks on the other are triangular.
having them shipped can be a bitch because the small pebble like chunks on the base have a tendency to fall off, you have to watch for bald spots.
On the notion of making them, i work with resins and have considered making some of these lamps. The chemical thing is an issue. resins generally never completely gas out their isocyanates, and have always wondered if i am getting low doses on a daily basis every time the lamp is turned on and heated up. There resins out now have varying degrees of toxicity, referring to outgasing during its process of hardening and after. So if i get the time to experiment, i would first look at resins that are supposed to be more consumer/hobbyist friendly.
I have looked at the inside of these closely, and judging from drips and slumping on the inside of the lamp, my guess is that they had a negative rubber mold that they slushed or brushed up. Resin in its process of going from liquid to solid has a taffy stage, so some of the drippy slumping may be from brushing up that material when it hits the taffy stage. Then I assume that while the core of the lamp is still tender,it is removed from the mold, the outside is brushed with more resin, and the premade chunks and or pebble bits are attached.
Not big on the spun resin lamps myself, but i would assume there is some machine work involved.
I would love to find out more about how these were made, and any photos and articles from the period. Hopefully this thread will not get buried too far and someone can shed more light. Sven, i think you have another book, Hanging swag lamps of the 60's and 70's.
At the Tonga Hut show on August 2nd I will have some of my new cast/hand built swag chunk lamp mugs. Will post pics up soon.

On 2008-07-10 10:04, OceaOtica wrote:
At the Tonga Hut show on August 2nd I will have some of my new cast/hand built swag chunk lamp mugs. Will post pics up soon.

I was hoping you were gonna say that. :D

On 2008-07-10 10:04, OceaOtica wrote:
resins generally never completely gas out their isocyanates, and have always wondered if i am getting low doses on a daily basis every time the lamp is turned on and heated up.

Arrrgh! OK, from now on I will wear a gas mask around the house in the evening...and will only take it off when I drink from my lead-glaze Tiki mugs.

Nice amber resin super chunk lamp closing on e-bay now, still cheap:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160258608796&ssPageName=ADME:B:DBS:US:1123

Spoke to lady of vintage age that I have ceramics classes with. She said she used to make these lamps years ago. She recalled the resin being very smelly (but of course). She said the resins were purchased from a paint store. She had classes, i think she said, at macarthur park. They would make them outside. She specifically recalled making the grape bunch lights, having a glass mold to pour resin into. That seems odd to me, do not know how that would work. She pointed me in the direction of another lady who teaches still today, that used to make the lamps. I hope to contact her and pick her brain. If all this info is on the up and up, it would explain why there is no real info on a company that made them. They were all made by people for hobby and home.

I think both is true, some were home made, some manufactured by lamp companies. This very popular style:

....was offered as a do-it-yourself kit, I have a full page ad for these from an old magazine, I just can't find it right now (arrgh!)

For example, my newest acquisition, this resin flower lamp, was used for 60s apartments in different designs, so it couldn't have been home made:

I posted Kate's example of one in situ in an apartment A-frame on page 2 of this thread, here is a cylindrical version that used to hang at the Kona Pali apartments (and at the Kona Kai):

I just can't decide if this beauty looks better ON....

...or OFF, it is just so yummy and sharp:

in fact it looks SO clean, it must have never been used, like it came right out of the box! :)

I am looking very much forward to hear any recollections from your senior contacts, maybe they can recall where else similar resin lamps were available, and maybe they have some materials left.

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2008-07-13 15:18 ]

On 2008-07-13 10:47, bigbrotiki wrote:
Nice amber resin super chunk lamp closing on e-bay now, still cheap:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160258608796&ssPageName=ADME:B:DBS:US:1123

someone got a deal.

On 2008-07-08 08:38, naugatiki wrote:

I saw on just like this one on the film The Trip and believe it's a handicraft

Craft stores used to sell the wire frame and lamp parts, you could either buy the resin pieces or they had molds to make them your self. I always wanted to try one as a kid but my Mom would flip out, "Oh my gosh! That is such white trash Stephen."
I wish I had not listened.
Millions of those were sold, where are they now?

Here's a chunk lamp I found down Ohio way a month or so ago....

I love this one, great find.

The chunkier the better! :D
Wendy, any luck with that family connection you mentioned at Oasis?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=330274663988

Not very chunky, but cheap.

croe67, Sweet find! And in TIKIDAVID's neck of the woods. Ohio's got everything!

offer him 10 bucks for it ,stevie

Hello all sorry if I’m coming into this thread kind of late, we have been collecting all kinds of vintage resin swag lamps for years.
Sven may remember, but wasn’t there a guide (for the resin lights) floating around 10-12 (?) years ago? I think Dug first showed it to me and I had some Japanese customers show up with one but haven’t seen it since. Does anyone here have a copy, it was a B+W type deal not very professionally produced, but there were some manufactures names, a picture of the lamp, etc… It really fueled my interest in finding more pieces.

I suspect most of the lamps (pictured) were professionally made because the home made jobs really stick out.

First off as you see they were popular enough an item to buy at Sears also you’ll see some of the designs (from earlier in the thread) in question.

A few of ours below, sorry for the poor quality I just shot them quickly otherwise I would never have gotten around to posting.

First is the ultra cool space age shape obviously professionally made.

Next home made crazy, you can’t see but it has huge bubbles and all kinds of
shapes floating in the panels.

Next the three on top are manufactured (it would have been something to see them spin the liquid resin on the back lamps) the bottom is someone’s project.

Thanks for looking,

My very best alohas,

Bosko

I LOVE resin lamps. I have a few hangin around the house. Always looking for more on ebay, but sometimes they do get expensive.

On 2008-09-29 22:44, bananabobs wrote:
croe67, Sweet find! And in TIKIDAVID's neck of the woods. Ohio's got everything!

On 2008-10-01 07:39, TIKI DAVID wrote:
offer him 10 bucks for it ,stevie

Hey TIKIDAVId, I was not knocking you, but it seems that you confuse easily.
I called you out at the beginning of this tread because I felt you were playing games, You responded very rudely, very un-Tiki Central, I backed out and tried to make nice to keep the peace but with cracks like this, and others, you wont back off.
Dude, chill.

Found this candle holder and lamp while thrifting a while ago.

I like these lamps. They are like clunky dilithium crystals.

here's my addition ,
30 dollars worth of white jagged glory with a blue bulb!
(moved over to the show me your swag thread),sorry

[ Edited by: TIKIVILLE 2009-01-15 11:01 ]

Here is a spaghetti/chunk combo lamp I bought at a yard sale about 18 years ago when I was coincidentally 18.
It still has this really great green art glass light bulb my (then) girlfriend gave me.

I finally rewired it a couplah years ago as it had a faulty cord.

.

Aloha!

ST

Since there isn't anything for sale and this has become more of a collector, show and tell thread, how about moving this to collecting tiki or beyond tiki? Moderators?

Sure, if it's ok with Tiki David.

fine with me

Saw this on Ebay today.
Starting bid: US $9.99

23 hours 1 min (Jan-13-09 18:30:00 PST)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=360121966660

does that mean your bidding ?
is this up fer grabs?

Opps sorry.

Na I was broke but I knew some one on here would dig it.

I got so much stuff now and not one more open wall socket.

Cool if some one from TC got it.

I just love seeing these lamps.

I will stumble across one for myself when the lord thinks I should. That is the way it always is for me.

Serendipity

FINALLY found me one! It looks so groovy in my office, I just can't tell you! Oh, and I got if for only $32, what a steal! I'm swag-happy!

On 2009-04-23 10:46, Bongo Bungalow wrote:
FINALLY found me one! It looks so groovy in my office, I just can't tell you! Oh, and I got if for only $32, what a steal! I'm swag-happy!

Oh I love this. I never seem to find swag lamps in good enough shape to warrant paying the asking price for them.

Bongo you got such a good deal and it looks great!

My latest acquisition in the chunky resin lamp genre:
I decided my bathroom needed one such light to create a more cosmic, "meditative" mood...

"Handcrafted in California by House of Mosaics":

Aaaaah! Super-chunky goodness!:

...made from rare and toxic plastic compounds!:

And that Sven is awesome also!! Maybe if I think about it hard enough I will stumble upon one of these somewhere in the wild that is of the same caliber.

I actually have room to hang stuff in my place (as oppossed to wall space left!) so I am actively seeking one of these out.

Great finds!

I'll second that motion .
Thats one groovy smashing lamp baby ....yah dig !

[ Edited by: 1961surf 2009-04-24 23:30 ]

found this shade today. after a couple hours cleaning and rebuilding....
this sucker is huge, about 20 in. diameter. from past posts, I think they call this 'ribbon lucite'

"Pets are welcome,Children 'MUST' be on leash" TD

[ Edited by: TIKI DAVID 2009-06-21 14:32 ]

A Flintstone lamp for sure..

Here is one I picked up today...

Looks nice lit up!

Later,

PTD

Yes it does!

Love It!

lots of great lamps in this thread....I Picked this up last week, not installed yet

[ Edited by: Queen Kamehameha 2010-08-16 21:50 ]

Nice Trifecta!

WoW, Queen K, WoW

You guys have inspired me - I want a chunky swag lamp!

Found this ribbon swag a while back and finally got it up in the bedroom!

With flash!

Posted earlier today in Beyond Tiki Finds but they belong here ~

DAYTIME

NIGHTTIME

They need to be cleaned up and hung properly but I'm very excited to have them. :D

Nice score Boris! Those are really cool!

I've had this one for a while but it wasn't wired. My handyman husband fixed this up yesterday so we switched it out with another hanging in our Tiki office.

Very Nice, I like the reflection it puts on the wall.

On 2011-08-01 06:19, Bora Boris wrote:
DAYTIME

NIGHTTIME

They need to be cleaned up and hung properly but I'm very excited to have them. :D

Wow, what a score! I think you put it succinctly, and I can't say why, but chunky resin lamps such as these EXCITE ME !!!

Here's a really unique chunk lamp. It looks like it was made out of all of the extra scrap parts laying around after a few lamps were made.

All of the colored chunks are organized by size in little clusters.

Kiara that lamp is Spectacular! :D

WOW!
Both of the previous lamps are insanely cool!

Best
Mark