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How to Get Flakes Out of a Lava Lamp

Lava lamps are nostalgic items, and many used lamps are available for sale. Once you get your treasure home, though, you may find that you bought a dud̵2;a lamp with flakes in it. These flakes can be wax from the lava itself, or glitter flakes. Lava lamps are not manufactured with both glitter flakes and wax ̶0;lava.̶1; If you purchased one with both, a previous owner likely added the glitter, not the manufacturer. Getting rid of flakes suspended in the liquid is a matter of replacing the liquid. This can be tricky because the saline concentration of the liquid surrounding the wax must be balanced correctly for the wax lava to flow.

Things You'll Need

Distilled water
Drinking glass
Microwave oven
Straw
Epsom salts or pickling salt
Food coloring
Liquid dishwashing detergent

Instructions

- 1
  Unplug the lamp and let the wax cool for at least two hours. Once the wax has cooled, you won't accidentally pour out the wax lava when you rinse out the water solution.
- 2
  Unscrew the cap at the top of the lamp and pour out the water solution. Pour in distilled water until the lamp is half full, and then pour it out again. Repeat. When filling the lamp, make sure to hit the side of the lamp with the water, not the bottom where the wax has collected. The wax is delicate and easily breaks up into the sort of flakes you̵7;re trying to rinse out. Also, be sure not to shake the lamp while rinsing it. This also can compromise the wax.
- 3
  Fill the lamp with distilled water, leaving 2 inches of space at the top. This air pocket will be essential for the lava to flow; its volume and buoyancy increase when heated.
- 4
  Microwave a drinking glass of distilled water for 10 to 20 seconds. Dissolve as much Epsom salts or pickling salt in the glass as you can. (These salts aren't iodized, which can cloud the water.)
- 5
  Run the lamp for an hour to get the lava heated. You can leave the cap off.
- 6
  Dip a straw one inch into the salt solution. Put your thumb on the open end of the straw to hold the solution in the straw. Drop the solution into the lamp. Wait 10 minutes and repeat. Keep adding the saline solution to the lamp until it is more dense than the heated wax. You will know you have added enough salt when the lava flows to the top of the bottle, cools, contracts and drops back to the bottom of the bottle.
- 7
  Add one small drop of liquid dishwashing detergent to the lamp, which will reduce the surface tension of the wax so it can break into smaller orbs. Add two drops of the food coloring of your choice. Screw the lid back on the bottle.

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