I was stumbling through the abyss that is tumblr the other day and happened to find an awesome tutorial on how to make your own lava lamps. Granted, these lamps don’t exactly light up any room, but they look cool on a table or bookcase nonetheless. On a related note, they’re a great craft to be made outside, and with the weather in Arizona being like it is right now – perfect -- it’s definitely advantageous of everyone to spend as much time as possible outside.
For this craft, you need vegetable oil, food coloring, water and the special ingredient: alka seltzer! Lastly, you also need a container for your lava lamp. I’m leaving this up to you, the reader, as I think you can basically use any sort of clear container. The S.L. Smith Photography website where I found this tutorial suggests using empty water bottles, but this tutorial was originally created for kids, so it’s totally up to you. I think even a vase would work out which would be a really cool centerpiece for a table.
To start, fill your container a little more than halfway full with oil. Then fill the rest of it (or however high you want to go) with water. Make sure you leave about an inch of space at the top for when the bubbly lava boils up!
Add about ten drops of food coloring to this mixture. They can be any colors you want. Then break your alka seltzer tablet into four pieces and drop each piece in one at a time, dropping the next one in when the first start bubbling.
And with that, you have a lava lamp! Granted, the whole thing only lasts as long as the tablet of alka seltzer, but it’s pretty easy with little mess and it looks really cool. If you’re into photography, this is a really cool craft to photograph. And if it’s spring break and you need a fun craft to do with younger siblings, children or cousins, then try this one out!
If you have any questions, e-mail me at fbreisbl@asu.edu.
