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Help! What are those globe/bubble hanging lamps called? |
Batfink
Tiki Centralite
Joined: Jan 15, 2004
Posts: 13
From: Bob Lizarraga
|  Posted: 2007-08-09 4:03 pm Permalink
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
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Psycho Tiki D
Grand Member (5 years) 
Joined: Oct 13, 2006
Posts: 1783
From: The river Styx, can you pay the toll?
| Posted: 2007-08-09 4:16 pm Permalink
They are called "Glass Float Lamps". Originally made from Japanese glass fishing floats!
PTD
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Batfink
Tiki Centralite
Joined: Jan 15, 2004
Posts: 13
From: Bob Lizarraga
| Posted: 2007-08-09 4:21 pm Permalink
THANKS so much-- I owe ya one.....
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bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 10566
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2007-08-09 4:37 pm Permalink
Quote:
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They are called "Glass Float Lamps". Originally made from Japanese glass fishing floats!
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...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. 
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VampiressRN
Grand Member (5 years)
Joined: Nov 23, 2006
Posts: 5092
From: Sin City Lincoln Hills (NorCal)
| Posted: 2007-08-09 5:15 pm Permalink
 I love a happy ending.
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Mai Tai
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 21, 2004
Posts: 1430
From: Exotic Isle of Alameda
| Posted: 2007-08-09 5:50 pm Permalink
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.tikiroom.com/tikicentral/bb/viewtopic.php?topic=20904&forum=18&vpost=253123
http://www.tikiroom.com/tikicentral/bb/viewtopic.php?topic=21320&forum=7
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[ This Message was edited by: Mai Tai 2007-08-09 17:58 ]
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tikiskip
Grand Member (6 years) 
Joined: Nov 26, 2005
Posts: 2092 | Posted: 2007-08-09 6:31 pm Permalink
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.
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bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 10566
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2007-08-10 12:33 pm Permalink
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:
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Swanky
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 03, 2002
Posts: 4807
From: Hapa Haole Hideaway, TN
| Posted: 2007-08-10 1:24 pm Permalink
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.
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Tiki Zen
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 15, 2007
Posts: 352
From: Too far from the beach Bowling Green, KY
| Posted: 2007-08-10 1:49 pm Permalink
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?
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Fugu
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Feb 06, 2006
Posts: 120
From: Atlanta, Georgia
| Posted: 2007-08-10 3:03 pm Permalink
Where did you find a 24" diameter float? That should make a cool (and enormous) light.
[ This Message was edited by: Fugu 2007-08-10 15:04 ]
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Mai Tai
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 21, 2004
Posts: 1430
From: Exotic Isle of Alameda
| Posted: 2007-08-10 3:38 pm Permalink
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.
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[ This Message was edited by: Mai Tai 2007-08-10 15:43 ]
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Polynesiac
Grand Member (first year) 
Joined: Jan 29, 2004
Posts: 2026
From: San Pedro, CA
| Posted: 2007-08-10 8:30 pm Permalink
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.
Quote:
| 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? |
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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.
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Unkle John
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Oct 22, 2003
Posts: 1216
From: Middle-of-the-Ocean, TX
| Posted: 2007-08-11 06:29 am Permalink
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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. |
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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.
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icebaer69
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Feb 03, 2007
Posts: 191 | Posted: 2007-08-11 07:28 am Permalink
ok - how did the pufferfish get into
the small opening ?
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On 2007-08-10 12:33, bigbrotiki wrote:
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