Nelson bubble lamps  

It's a
sprayed on plastic material that is quite fragile and can tear easily, which makes cleaning very difficult. Still, it's a classic iconic and affordable example of great lighting....I have the large cigar shape.

bubble lamp production
It's a sprayed on webbing, originally developed for mothballing military ships. It looks, quite literally, like cobwebs as it's sprayed onto the wire frame. As the webs layer, they meld into a film.
The carrier for the web material is extremely high in VOCs. It's a very environmentally unfriendly method, which is why Howard Miller abandoned the process.

Weird
I always thought it was silly string.

I always thought it was silly string. ?
No, that was the George Nelson Lanterns.

interesting...
i had always read that HM had discontinued them due to a lack of demand. The VOC's would make sense though - considering I have a Cigar and Saucer and they still smell after several years (not strong, but I can smell them)! Thanks for the info.
My question is how do the Flo's Castiglioni ones differ from the Bubble Lamps? I know they are more webby looking, but I was under the impression they used the same process, same material.

I saw a video of
I saw a video of the FLos ones being made and it appeared the same process. Kind of creepy in a halloween/spiderweb kind of way.