Very innovative... The water vapor and residue adorpted onto the glass will likely mess with the effect. You'd also have to use a vacuum pump to lower the gas pressure. But for clearing out nitrogen and oxygen, it could work. I'd be interested in if this works. Though make sure to test with argon-- any of the other gases will cost a killing!

Videos about what…?

@@StarmuteVII more plasma ball stuff

Hi Nate. Do you know if anything is written on the stem? That way we can identify it.

So envious. I've been looking for a high quality empty globe for ages. I hope no one minds me asking: If you don't have the supplies/gases/pump to fix it, would you be willing to sell it? If so, what price?

I sold it a while ago, the effect degraded substantially and it eventually just became a green foggy mess. No blue streams at all to speak of. From what i have heard their quality has declined substantially recently.

@@StarmuteVII Got it, I ended up grabbing one in January, so far so good. It will be interesting to see if it changes over time.

Hey there - so glad you liked the video! I would LOVE to see your unit if you can ever find it!!! I am fascinated by the history of these wonderful art pieces so if you ever find it, please contact me asap!

I have a Parker globe. It doesn't appear to have anything like a copper scrubber in the tip of the electrode. It just looks like some sort of coating on the inside. How would I go about putting one in there?

@@elgin7406 You would open up the globe, pull out the HV terminal, and use a pencil to stuff the scrubber or wool into the hole, 'til it gets to the tip. Then, you'd put the HV terminal back in, and re-assemble the piece. I wouldn't recommend this unless you know what you're doing. What globe is it? I'm curious how you aquired it as well.

@ST-wn9kd Thanks for the details. That's about what I figured it would take, but I wanted to confirm. I'll have to open it up and see what I'm up against with removing the electrode. I imagine there's some silicone or something holding it in there. I'm not certain the model name of my globe. It's dated 9/25/84 on the bottom and features handwritten initials (J.J. and D.M.) in silver paint pen, on top they wrote 195/988II. When I first got it in 2015, there were some electrical problems, so I reached out to Bill Parker for help. The following is what he told me about it "This particular piece was made early in the production of the second "Starsculpture" edition in 1984. The two Starsculpture editions were sold exclusively at Sharper Image stores and in their catalog at prices from $1800 to over $3000. Signed pieces from that period, represented in about 40 art galleries around the world, sold for even more." I was amazed to get a response from Bill Parker himself, almost exactly 31 years after the initial production of the piece. In addition to the details above, he estimated $450 for electrical repair services and even a full restoration, including gas replacement for $1200. My friend brought this home from work one day and gave it to me. He builds high-end custom homes, and one of his clients had this in their basement. He asked what it was, and they explained. When they said it was broken, he mentioned that I would really get a kick out of it and could probably make it work. They then just gave it to him and wished him good luck with the repair. There were multiple electrical issues, the power cord was frayed and missing the ground prong, the fuse and fuse cover were missing, and the thermal cutoff was failed to an open circuit state. Dispite Bill's insistence that i must not open the unit because it is "tamper-proof" I decided to have a go at it myself. I replaced the cord, fuse holder, and fuse. The thermal switch was just bypassed as I couldn't find a suitable replacement and didn't see a need for it. I don't leave it on or plugged in. It's typically only powered on briefly to give demonstrations for visitors. I made a video after my repairs to show off how it works. Maybe one day I'll do a more in-depth video. kzbin.info/www/bejne/fKS6nqCqlpWkb5Ysi=FrG-12KVYXOv_gYb

@@elgin7406 !!!!! For FREE? That's real lucky. I found an rtx 3060 in the trash, but a free parker globe is on a whole 'nother level! Kudos for fixing it, Bill's prices are ridiculous and he is a bit of a pain to interact with. And good luck with any further modifications! It looks like you have one of the globes with the rare, beautiful green. I must say I am jealous. But anyone who defies the scary warning and puts life back into a Parker globe deserves the piece.

krypton and iodine