We all need light in the darkness, but the variety of lamps available can boggle the mind. Anything can be made into a lamp, if you can attach a battery or run an electrical cord through it. The lamps you display in your home say something about your personality, so choose carefully. Here are some I’ve taken a shine to.

The Abduction Lamp was designed by Lasse Klein and is not yet available for sale. Otherwise, I’d have one ordered already! The cow or a human will be an add-on accessory.

Kelly Butler at Tramp Lamps (a “dangling bordello of unmentionables”) makes lighting out of vintage lingerie and corsets. What looks like either a work of art or a public display of laundry during the day will fill a room with a sultry glow at night.

More illumination, after the jump.

Gooseneck lamps can be made to resembled anything flexible or somewhat curved. This Spinal-column Lamp has become somewhat of a hit in chiropractors’ offices. Flexible? Of course!

I bought this Robot Desk Lamp by Holmes for my brother for Christmas. It shines a light from its face, and holds your pens and other tools in its adjustable arms. It was once in stores all over, but doesn’t seem to be avilable anywhere now.

The Wet Lamp has a light bulb submerged in water! A silver rod acts as a dimmer switch when it is adjusted into the water. This might scare you (it does me), but the site says it is safe. Still, I can imagine a cat or a child knocking this off the furniture and watching it shatter while plugged in.

A lightbulb doesn’t have to have a shade when it’s this clever. The Lamp Lamp is a 30 watt lightbulb that can be used in any standard socket, guaranteed to draw stares and smiles.

Sleekness and usability come together in the Mini-Z LED Desk Lamp. It has six adjustable joints, 40 energy-efficient LEDs, and takes up almost no room. Too bad it’s not available right now.

Make your own White Trash Lava Lamp from a glass jug and an old saucepan. The point to this would be mainly to prove you could do it, but the author cautions that it could be dangerous. I’d take his word for it.

Instructables will show you how to make this lampshade out of trash. Trash meaning printed paper and coffee grounds.

You might have a stack of old CDs, or possibly all those discs AOL is constantly sending out. Recycle them into a lamp! The plastic used to make a disc thick enough to handle is horizontally transparent and a flourescent tube gives a soft glow. Jim Watters has instructions for making your own, using either an AC cord or batteries.

TheANIMEX is a new lighting system inspired by the bioluminescence of deep-sea animals, a process combining two chemicals to produce light without heat. TheANIMEX features an LED layer and a reflective layer, which combine to produce 3D effects in space. It can be designed to cover a variety of surfaces, such as buildings, walls, and even furniture!