Turning random Christmas blowmolds into whimsical Halloween decorations.

142155 Views 208 Replies 78 Participants Last post by RCIAG, 11 mo ago

Hilda

Discussion Starter · May 27, 2012

I have been asked to post my Halloween blowmold repaints out here ~ I didn't know how well received blowmolds would be. LOL

Even if you don't usually like using blowmolds, perhaps you have some random old candles or some other blowmold laying around your garage, that you might think about repurposing and using.

I've been decorating with blowmolds for around ten years now. Halloween is my favorite holiday to decorate for, and there obviously are far more blowmolds that were made for Christmas than for Halloween. A few years back, I had quite a few old, beat-up, scratched-up Christmas molds and I thought I'd see if I could make something to add to my Halloween display. That started a three year repurposing adventure ~ I'll start at the beginning, and just follow in somewhat a chronological fashion.

So to begin, I got some advice from other blowmolders who had experience stripping and repainting molds, got together the supplies, and gave it a go. Oh my! It's harder than you think (at first). You need a lot of patience and a gentle touch on that spray can. LOL The first things I tackled were a few candycanes and a couple of lollypops similar to the first picture here (those pictured are not the ones I used ~ the ones I used were in deplorable shape). As you follow this thread, hopefully you will see that my technique got a little better over the course of the three years. LOL

See less See more

3

Reactions: 5

1 - 20 of 209 Posts

Hilda

Discussion Starter · #2 · May 27, 2012

At first I used anything extra I had around ~ candles, candycanes. Using blue painters tape and Krylon Fusion for Plastic spray paints. I knew an ebay seller who had a lot of unpainted molds (like the tree) which had damage and were not selling on ebay. I got them for a few dollars a piece and I had a vision to fill my front yard with Halloween candy. I used classic Halloween colors and made it up as I went along. I have no idea what I'm doing... LOL Just having a good time. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it failed.

See less See more

2

Reactions: 1

Hilda

Discussion Starter · #3 · May 27, 2012

I was really liking experimenting with the technique. Lots of drips and mess those first repaints. Candycanes are actually kinda tricky to tape off! I thought they were gonna be a breeze. You can see I used any Halloween favorite thing as color inspiration ~ candycorn, witches stockings, the movie Beetlejuice, and even the tree-eating snake from Nightmare Before Christmas.

Confectionery Games Candy Art

Here they are in the display.

Light Lighting Font Candle Night

See less See more

4

Reactions: 3

Hilda

Discussion Starter · #4 · May 27, 2012

So I was addicted to converting Christmas molds to Halloween use. Only I had used up all the scuzzy candy canes. I started eyeing up some good Christmas molds... but just couldn't do it. LOL I looked around for what there was an abundance of for sale, that were really really cheap, to fill out the front yard display. At the time, sellers were sitting on TONS of these green lollypops. So we found a seller within driving distance who sold us boxes of them dirt cheap, and I amused myself an entire summer painting lollypops.

These were the first designs ~ swirls, twirls, JOL faces... (boy some of them were bad) LOL It was all just whimsical, and I was having fun.

Here's another candycorn swirl design. Ohhh... and m&m's ~ I made a lot of m&m lollies that year.

Here's all that Christmas candy turned Halloween in our display.

Animation Toy Finger food

See less See more

6

Reactions: 1

Hilda

Discussion Starter · #5 · May 27, 2012

I don't have a good system ~ It's all trial and error. This is a picture of my fancy paint shop. LOL The second picture is a bunch of the lollies I made that first summer. I painted a lot of them and traded them with other decorators to add new things to my display. I guess I could call it the Lollypop Summer.

See less See more

2

Reactions: 4

Hilda

Discussion Starter · #6 · May 27, 2012

..........

Hilda

Discussion Starter · #7 · May 27, 2012

Then someone dropped off a Candle Santa they had found out by the garbage (similar to the one pictured). The red was so scratched up and it needed to be repainted, but the face was still perfect. Hmmmmmm.... What could it be for Halloween? LOL

A wizard?

I did quite a few of these wizards, and in different colors.

Lawn ornament Plant Floristry Art

See less See more

4

Reactions: 2

Hilda

Discussion Starter · #8 · May 27, 2012

Another blowmold that was quite plentiful a few years ago was the Christmas Sitting Bears. At first the sellers I knew, only wanted a couple dollars for a used bear, and as a matter of fact, once I started painting these for Halloween, I was given quite a few of them. Now, as with all the Union molds, they have become a little pricey on ebay.

Here were my first four Trick-or-Treating Bears.

There is HildyBear, DracuBear, MummyBear and FrankieBear.

Pumpkin Calabaza Winter squash Orange Cucurbita

Cartoon Animated cartoon Toy Teddy bear Animation

Carnivore Bear Toy Red panda Canidae

Toy Animal figure Animation Stuffed toy Plush

See less See more

5

Reactions: 5

Hilda

Discussion Starter · #9 · May 27, 2012

Then a seller asked me if I wanted some unpainted gingerbread kids to paint for Christmas. (Unpainted molds don't sell very well.) Sure ~ I'll take them!

Added some Halloween color to the icing and gave them some treat buckets ~ I'm not sure these are my most convincing conversions... but I think they make a cute addition to the Hansel and Gretel type candyland theme.

See less See more

Reactions: 1

Hilda

Discussion Starter · #10 · May 27, 2012

After I did the MummyBear, I wondered how a cartoon-like mummy face would look on a lollypop.

Then I had to paint Oogie Boogie silhouette on one...

I'm a huge fan of Nightmare Before Christmas... so I had to do an interpretation of Jack ~ and then Sally ~ and Barrel too!

Here they all are in the display.

Jack-o'-lantern

Grass Art Toy Plant Fictional character

I think that brings me to the end of the first year of repaints. The lolly stash was gone. As you can see, I was trying to add to my Halloween display and recycle shabby, scratched-up blowmolds and give them a new life. Also if I could find those molds the sellers were eager to get rid of for a steal, I would jump on them. What blowmolds I use, has changed each year, depending on what I can find really cheap.

See less See more

7

Reactions: 5

Hilda

Discussion Starter · #11 · May 27, 2012

So the next Spring I started painting a few things again. I had repurposed some Christmas candy canes the previous year and my initial thought had been that they would look like witch's stockings ~ perhaps place them on the ground by the foundation of my house, like the house had fallen on a witch. LOL Nope, that was (as the kids say) a FAIL! So I stripped just the top off them and added a snake face. Eh... not great, but funny looking enough. (You cannot see at this angle, but they have two big white fangs in the front of the mouth.)

See less See more

Reactions: 2

Hilda

Discussion Starter · #12 · May 27, 2012

..........

Hilda

Discussion Starter · #13 · May 27, 2012

Repurposed another pair of Christmas green mint lollypops to Halloween colors.

See less See more

jenscats5

· #14 · May 27, 2012

I love it!! Great job!!

Reactions: 1

Hilda

Discussion Starter · #15 · May 27, 2012

We got so many positive comments from visitors about the four Trick-or-Treat Bears I had painted, that we decided a bunch of them out front of the narrow strip on the other side of the front walk would be a cute little theme. We found as many faded and shabby ole bears as we could, and I began to make a bunch of classic Halloween costumed bears. I would have liked to have more of the white bears, but the brown ones are far more plentiful.

Here are the CowboyBear, Native AmericanBear, FirefighterBear and HoboBear.

Toy Animation Animal figure Stuffed toy Fawn

Pumpkin trick-or-treat Toy Calabaza Gourd

Toy Cartoon Yellow Stuffed toy Figurine

Toy Cartoon Autumn Fictional character Figurine

~ and FarmerBear, ConvictBear and PirateBear.

Toy Vehicle Tractor Pumpkin Riding toy

Panda Bear Toy Art

Cartoon Toy Photography Pumpkin Canidae

See less See more

7

Reactions: 2

Hilda

Discussion Starter · #16 · May 27, 2012

Also DevilBear, SkellyBear, GhostBear and PunkyBear...

Red Toy Figurine Leaf Tree

Toy Stuffed toy Plush Beanie Pumpkin

Toy Stuffed toy Plush Mascot Costume

and a CaveBear.

Cartoon Leaf Tree Toy Autumn

See less See more

5

Reactions: 2

Hilda

Discussion Starter · #17 · May 27, 2012

I guess you could definitely call 2010 the Summer of the Bear. I finally ran out of bears, and display room. Although, I still have a ton of ideas for more ~ there are endless possibilities for these little cuties. Here's a picture of my version of the build-a-bear paintshop that summer. LOL

Here are a few that I made for a trade. An orange version of the Witch Bear with a darling little cape. (Union had made an orange plastic bear, but is hard to find.) A FrankieBear with one of the bears with a molded bow. Two IndianBears and another DracuBear.

~ and here are all those Trick-or-Treat Bears on Treat Street in our Halloween Display. TOTs love to sit down amongst them and have their pictures taken.

Toy Collection Figurine Souvenir Art

Snowman Pumpkin Toy Art Collection

Toy Stuffed toy Plush Art Souvenir

See less See more

9

Reactions: 2

22606

· #18 · May 27, 2012

Many of those are quite ingenious (not to mention humorous). Nice job on the redos, Hilda.

Reactions: 2

Hilda

Discussion Starter · #19 · May 27, 2012

At some point, my blowmold collecting friends started to tease me about the bears and was I ever going to paint anything else again. Someone threw down the challenge that I could not change the List Santa which has to be the most common Christmas blowmold to find (the paint on the face was terrible). He told me I would never be able to repurpose it to Halloween, put it into one of my scenes and make it believable. I couldn't use props or add a costume ~ I could only modify it with paint.

I took the dare and ... please meet the Undertaker of Sleepy Hollow Graveyard! hahahahahahahaha I know ~ not totally believable, but really funny!

Here is the Undertaker in the scene. I don't use him any more, but it was a funny challenge.

I also used a free Christmas elf that needed to be repainted, and made a little Gravedigger.

Leaf Tree Photography Plant Photo caption

See less See more

5

Reactions: 1

Hilda

Discussion Starter · #20 · May 27, 2012

Next I wondered if I could do something Halloween with the Mrs. Claus blowmold. (This is our Christmas mold for example.) For my first repurposed Mrs. C., I went fairly obvious. I converted her to a Witch, using the Witch from the Wizard of Oz as my inspiration. I wish I had gone a tad lighter on the green and heavier on the black. It's all experimentation.

Cauldron Tree Photography Fashion accessory Fictional character

I got excited when I saw that she did indeed repurpose very well. No one guessed she was originally a Christmas blowmold. I wish you could see what bad condition these molds were before I repainted them. That is part of the thrill ~ bringing them back to life! The next conversions were another Mrs. Claus and a Christmas Elf. I keep the original faces whenever possible.

I wanted to make a 'good witch' for the Candyland scene. This is our Candycorn Witch and why not? I made her a Candycorn Elf.

trick-or-treat Toy

Illustration Fictional character Santa claus

See less See more

4

Reactions: 1

1 - 20 of 209 Posts

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.