Thanks so much! My grandfather passed away in Milwaukee and I wanted these and will have them forever! Going to restore them. Super rare is right! I’ll be chaining them up here in Las Vegas!
The restored candles are on my porch illuminated every night. The ones that were my grandparents's are in the back yard in front of the garage illuminated every evening, along with all the other vintage C9 Christmas lights and a snowman blow mold.
I have two homes in the suburbs next to each other, and we have no crime, for well since I moved her in 1987, My front yards for Halloween are filled with blow molds mostly vintage about 30, never had a problem, now Christmas comes, and I have about 50 blow molds and same thing nothing has ever happened to my collection. I also have a classic car collection and never had anybody try to mess with my cars. This in Central Florida. Thank. God. Oh by the way love your restoration tips!!!
I've recently realized there were all sorts of iterations of blow mold candles. It was nice seeing your grandparent's I hadn't seen any like those before the flame is very unique.
Great Job!!!! I have a 33 year old Santa and Pooh Bear Santa the wife and I have used since we married, they need a little TLC, Thank you. Merry Christmas
Outstanding video! Thank you! I have a blow mold Santa and his colors are fading more and more each year. I read about repainting plastic blow mold, but I couldn't find a video anywhere. Thanks for making this and putting it up for people like me to see. And the old Woolworth-bought candles are amazing and wonderful. When I was a kid ALL Xmas decorations looked like that.
my old neighbor collects classic blow molds and makes a crazy display with all of his collections... every year.. i go over and help every now and then with the paint on some of his things.
These came out beautifully! It was a real treat to see the older ones, I've also noticed my most precious Christmas items are the ones with family memories attached . Also, I don't blame you! People will steal *Anything!* Lost some nice macrame plant hangers and my favorite vintage umbrella from letting it dry on the porch.
1.clean, clean. No residue from the stripper, no dirt or dust, no soap scum. 2. Paint it while it's illuminated. Takes away the guesswork. 3. Light coats. You can always go back and add more, but you can't remove drips when you put on too much. 4. you can use air brush if you have the skill.
I found this information elsewhere thought I would share to protect these old works of art. Yes if you are planning on doing a repaint, stripping is very important! You want to get it completley off. I use a stripper called Jasco it's available at Lowes. It is a heavey duty stripper that is not intended for plastic, however in the hundreds of molds that I have redone, never had an issue with it. I paint it on, let it sit and scrub off, some molds come off in seconds. Union molds it comes off the second the stripper hits it, Empire however takes some time. GF also falls right off. After their stripped I go over them with dishsoap and a magic eraser to get off any residue. Once clean and dry your ready to go. I usually start with the larger areas taping off and panting using the blue painters tape. For detail work or areas that have been freshly painted I use clay, Crayola model magic, it is great stuff to use can be used over a few times. I can paint an entire mold in one day without waiting for paint to cure this way. Take your time spraying start spraying beside the mold not directly on it this way you don't get a blotchy look. If your not sure at first illuminate the mold while your painting, as a little paint goes a long way! I use a lot of Krylon paints their Fusion line is great to work with. But pretty much any brand will work. I use Rustoleum american accents line on most of my Easter repaints since they have the colors Ilike.
This is how I repaint my molds but I’ve only done 2 however the spray paint which is the fusion like you use... it came right off my mold. I had to get a paint adhesion so far it works but I don’t like the texture of it really. Do u have issues with the paint scratching off?
I just found some blow mold candles that need restoration. Your video will be a lot of help! What type of paint works well if the whole thing lights up? Thank so much!
@@michellepantoja-hooley124 Nice.... there much harder to find. Get a piece of plexiglass and try different paints to see which one light goes threw without being blotchy looking.
I have a question.. So, originally blow molds, such as the candles were blown in different colors of Plastic, so that they would be non-opaque, and the light would show through.. so when you paint over them, the lighting behind them is not as bright. Is there a special kind of paint that you used? I bought a Santa that someone had spray-painted green over his red clothing, and nothing really lights up except for the white it was not painted, and his face. Have you run into this problem and what have you done about it?
Blowmolds are blown in one color only.... all the other colors are painted on. The light does not shine threw the paint as bright, as expected. The ambient light from the blowmold helps light the colors. On the candles I restored, the painted parts have no lamp in them, only the flame illuminates. I did not paint the flame part. I repainted the black hat on a snowman blowmold. Zero light goes threw the black, but it looks good illuminated, due to the ambient light from the blowmold. The key is applying a light coat, just to give the color you're looking for..... some light will shine threw if you do that.
I have a question about which spray paint you could use to spray a plastic snowman. The one I have has lost its color in some places and that's why I wanted to spray the old paint over it, but on the one hand I don't know which one and I'm afraid that soon I spray over it so that you can no longer see the light shining through
I used a Rustoleum spray can for use on plastic. I don't know how well light will shine through the paint, but I suspect if it was a couple light coats, it should work.
I have 24 of these blowmolds mine were from Blackpool illuminations Lightworks depot when I used to work there in 2010 fixing the Blackpool illuminations .until November2010 when the credit-crunch hit . These lights were from the Blackpool illuminations Christmas lights 1993 xmas lights display I checked with my boss if I could buy them .Richard Ryan said yes I don't see why not . so then I bought them from Blackpool illuminations Lightworks depot in 2010 for £50 and they all needed new lamps when I first got them . I use daylight Led golfball 9.7watt screw fitting lamps , coz I like to save energy
Old car alley and everyone else that has these or other blow mold decorations, double up 2 Walmart bags put some pebbles /stones in them , WTH the others like Santa or snowman bricks ? In the bottom . Problem solved on a whindy day of fallen over .🤔😂❤️🙏
Yep, I put a gallon zip lock bag full of sand in each blow mold. They stay where I put them. Though when we get 50+ mile per hour gusts in wind storms, I put them inside, as I don't want to take a chance on them getting damaged.
Love this video! Thank you for sharing... was just wondering how I could make our Santa come back to life. What kind of spray paint did you use exactly? Just anything from Home Depot or does it have to be a specific type of paint?
They look great, Howard. Masking things is tedious. It would be even neater to find bulbs that would "flicker". They make those "flame"bulbs that are supposed to replicate gas flame...lol...but those would be too dim.
I think masking is the most time consuming part of restoring anything. Took about twenty minutes to do the masking, and only took a few minutes to paint. I put flicker bulbs in grandpa's old candles once. They really looked bad, so I put the old 25 watt bulbs back in. I did find some standard base 2.5 watt LED's that give off about the same amount of light as the 25 watt incandescent bulbs. I may use them in the candles.
The ones I have don't have a pin. I can spin the flame top in either direction but it does not screw on/off. There is no magic spot (like a pill bottle might have) that might align so that you can pop it off. Does anyone know the secret to removing the flame in order to get at the bulb and socket?
Thanks OCA but I'm not optimistic. I did manage to get the bulb out last night. I removed the weight from the bottom, rolled up my sleeve, and reached waaaay up inside. I was just barely able to squeeze both sides of the socket with the tips of my fingers and get it out that way. I'm still trying to figure out how to get it back in though. I'm at the limit of how far my arm will go in and it's one thing to squeeze with my fingertips and wiggle it out and completely another to squeeze and then push the socket in far enough to seat it. Hmm maybe I can do it with tongs. If you think of anything please let me know.
Well my dad collects blowmold I believe he has 2 of those candles in good condition he has so many and there all vintage so u don’t want to know how much money,he spent probably around 10,000$ that’s what he said he has over 100 blowmold and there are all Christmas but I respect him because he does what he likes
I use outdoor paint from home deppot and i paint with brush mine santa clauss but when turn the ligth on looks terrible :( the marks paint brush looks everywhere...
The red part does not light. I have paint for when they do light. I have used it on some past blow molds I have done up. Regular paint will work, IF it's put on thin.
You would need a different type of paint if you were painting a mold that lights up entirely, because the paint use used won't let light through. Just a tip.
I found your restoration video very informative! I’m going to try to restore my mom’s nativity scene blow molds. Thanks for the video!!
Awesome restoration, I absolutely love the old vintage Christmas decorations, thanks for sharing
Thanks so much! My grandfather passed away in Milwaukee and I wanted these and will have them forever! Going to restore them. Super rare is right! I’ll be chaining them up here in Las Vegas!
The restored candles are on my porch illuminated every night. The ones that were my grandparents's are in the back yard in front of the garage illuminated every evening, along with all the other vintage C9 Christmas lights and a snowman blow mold.
I love blow mold decorations. Reminds me of times past
They look great!!! Good job!!!
I have two homes in the suburbs next to each other, and we have no crime, for well since I moved her in 1987, My front yards for Halloween are filled with blow molds mostly vintage about 30, never had a problem, now Christmas comes, and I have about 50 blow molds and same thing nothing has ever happened to my collection. I also have a classic car collection and never had anybody try to mess with my cars. This in Central Florida. Thank. God. Oh by the way love your restoration tips!!!
So far I have never had any issues either and hope it stays that way!
I've recently realized there were all sorts of iterations of blow mold candles. It was nice seeing your grandparent's I hadn't seen any like those before the flame is very unique.
What a great find. A couple of old time blow molds that provided joy to a former residence for decades now have new life at a new residence.
Nice job!
GREAT VIDEO 👍👍👍I have SOOOO many of THESE OLD plastic kinds!! They sure don't make them anymore!!!
Your painting looks great.
Nice backpack blower.
I have 1940s candles with that same flame top. 4 of them.
I just picked up a couple of the 1969 poinsettia blow mold candles at the Antique store a few days ago.
Great Job!!!! I have a 33 year old Santa and Pooh Bear Santa the wife and I have used since we married, they need a little TLC, Thank you.
Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas
Thanks for sharing.
Outstanding video! Thank you! I have a blow mold Santa and his colors are fading more and more each year. I read about repainting plastic blow mold, but I couldn't find a video anywhere. Thanks for making this and putting it up for people like me to see. And the old Woolworth-bought candles are amazing and wonderful. When I was a kid ALL Xmas decorations looked like that.
my old neighbor collects classic blow molds and makes a crazy display with all of his collections... every year.. i go over and help every now and then with the paint on some of his things.
There's a house by me with tons of blow molds..... it's in a past video of mine, maybe two years ago around Christmas.
Just beautiful! You did a fabulous job🙌
Those are so cool.
These came out beautifully! It was a real treat to see the older ones, I've also noticed my most precious Christmas items are the ones with family memories attached .
Also, I don't blame you! People will steal *Anything!* Lost some nice macrame plant hangers and my favorite vintage umbrella from letting it dry on the porch.
You did that exactly like I did and great results
The blow mold decorations are getting harder to find. I wish someone would open the General Foam plant back up.
I know this comment is old but General Foam is actually still open today. They recently made soldiers and union molds for Christmas.
Love the restoration. Job well done. May I suggest the flaming flickering bulbs. Just a thought.
Naha, I like the old school original look.
😍 It looks good I love it 🎄🕯🕯
Dude those things are clean!!!!
Excellent job….This video helped me restore mine. Oh yea, nice mini bike by the way……
You did a wonderful job. I'll have to do a snowman next spring. I bought one and lots of paint is missing for $7.
Looks great!!!!!
You did a great job!!
Nice job. I think the Edison bulbs are cool!
Cool!
They look better than new. ^___^
Great job
Looks good, Howard. It's great to keep family heirlooms alive. I've got my grandparents 1942 Zenith radio. I'm going to restore it this winter.
Did you ever restore it? That sounds cool
Looks great!
Very nice!
1.clean, clean. No residue from the stripper, no dirt or dust, no soap scum.
2. Paint it while it's illuminated. Takes away the guesswork.
3. Light coats. You can always go back and add more, but you can't remove drips when you put on too much.
4. you can use air brush if you have the skill.
I have a pair of candles made by sun hill that were just plain red so I painted those And they look beautiful
Well done Bud!!☺
I found this information elsewhere thought I would share to protect these old works of art.
Yes if you are planning on doing a repaint, stripping is very important! You want to get it completley off. I use a stripper called Jasco it's available at Lowes. It is a heavey duty stripper that is not intended for plastic, however in the hundreds of molds that I have redone, never had an issue with it. I paint it on, let it sit and scrub off, some molds come off in seconds. Union molds it comes off the second the stripper hits it, Empire however takes some time. GF also falls right off. After their stripped I go over them with dishsoap and a magic eraser to get off any residue. Once clean and dry your ready to go. I usually start with the larger areas taping off and panting using the blue painters tape. For detail work or areas that have been freshly painted I use clay, Crayola model magic, it is great stuff to use can be used over a few times. I can paint an entire mold in one day without waiting for paint to cure this way. Take your time spraying start spraying beside the mold not directly on it this way you don't get a blotchy look. If your not sure at first illuminate the mold while your painting, as a little paint goes a long way! I use a lot of Krylon paints their Fusion line is great to work with. But pretty much any brand will work. I use Rustoleum american accents line on most of my Easter repaints since they have the colors Ilike.
This is how I repaint my molds but I’ve only done 2 however the spray paint which is the fusion like you use... it came right off my mold. I had to get a paint adhesion so far it works but I don’t like the texture of it really. Do u have issues with the paint scratching off?
Nice restoration! 👌🏾
There on the porch illuminated why I am replying to you.
This guy has the best accent.
Nice
Looks great
Nice! I don't dare put mine out either. Too valuable to use outdoors.
Nice job! Love the mini bike! 👍🏻
Sold the mini bike. Got $800 for it.
Old Car Alley 😮
the ones you said were from the 40's or 50's we had as kids in the 70's...the base of the candle was black on ours
I was going to buy a set of these this past Christmas but they were pricey so I held off. This is a cool project!
I just found some blow mold candles that need restoration. Your video will be a lot of help!
What type of paint works well if the whole thing lights up? Thank so much!
That I don't know, only the flame illuminates on all the blow mold candles I have.
@@OldCarAlley Thanks. The ones I got have the light on the post as well. But will check for flammability
@@michellepantoja-hooley124 Nice.... there much harder to find. Get a piece of plexiglass and try different paints to see which one light goes threw without being blotchy looking.
I have a question..
So, originally blow molds, such as the candles were blown in different colors of Plastic, so that they would be non-opaque, and the light would show through.. so when you paint over them, the lighting behind them is not as bright. Is there a special kind of paint that you used? I bought a Santa that someone had spray-painted green over his red clothing, and nothing really lights up except for the white it was not painted, and his face. Have you run into this problem and what have you done about it?
Blowmolds are blown in one color only.... all the other colors are painted on. The light does not shine threw the paint as bright, as expected. The ambient light from the blowmold helps light the colors. On the candles I restored, the painted parts have no lamp in them, only the flame illuminates. I did not paint the flame part. I repainted the black hat on a snowman blowmold. Zero light goes threw the black, but it looks good illuminated, due to the ambient light from the blowmold. The key is applying a light coat, just to give the color you're looking for..... some light will shine threw if you do that.
Hey did you clear coat the paint afterwards? Didn’t know if it would chip off even clear coated
I have a question about which spray paint you could use to spray a plastic snowman. The one I have has lost its color in some places and that's why I wanted to spray the old paint over it, but on the one hand I don't know which one and I'm afraid that soon I spray over it so that you can no longer see the light shining through
I used a Rustoleum spray can for use on plastic. I don't know how well light will shine through the paint, but I suspect if it was a couple light coats, it should work.
I have 24 of these blowmolds mine were from Blackpool illuminations Lightworks depot when I used to work there in 2010 fixing the Blackpool illuminations .until November2010 when the credit-crunch hit . These lights were from the Blackpool illuminations Christmas lights 1993 xmas lights display I checked with my boss if I could buy them .Richard Ryan said yes I don't see why not . so then I bought them from Blackpool illuminations Lightworks depot in 2010 for £50 and they all needed new lamps when I first got them . I use daylight Led golfball 9.7watt screw fitting lamps , coz I like to save energy
I have some candles in my shed, I think I will paint mine
Did you paint the yellow top at all?
No, the yellow is not faded badly, so I left them alone.
How do the tops come off? Can't figure it out
Both my blow mold candles have little clips you pull out to remove the flame.
Old car alley and everyone else that has these or other blow mold decorations, double up 2 Walmart bags put some pebbles /stones in them , WTH the others like Santa or snowman bricks ? In the bottom . Problem solved on a whindy day of fallen over .🤔😂❤️🙏
Yep, I put a gallon zip lock bag full of sand in each blow mold. They stay where I put them. Though when we get 50+ mile per hour gusts in wind storms, I put them inside, as I don't want to take a chance on them getting damaged.
Your video quality is excellent. What do you use for a camera, & upload resolution? Great job on the molds!
That video I used a GoPro Hero 4+.
My parents had these and I love them too bad we lost about everything in a flood when I was little
How do you lose plastic blow mold candles in a flood?
Best yellow paint for candles?
I didn't paint any of the yellow flames, so I don't know what to tell you.
Awesome job. Love anything vintage so much better than the China made crap sold today.
How did you paint the holly?
I used a little artist brush.
After a couple years, how is the paint holding up? Do you ever strip the old paint off of old blow molds before repainting? Looks great, thanks
I don't remove the old paint. It's holding up great. I use them every year. They sit out from Thanksgiving to New Years day.
Old Car Alley awesome! Thank you
Love this video! Thank you for sharing... was just wondering how I could make our Santa come back to life. What kind of spray paint did you use exactly? Just anything from Home Depot or does it have to be a specific type of paint?
It's from ACE, it's paint made for plastic. I'm sure Home Depot sells it also.... any good hardware store should carry it.
What kind of paint do you use? Sorry I’m too tired to scroll comments and rewind.
It's Rust Oleum for plastic.
LED Bulbs go into my blow molds. I get the warm color to give it that original look.
Yea, I use LED's in all my blow molds now too.
Mine lights from the bottom, not just the flame on top, I'm afraid the paint might block the light coming thru.
Yea, you're probably correct..... You're lucky to have them, as not many have illuminated bottoms.
They look great, Howard. Masking things is tedious. It would be even neater to find bulbs that would "flicker". They make those "flame"bulbs that are supposed to replicate gas flame...lol...but those would be too dim.
I think masking is the most time consuming part of restoring anything. Took about twenty minutes to do the masking, and only took a few minutes to paint. I put flicker bulbs in grandpa's old candles once. They really looked bad, so I put the old 25 watt bulbs back in. I did find some standard base 2.5 watt LED's that give off about the same amount of light as the 25 watt incandescent bulbs. I may use them in the candles.
Did you repaint the candle flames?
No the flame I left alone, other than giving them a good cleaning.
How do you take the pin out?? To open?
Just pull it out with my fingers.... they come out easy.
@@OldCarAlley these aren't. LOL hubby tried. Well ill have him try again
The ones I have don't have a pin. I can spin the flame top in either direction but it does not screw on/off. There is no magic spot (like a pill bottle might have) that might align so that you can pop it off. Does anyone know the secret to removing the flame in order to get at the bulb and socket?
@@droladotdrola5708 Take them in to a worm place, let them warm up, and see if the pull or pop off.
Thanks OCA but I'm not optimistic. I did manage to get the bulb out last night. I removed the weight from the bottom, rolled up my sleeve, and reached waaaay up inside. I was just barely able to squeeze both sides of the socket with the tips of my fingers and get it out that way. I'm still trying to figure out how to get it back in though. I'm at the limit of how far my arm will go in and it's one thing to squeeze with my fingertips and wiggle it out and completely another to squeeze and then push the socket in far enough to seat it. Hmm maybe I can do it with tongs.
If you think of anything please let me know.
Well my dad collects blowmold I believe he has 2 of those candles in good condition he has so many and there all vintage so u don’t want to know how much money,he spent probably around 10,000$ that’s what he said he has over 100 blowmold and there are all Christmas but I respect him because he does what he likes
You need to use LED light bulbs because the plastic is old just to minimize the damage
I did install LED bulbs in them.
I use outdoor paint from home deppot and i paint with brush mine santa clauss but when turn the ligth on looks terrible :( the marks paint brush looks everywhere...
Yea, you got to spray them.
@@OldCarAlley THANKS !! 👍
You need to use paint that will let light through on a regular blow mold.
The red part does not light. I have paint for when they do light. I have used it on some past blow molds I have done up. Regular paint will work, IF it's put on thin.
what type of paint would you use if the area being painted needs to light up?
This is somewhere around 1940 or 1950
You would need a different type of paint if you were painting a mold that lights up entirely, because the paint use used won't let light through. Just a tip.
agree, but what type of paint?
You slopped those candles up real good. Next time leave them alone they'll look better, or do it right and strip the old paint first.
Beco is pronounced Beck-o ya clown