FAQ

Blow-Molded is not a retailer and does not sell any products directly. Our website is for historical and information purposes, although some products may still be in production and available through a retailer of your choice. We try to include purchase links where possible.

You can search the entire archive from the search bar at the top of any page; enter a manufacturer, holiday or figure name to get started. If you are not sure exactly what you are after, browse the gallery by season or category, or dig through the archived catalogs, which reproduce original manufacturer pages.

Yes, and contributions are always welcome. Photos of a figure, or clearer images than the ones already shown, are best submitted through our Upload Photos page. For notes, corrections, links or anything else, email us at [email protected] and we will take a look.

Blow molds did not appear in isolation. As blow molding rose to prominence from the 1950s into the 1980s, injection-molded and vacuum-formed decorations were produced right alongside them, frequently by the same companies and listed in the same catalogs. Those related processes are part of how blow molds came to be, so we include notable non-blow-molded pieces where they help tell that story. The focus of the archive is firmly on blow molds; it simply did not begin there.

Often not. For many manufacturers, this reflects the manufacturing year of the metal mold (aluminum, etc.) which in the case of companies like Empire and Union Products - could be used for nearly five decades. Some companies, like Union Products and Pan Asian Creations, will often include such information on a barcode label (or as part of a stamped catalog number). Researching your item in the gallery should hopefully provide a rough timespan for the item. Many often came in unique paint variants over time, which allow you to further narrow down the time window.

Start by checking the figure for a stamped maker's mark or logo, which many manufacturers included in the mold - often on the back of the figure, or near the base (sometimes underneath). If there is a UPC barcode label, its first digits identify the company: our Company Directory lists known UPC prefixes and links to a tool that can confirm the owner. When there are no markings to go on, search the site for a mold or catalog number, browse the gallery for a visual match, or look through the catalogs, where a figure often appears alongside its manufacturer.

Stamped numbers are usually one of three things: a mold number that identifies the specific mold, a catalog number from the manufacturer's product line, or the year the metal mold was created. Searching any of these numbers in the archive may turn up a match.

Often, yes. Plenty of figures were never stamped, but shape, size, seam placement and paint style are frequently enough to match one against examples in the gallery. Comparing your figure to similar ones there is usually the best starting point when no markings are present.

While many blow molds within our archives are no longer produced, several companies remain in business. This currently includes Blinky Products, Cado and Pan Asian Creations to name a few. Many do not sell directly to consumers. Some retailers, such as Ace Hardware, Home Depot, Lowes, Menards, Target and Walmart tend to carry a limited to large selection during various holidays. You can often find blow molds for sale on third party resale sites, such as eBay, ShopGoodwill or Mercari.

Value comes down to how many were made and how easily one turns up, not age or looks alone. Many figures are assumed to be rare and priced at hundreds of dollars when they actually had long production runs and reappear regularly for a fraction of that. Genuinely rare and valuable figures do exist, so the best approach is to be patient and reasonable: let a few examples pass before you buy, and use our introduced and discontinued dates, where available, as a guide to how long a figure was produced.

For routine cleaning, use mild soap and warm water with a soft cloth, and avoid abrasive pads or harsh solvents that can dull the plastic. Fading from years of sun exposure cannot be reversed, though faded figures can be repainted. Bear in mind that repainting moves a figure away from its original finish, which many collectors prefer to keep intact.

Most figures are lit by a light kit: a bulb on a cord that sits inside the figure. The majority use a C7 bulb (E12 candelabra socket) or a medium-base bulb rated around 40W to 60W, while a few used larger C9 bulbs. Many collectors now fit LEDs to reduce heat and power use; where you can, choose a neutral white around 3000K to 3500K, otherwise a warm 2700K is typical. Larger figures may take more than one bulb.

They were designed for outdoor display and cope well with cold and moisture. Their main enemy is sunlight, which fades the plastic over time, so figures kept indoors or in shade keep their colors vivid for much longer. When displaying outdoors, weighting the base with sand and securing the figure helps it survive wind.

A blow mold is a hollow plastic figure formed by the blow-molding process, in which molten plastic is inflated inside an aluminum mold until it takes the mold's shape. Most are lit from within and used as seasonal decorations. Strictly speaking the term refers to the aluminum mold itself, but it is widely used to mean the finished figure.

1938, however, it didn’t come into common use until the early 60s. Prior to the 1960s, injection-molding and vacuum-forming processes were mostly used. They continued to be used after the blow-molding process became popular as well.

Although "blow-mold" is commonly used to refer to a figure due to ease of use, this is technically incorrect. The blow-mold is the aluminum mold used in the manufacturing process. The technically correct term would be "blow-molded figure", yet it is rarely used.

To avoid the licensing fees required to use the trademarked "Styrofoam" name, Poloron Products introduced a similar material under their own trademarked name: vacucel. The vacucel name is unique to Poloron Products, however the two names are commonly used interchangeably given how alike both materials are.