# Turning random Christmas blowmolds into whimsical Halloween decorations.



## Ween12amEternal (Apr 15, 2006)

Hilda 5.7.2012:



Hilda said:


> Jenscats, Garthgoyle, Hollow, The HalloweenLady, and StringyJack ~ Thank you all for your kind words. I appreciate it more than you know!!
> SpookyGirl ~ Thank you!
> 
> I use 3m Safest Stripper. It's a gel stripper that is very gentle BUT you need to do at least two, sometimes more, coats. Brush it on. Let it sit an hour or two. Scrub it off with a toothbrush or other stiff brush. Wipe all the goo off with paper towels as you go. Then scrub the heck out of it with a little dishsoap and a scrub brush. Rinse it clean, wipe it dry and repeat until paint is all off. I tend to do one section at a time too so that I don't make too big of a mess at once.




Hilda 5.30.2012



Hilda said:


> I know there are a few different paint strippers that can be used, but my personal preference is the 3M Safest Stripper. It's a semi-paste paint stripper. I purchase it at our local True Value (by the gallon of course).
> 
> I use Krylon Fusion for Plastic spray paints.  Once in a while, for an unusual color, I will use regular Krylon spray paints. I have some experience using Rusoleum Universal paints but found they splattered too much. I've used Rustoleum American Accents paints BUT they are hard to control as they spray more forcefully and thicker than Krylon. I've also used Lowe's brand, Valspar spray paints for plastic, but had uneven coating and trouble with them drying. All in all I am a HUGE fan of the Krylon Fusion brand. Once in a while, you will get a can that splatters... or is too 'runny'. I'd say 99.9% of the time, I've had no problems with the Krylon and would highly recommend them.
> 
> Thanks for your compliments. Hope I answered your questions.



Hilda 6.5.2012



Hilda said:


> Thanks again for the comments! It's especially great to read about members who are looking at blowmolds 'in a different way'.
> 
> I would be lying if I didn't say that there are usually blowmolds in almost every room of the house. LOL Christmas has taken over the attic. The basement is full of ones waiting to be traded, repaired, stripped or repainted. So last year, we finally bit the bullet and rented a storage unit for the Halloween stuff.
> The way we look at it every hobby has costs ~ skiers have a season pass ~ golfers have greens fees ~ boaters have a boat slip... We have a storage unit.
> ...




Hilda 6.7.2012



Hilda said:


> ... I use Krylon Fusion for Plastic (rattle cans) spray paints. No brushes, no airbrushes. I use about four different methods of taping off areas with blue painters tape and/or Crayola Model Magic white clay. Bascially just working around the blowmold, covering what you don't want painted and exposing what you want painted. I put a plastic garbage bag over the entire mold and cut a hole where I want to paint, and tape it down to make sure there is no overspray to other parts of the blowmolds. Then repeating that process for every different color. Sometimes it's actually pretty tedious. I don't use a template or stencils ~ I just freehand cut designs into the tape with an exacto knife and remove the sections where I want the paint to cover.
> 
> I feel bad when people ask me to tell them how to paint, because I am pretty much a beginner and just toy around with methods ~ which translates into I have messed up a lot of things! LOL I have difficulty explaining the way I paint these things, and I worry about others following my advice and messing up their own molds. However, the steps are easier to REpaint a mold back to it's original beauty versus making new designs on them because your pattern is already there. What did you have in mind? Did you want to restore faded or scratched up molds? I'll send you a pm.
> 
> Thanks again for your interest, and I'm honored to be the subject of your first post!




Hilda 6.25.2013



Hilda said:


> ...I use 3m blue painters tape for delicate surfaces. I always let one color cure for a week before I tape over it. Then hold my breath that the paint underneath does not lift back up. It does happen on occasion. I definitely prefer the Krylon for plastic spray paints. On my Little Tikes projects I always use a spray primer first. The colored plastic of Little Tikes items always seems to be visible. I find the primer helps with that. Again, I like the Krylon spray primer for that.



Hilda 6.26.2013



Hilda said:


> ...For the bats~ I have an old cutting board. It's some kind of white (rubber/plastic type). I only use it for crafts so there is no food/grease residue on it. I take wide pieces of blue tape and smooth them down on the cutting board. Then using an exacto knife I cut out any kind of small designs or letters. It's like making your own little stencils. Lift up the design and smooth the piece of cut-out tape onto the blowmold. Then overspray. Carefully pull off your little stencil. ~ Does that explanation make sense?



Deadna comment 6.27.2013



Deadna said:


> ...Makes perfect sense...... they looked so great I thought they may have been stickers
> I cut stencils all the time only I do it on a piece of glass. It keeps the tape sticky and the exacto cuts like butter on the hard slick surface. Thanks for all your help!



Hilda 2.8.2016



Hilda said:


> ...Well, in the past I did try to hobble a painting how-to together, but to be perfectly honest, I was experimenting with the process and I messed blowmolds up as much as I got the end result I wanted. The original designs I made on them do ruin the original blowmold, as I used painter's tape and then cut the design into the tape, right on the blowmold, with an exacto knife that would irreversibly score the plastic. There is a good basic painting tutorial on another forum, and anyone interested, shoot me a pm, and I'll direct you to same. I can say that Kryon Fusion for Plastic spray paint was the best I found to use for blowmolds.
> Thank you again for the interest, and kind words.




Hilda 7.77.2016



Hilda said:


> Awww That's a classic! Thank you for the kind words.
> I would overspray the black in the eyes and mouth with Krylon Fusion for Plastic spray paint. I prefer to use the blue painters tape for delicate surfaces, to cover the rest of the pumpkin. Some kind of plastic or cling wrap to make sure the rest of the blowmold is covered so everything is air tight except for the eyes, nose and mouth.
> 
> Kind of the reverse of this overspray I was working on.
> ...


----------

