Just broke one of my snowmen

[shane page 137]

Not real happy right now. 😭

[Doneal 15]

Sorry to hear that. The one Draw back to Blow Mold is the Sun. The sun makes the plastic brittle and can get as bad as breaking by just handling them. Over the last two years I've had at least 7 candy canes to break and had to be thrown away. These candy canes were bought used from e-bay so I really don't know what kind of life they had.

[Doneal 15]

Just found a post from Scott Rob He said he use a clear UV spray. I'm going to check into it.

[Rotatorman 23]

Yeah, definitely attempt to repair that snowman.  Too valuable to toss.

[Scott Rob 106]

 I would for sure repair it hopefully the plastic around it is in good shape. I added a pdf that I have used by Carrie on repairing damage like yours. Hope it helps.

Blowmold-repair-tutorial.pdf

Edited November 17, 2020 by Scott Rob

[Franchise_24 75]

What happened Shane?

[shane page 137]

I tried to slide him over a bit and my hand went through him. Old brittle plastic, Im always careful but evidently not careful enough this time. When I have time I will try to use some super glue and doctor him up a bit. If that don't work it looks like I will have some spare parts for the other one. 

[donna123 188]

Oh no!!....I would be so upset especially over this snowman.  I hope you can figure something out to fix it.

[shane page 137]

Remember in the movie, A Christmas Story, when the "old man" was gluing back together the leg lamp? That's going to be me.

[Scrooge 17]

I experience an on going problem with brittle blowmolds...especially the past several years. In my heyday my displays were primarily using snowman blowmolds. I did fly too close to the sun and eventually got burned out on doing the big display. I sold 95% of my collection. I still put up a display alternating winters, using spiral lighted trees and the 10 snowman blowmolds which people did not buy...the faded, common, dinged blowmolds.  It is these remaining blowmolds which have a breakage problem. The fact that they did not sell at the end may have been indicative of the life they lived before i acquired them. Possibly older examples, possibly stored in sunlight, or a hot garage attic... hard to say for sure.  (when i owned them...i stored them in a shed, or outside in a shady part of the property covered with a huge tarp... yes, i had a 'storage' problem). None the less they were not brittle back then. they have slowly and gradually become more and more brittle as time slips past).  I have posted about this in this forum.

In my humble opinion, trying to repair or save a brittle blowmold, and i can speak with first hand knowledge of brittle snowman blowmolds...is an exercise in futility. Why?... because the area that broke out today is just the edge of the storm. So, you want to glue the broken piece back into position. Sure, i suppose its possible... i 'know' its possible...except the plastic 1/2" away from where you are gluing is just as brittle as the area which previously broke. Ive glued and taped, pretty soon just the pressure of your hand on the blowmold while youre making the repair causes another crack. The repaired area remains intact while the surrounding surfaces fall away. Haha. Im 110% serious. 

I know my words are not what you want to hear..but rest easy because it is not all doom and gloom. I 'have' been able to limp several of my snowmen out to the next display for years beyond what some people would do.  Ive got several bumpys where the brim of the top hat is pretty rough...cracked...broken... missing pieces. But i use them anyways. From the street you would be hard pressed to see the cracks and missing pieces of top hat brim. Ive got a couple of 48" tall 'giant' snowman blowmolds. The top of the (faded) red top hat breaks out on those. In an effort to squeeze out another year of use, and to prevent  snowfall from going into the snowman onto the light bulb...I have used ice cream pail lids to make crude repairs to the top hat. Crude?... remember my previous comment about the slight pressure of your hand against the plastic as you make your repair? Its a house of cards.  You are not going to restore these brittle old blowmolds back to their new condition no matter how careful you are. Glue it, tape it, youre only delaying the inevitable. Dont commit a lot of money or effort.  You might get 1-2-3 more seasons out of your old friend if youre lucky, and careful,  then one day the head will break clean off and its over. And believe me... if youve got old blowmolds which are questionable... and during display tear down you find one which is frozen to the ground...never and i mean NEVER attempt to nudge it loose by hand. Just resign yourself to getting the bucket of hot water to aid removal. I dont need to tell you how i learned this. :-)

This year my snowmen and spiral trees are set up in my girlfriends front yard 15 miles away. Her first display. Loading the blowmolds into the suv for the drive to her house was a slow and calculated dance. I heard a few cracking sounds... a found a few tiny slivers of white plastic on the carpeting when it was all said and done. Not too bad.   Her neighbors have been giving her the 'thumbs up'.

Merry Christmas everyone.

Scrooge