Mel Fischer

Hi Donna, Yes they do light up.

I like the page with the new blow molds, now we need to see what Home Depot, Fred Meyers and Walmart are going to have. Personally some of my favorite blow molds the last couple of years are the Fred Meyers Halloween ones, they remind me somewhat of why my favorite blow mold manufacturer for several years was TPI.

A Halloween piece that we won't see many of, the General Foam Christmas Gnome repainted by Sidestreet Gallery in Portland, OR a few years ago. I was going to try setting up a Snow White and the 7 dwarfs Halloween display with them a few years ago but did not get around to doing it. The General Foam Christmas Gnome was an exclusive for Sidestreet Gallery in 2012 and those were the only ones ever made by GenFoam, a one year production. They were made from the Empire Christmas Gnome mold. I usually don't go for blow mold repaints but could not resist these due to my love for the Halloween blow molds.

I was told a few years before they closed that General Foam was a family owned business and that they lived in the UK and really had no interest in the business anymore and were wanting to sell it. I don't know if that was true or not as I did not follow up on it. Possibly that had a lot to do with the condition of the place.

As I recall, I think I was told that the flood you refer to was in 1995 when Empire was still in business and owned the plant. Mel

Most of the credit for how the website looks should go to my friend Nick as he has done and is still doing all the work of formatting the website and updating it as more pictures and information are submitted. THANK YOU NICK for bringing a lot of the enthusiasm and enjoyment of doing the research on the blow molds back for me again. As you know I am back taking pictures again after a couple of years of not doing so and thanks to you I am once again learning more of the history of the blow molds and their manufacturers.

HI Donna, I was sure he could explain it better then I could so I asked him if he would. Mel

It is a full redesign with many new features, blow molds and information I still have not learned everything new yet, Mel

Scott, you can send your picture and information contributions to Nick through the website. at the bottom of each page on the site in the text section you will see "Learn more about contributing" link and that will take you to a page with the information.

Scott, I do not know what pictures Nick has to upload yet but I am sure there are more, he handles that part of the project. I have asked him about the process for submitting pictures of items not there and I told him about your post here so I do think he will be answering soon as he is a PC member also. I would love to see the new blow-molded.com bring more interest and activity here to the blow mold forum as most older members here know that blow molds are my main interest in the Christmas and Halloween decorations. In my opinion this PC blow mold forum has always far out shown any other internet resource for information on blow molds in the respect that it retains a vast amount of old posts and information where on Facebook the posts basically disappear within a few days. Mel

Thank you for your kind words, it is appreciated. Just what are you thinking about in the term one on one on this sight? Mel

Just as a heads up, the software on the old blow-molded website was outdated and impossible to update or add anything to it. The whole website had to be downloaded and transferred to the new site. I did not participate in that part, my part on the site is to contribute information, corrections to errors that have been on the site for years and a few hundred more pictures. The new site is also adding pictures of the backs of the blow molds, catalogs, newspaper ads, more instruction sheets, etc. that could not be updated to the old website. At this time there are well over 2000 pictures on the new site. It is still a work in progress. Here's an unknown until recently Bayshore Industries "Hallo-Witch Broom Stick" that is being readied now for addition to the site there will be pictures of the front, back and both sides along with the little information that we have on it.. Mel

Your Nativity set looks to have been made in the 1960's. I do not have information prior to 1966 but the #1372 Nativity set is shown in the Judith Novelty Sales catalogs that I have access to from 1966 through 1968 and possibly before those years. They changed the crib to the straw style that Andrew described above in 1969. Up through 1967 they sold it as an unlighted set, in 1968 they sold it unlighted as #1372 and as "#1373 Same as #1372 with C7 spot light, bulb & wire. UL listed." (Catalog description) The Empire #1372 & #1373 sets are shown as 18" 4 piece Nativity sets. In 1969 Mary and Joseph were "electrified with C7 electrics" (Catalog description) Mel

I found the auction and have tried contacting the seller. https://www.ebay.com/itm/RARE-Vintage-Blow-MOLD-CRAFT-Style-40-034-CHOIR-Girl-CHRISTMAS-CAROLER-/154208041614?hash=item23e783fa8e%3Ag%3AvF0AAOSw9TRfurCQ&nma=true&si=Uc545D%2FxapXLcegr7XtFqWEyBFo%3D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Do you possibly know who won the choir girl or who the seller was? If so, could you send the information as we are updating the blow-molded.com website and would love to get front and back pictures of it to add to the unknown section so that possibly someone might be able to identify it. At this time I don't remember seeing one like this before. The body is similar to the 1959 Mold-Craft choir kids but I do not remember seeing any Mold-Craft bodies with that style red bow so I do not think this one was made by them. I do not recall ever seeing a ALFCO choir kid with this style gown or in the white & green color combination. The head is similar to the 1951 **** Wiken Mold-Craft #200-2 "Braids" choir girl but the Wiken one does not have bows on the ends of the braids. I do not recall seeing that style head on any ALFCO choir kids. The few Silvestri choir kids I have seen do not have bodies or heads like this one.