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The History of Blow Mold Lawn Ornaments

Blow-mold lawn ornaments have been available in the United States from the 1940s to the present, but the popularity of the pink flamingo in the 1950s brought these ornaments to fame. Union Products was the most successful American blow-mold company, staying in business until 2006. Some companies, like Empire Plastic Corporation, made blow-mold ornaments along with popular toys. Many American companies created blow-mold ornaments from the 1950s through the 1990s. Blow-mold yard decorations are still available, but few blow-mold companies are still operating in the U.S. at time of publication.

  1. Shapes

    • Blow-mold lawn ornaments aren’t just for Christmas. Manufacturers made popular cartoon characters and children’s book characters, along with penguins, nativity scenes, candles and angels. Snoopy was a popular blow-mold ornament, and many Disney characters were made by Santa’s Best. Artistic Latex Form Company produced blow-mold angels and carolers, as well as some animal figurines. Blow-mold ornaments prior to 1956 were two-dimensional, but after that time, Union Products and similar companies made three-dimensional blow-mold lawn ornaments with a small light bulb for added visibility and charm. These ornaments are made with compressed air, not mouth-blown like glass.

    Composition

    • Blow-mold ornaments were made of celluloid and similar plastics. Some later blow-mold ornaments were made of fiberglass. One of the common products for lawn ornaments is Vacucell, but these are not true blow-mold ornaments. The Vacucell process requires two parts for each ornament, assembled with staples on the sides.

    Companies

    • A.J. Renzi, Blinky Products, Drainage Industries, Fantazia Marketing Corporation, Faster Forms, General Foam Plastics, General Plastics, Noma Lites International and Art Line continue to produce plastic blow-mold ornaments, although not all production is in the United States. Some of the original blow-mold companies now produce other products, including Grand Adventure and Santa’s Best. Others have sold the metal molds used for blow-mold lawn ornaments. In 2008, Farley Technologies sold blow molds to Nu-Dell Manufacturing Company, according to BlowMoldsRUs.com. Nu-Dell makes acrylic frames and office plaques, with no indication of molded ornament production at the time of publication.

    Individuals

    • Don Featherstone sculpted the molds for Union Products, including the pink flamingo mold. Featherstone may have designed as many as 750 blow-mold characters in his work for Union Products from 1957 until Faster-Forms purchased the company. Featherstone did commission work for Faster-Forms in 2008. Thomas Steiner of Huntington, Indiana, has collected blow-mold lawn ornaments for nearly half a century and has historical knowledge of various companies and products. He provides free information about blow molds and maintains BlowMoldsRUs.com. Steiner also has posted instructions for building a carousel to hold several blow molds at SantasProjects.com.

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