History museum displays local collector's holiday blow mold decorations

Dec. 14—A current holiday exhibit at the Joplin History & Mineral Museum showcases the vintage glow of Christmas blow mold decorations from a local collector.

Blow molds are a decorative lawn ornament, made for different seasons. They consist of a hollow piece of plastic illuminated from the inside and typically painted on the outside to reflect the plastic's shape, like Santa or snowman.

Blow molds get their name from their manufacturing process. They are formed by forcing melted plastic into a shape, and then blowing air into the plastic to inflate it into the form of the shell. It's a bit like blowing up a balloon, only with many more shapes.

Illuminated from within, the light shining through the off-white plastic gives off a warm and comforting glow, said collector Dustin Molinaro. He uses a warm-toned bulb to accentuate the effect, and describes it as a magical glow.

Molinaro said the first blow mold machine was used in 1881, while decorative blow molds became popular in the 1950s. His grandparents decorated their Colorado house with them for Christmas.

"My appeal goes back to when I was 8 when we would pull up at Grandma and Grandpa's house the first time they had decorated. You would just see the warm glow of the blow molds in the yard mixed in with the traditional Christmas lights," Molinaro said.

His grandparents started lending him one or two blow molds to decorate his house, Molinaro said. Around 10 years old, they gave him their entire collection of 12 blow molds. He remembers among these first decorations were candles, Santa in his sleigh, a snowman and an elf.

In high school, his collection grew as he started going to flea markets and began collecting. When Molinaro moved to Missouri as an adult, the collection expanded to hundreds of blow molds.

Now he has about 350 blow molds, through all holidays, and covering about 70 years of blow mold production. The sizes range from 6 inches tall, made as Christmas tree ornaments, to outside displays up to 12 feet tall.

"Christmas is my favorite holiday," he said. "It's my favorite time of year. I collect Easter, Halloween, Valentine's Day and a couple of St. Patrick's Day blow molds. But Christmas is the one time of year that holds that special place where I know I can go all out. Hopefully, I bring a portion of the joy I get from seeing Christmas lights to this day to anyone who sees my displays."

Christopher Wiseman, curator of the Joplin History & Mineral Museum, said he reached out to Molinaro for a Christmas exhibit. Wiseman is always on the lookout for collectors who want to showcase their collection at the museum, and Molinaro's collection was a perfect fit for the holidays.

The blow mold exhibit fits in with local history as a nostalgic look back on how we used to decorate our yards for the holidays, Wiseman said.

Molinaro's collection contains both new and used blow molds. In the early 2000s, the factories producing blow molds disappeared, but blow molds have made a resurgence over the past five years, he said. His preferred blow molds are from the 1960s through the 1990s.

For the exhibit, Molinaro took about 120 blow molds from his collection to the museum. He had family help him set up the exhibit over the course of a weekend, and it came out better than he had hoped.

"The first time I actually went in when it was done, it took me back to being a little 8-year-old kid again," Molinaro said. "Except this time, instead of being pressed up against the glass of a car window, I was pressed up against the glass of the display case. Admiring pieces that I've had since I was little, I still get that warm Christmas feeling."

There's also a display in his front yard at 1508 S. Moffet Ave. It has about 100 pieces. Molinaro said he loves seeing the glow from his house from a distance as he drives down his street. There's been great community reaction too, as neighbors said they were hanging lights for the first time inspired by his display.

"When I set up the display in the yard, there were 10 or 20 cars that would slow down, roll down the window and say they loved my display," Molinaro said.

Toys for Tots collection boxes are featured with his museum and home displays. Molinaro said last year several people offered him donations to help with his electricity bill from the display. Instead of a personal donation, he figured he would turn it into a donation to the community.