Post #478279 by Tipsy McStagger on Thu, Aug 20, 2009 5:07 AM

take the broken one, fill it with plaster or resin to make it solid than repair the damage.....next, make a silicon mold of it than rotocast it, so that it's hollow like the original moai..clean up the casting and paint it ....you are going to need samples to send to china (painted and finished)..these samples will not be returned to you so have extras on hand......also make sure that the copyright on this this moai design is free and clear as well as the box art....the last thing you want to do is reproduce these exactly like the old ones, down to the original art, without permission from the original company that made them (good luck with that).....best to come up with a new designs or somehow tweek this one so it's different....anyway, if you need help as far as what you will need to send to china and how the process works (at least how it worked for me when i had stuff produced there) drop me a line. belive it or not, alot of stuff is still produced here in the states....you may find a company here that can create blow-molded tikis for string lights for you....then you only need find a supplier for the string/socket set up that you can buy in bulk . next, create box art and find a printer/box company that can print and cut your boxes....save money by assembling/packaging the lights yourself in your home....you don't need to have cellophane in the packaging..just check out the ways in which string lights have been packaged in the past....pick out a cheap easy solution that won't cost a bundle to make and you are on your way!

i wrote all this assuming you were going to produce a bunch of these, how ever, if you are just making one set or two for yourself than that's a different story....you may be better off making your own moai castings cause no company is going to do a small run of tikis (8-16 or so)..cast them in clear resin and tint it to make them solid in color but translucent enough for light to pass through like the original ones....

I have also made my own string lights in the past by using plastic tiki cup tumblers...just make cut outs (see how it's done on an existing string light) in the tops to fit the wire and socket in and cut the bottoms off (so they don't fill up with water when it rains, silly).....when the holidays roll around, stock up on out door light strings you can use for your own projects...

" In a perfect world...Elvis would still be alive ....and all the elvis impersonators would be dead!!"

[ Edited by: Tipsy McStagger 2009-08-20 05:15 ]

[ Edited by: Tipsy McStagger 2009-08-20 05:16 ]