[chuckwagon]

I'm sure there has to be a thread for this topic, but for some reason it is eluding me. I noticed just slight amount of discoloration this past year when I pulled the foamies out of storage. I'm just now getting to storing them again until next season. Does anyone have any storage tips? Basically, I've wrapped them in individual black trash bags, and tied the ends, and put them inside the access door to our crawlspace on a concrete slab where it will stay cool and dry. Last year they were in the attic with no ventilation and extreme heat which makes me wonder if that is what caused the slight fading.

[pagemaster1993]

This is the age old problem with foam pumpkins. Where do I store them? How do I store them? I personally would like to put them in bins, but that would cost a lot of money to buy enough bins to fit them all. I however never noticed any discoloration on any of mine so far.

[chuckwagon]

Sorry Page, I should have been more specific about the discoloration maybe. The outside skins were fine, just a bit dusty. The discoloration I saw was on the actual foam on the cut areas. I would just assume that it was from the extreme heat conditions of the attic. I'm feeling pretty good about having put them in black garbage bags this year so to keep any light out, plus putting them in the crawlspace area to keep them cool and dry. Hopefully my idea works and I'll have my beauties looking fresh and clean in about 9 more months. Do you have any specific storage techniques that you use that I might be able to apply for myself? I though of bins too, but like you said... That gets expensive

[pagemaster1993]

If you get big packages in the mail like I do you could use those. I took a big one that was lying around and taped the flaps together to they were standing up so I could fit more in it. This does not really solve the dust problem unless you cover the top of the box with something. Other than that I kind of just have them sitting around.

[Zombie Pumpkins!]

I don't know anything about the foam discoloration (never noticed it happening on mine). But I'm leery about storing anything in the attic really. Especially something that is vulnerable to heat. Especially if you don't have proper ventilation up there.

Some of the carvers on this forum have a TON of foam pumpkins, so hopefully they can chime in eventually with explanations of their clearly creative storage methods.

Personally, I keep my foam pumpkins in large cardboard boxes. These boxes are big enough to hold about 3 large size foamkins. And then I just stack these boxes in my storage area. Of course, there's a lot of wasted space in the box, around the pumpkins. But that's just the nature of storing round objects I guess.

My mom has another method for storing foamies. She uses extra large garbage bags, which hold maybe as many as a half dozen pumpkins. And then she hangs these bags from the ceiling in her basement. It looks like a bunch of massive spider egg sacs down there. Pretty creepy.

[pagemaster1993]

Personally if it were my own place I would probably have most of them up all year round, but this is not my place so I have to put them away each year. Although I keep the Edgar Allen Poe carving in my room.

[sloaner]

I have stored them in the attic for a few seasons and it got real hot up there. I didn't have anywhere else to store them at the time. It didn't seem to do any damage to them but to play it safe I now have them on shelves in the basement.

[Pumpken]

I store min in individual grocery bags. The small ones I bundle together and hang from hooks in the garage. The large ones I put on shelves. This year I built shelves wide enough to store them two deep. The uncarved ones I put in black garbage bags and hang from a pulley.

I also have some discoloration on the carved areas. I think that is just natural aging, but it might be the heat in the garage during the summer. It does not seem to affect the look when they are lit though.

[chuckwagon]

OMG Pumpken!! I tip my hat to your commitment! Great stuff! Thanks for posting the pic.

[Doh]

I'm like Pumpken....I store them in my garages shop area.


i love this idea though!
http://www.familyhandyman.com/DIY-Proje ... g/View-All

[chuckwagon]

Great idea on that link. my problem with it is that my wife already keeps me busy enough with building projects for our chicken coops (yes I said chicken coops) that I wouldn't have the time to do a project like that. not to mention that by the time Im done with chicken coops, the last thing I wanna do is build more stuff, LoL.

[Doh]

my problem with it is that my wife already keeps me busy enough with building projects for our chicken coops (yes I said chicken coops)

Well now....I wouldn't know anything about that....or would I?

[Pumpken]

Here are some more storage photos. Some of the shelves now hold two rows of pumpkins. I put the small ones in large garbage bags this year instead of bundling them and hanging them on hooks. They are now on the pulley with the uncarved pumpkins.