Custom bobbleheads wobble on desktops

Kate Stevens and Mike Goderre have built their 18-month marriage on a foundation of good-natured banter and bartering. Negotiations big and small. So much so, in fact, that in exchange for letting her out of a visit to his parents' house, Mr. Goderre scored a charming and cherubic oversized image of his wife's head, bouncing on a spring.

"He likes to bobble my head when I'm away," says Ms. Stevens. The dynamic caricature, which Goderre pled with her to pose for, sits on the desk in his home office.

Bobbleheads, those nostalgic mementos from the dime store days, have already made a comeback in ballparks and sports arenas, with celebrities and politicians. But now the personalized version is slowly taking hold among a generation known for its embrace of irony. Today's enthusiasts are commissioning kitschy likenesses of loved ones – or, even better, of themselves.

For young adults who grew up begging their parents to let them sit for the pastel sketches sold on boardwalks, the bobblehead is the contemporary caricature.

It can be an affectionate token, minus the sappy earnestness of a gilt-framed wedding photograph. And because almost no one actually looks good as a bobblehead, it's more acceptable than gazing at a picture of yourself at the office. Sure, they can be narcissistic – but they're also redemptively funny.

Of course, the personalized bobblehead has a ways to go before attaining the inexplicable popularity of, say, the Furby. And sales are tiny compared with the sports bobble industry. Yet thanks to word of mouth, and some strategic bobblehead appearances in workplace-centered sitcoms, demand is picking up.

Take Whoopass Enterprises (whoopassenterprises.com) in Oak Park, Ill. Three years ago, when the company began making bobbleheads, requests coming in at just 200 to 300 per month were handled by the three owners. Today, 25 employees manage about 1,000 orders a month.

It's one of a few upstart Internet companies run by young, offbeat entrepreneurs – much like the clientele they cater to – that will fashion a personalized bobblehead based on a photograph.

Valentine's Day is one of their busiest times. "We get guys who like the boxer-shorts-with-little-hearts bobbleheads to give to their girlfriends," says Darby Rosenfeld, who started the company with her husband, Jaeson, and Anthony DiMaggio, a friend with a master's in fine arts from the Pratt Institute in New York. The dolls (a bride in a gown, her groom dressed as Superman; 'Popeye Tim' with overdeveloped forearms) cost $55 to $85.

For the Rosenfelds, bobbleheads are a family affair. The couple recently had their first son, and friends have demanded they "document his growth in bobbles."

"Babies do look very bobbleheady," says Mrs. Rosenfeld. "The head is in the right proportion." Surely they are the only ones.

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