Custom bobbleheads wobble on desktops

When Bryan Guise made his first customized bobblehead in 2002, he had no intention of positioning himself at the center of two converging trends: the resurgent popularity of bobbleheads and a broader consumer desire for customization. Business has held steady since then, even as competition has increased; he makes about 1,000 dolls per year.

Mr. Guise earned a bachelor's in ceramics from the University of Iowa before starting It's You Small (itsyousmall.com). A one-man operation out of the basement of his Des Moines home, he charges between $150 and $200. His favorite features to craft are mustaches and facial hair.

Stevens's pert little bobblehead with its slim body is cuter than most. In April, the young couple was in Las Vegas when Goderre, a wedding photographer, spotted a bobblehead booth. Rather than having a sculptor work from a photograph, his wife, an unclaimed property manager, sat for a photo that was converted to a 3D mold.

The resulting bobblehead cost $200 and is an incredible likeness, complete with the sunglasses Stevens wore on her head that afternoon.

Cashman Crystal, the vendor, introduced bobbleheads to its six concession stands in Las Vegas in early 2005, selling $22,000 worth per month. Now they sell $27,000 a month, bobbleheads accounting for 20 percent of their crystal keepsake business.

The bobblehead's Golden Age was the 1960s. What began in the '50s as a giveaway for fans at ballgames spread to other sports and later to celebrities and advertising. In the past decade, according to Lou Criscione, who recently published a guide to "bobbing head" dolls, the Internet has made it easier for boomer collectors to reconnect with the vintage papier-mâché models of their youths. The latest craze is said to have been launched in 1999, when the San Francisco Giants commissioned 35,000 Willie Mays bobbleheads. The company that made them, Alexander Global Promotions, is the largest manufacturer of collectible bobbleheads, manufacturing 2 million to 3 million per year.

In what may be a harbinger of its growing popularity as the workplace decoration of choice, this year the personalized bobblehead made appearances on two sitcoms: "Scrubs," set in a hospital, and "The Office," a sendup of cubicle culture. The Dwight Schrute bobblehead, proudly placed on the fictional character's desk in "The Office," was created by It's You Small.

As for Goderre, he initially envisioned a matching set: His and her bobbleheads. Stevens would be clad only in a towel. He would be playing golf. Stevens wanted to be a cowgirl – or something else "exciting." But Bobblehead Kate was his creation. So she agreed to let her face appear over a body draped in a tiny pink towel.

"Ultimately, I wanted to have my whole family and all my friends on a shelf," says Goderre. "Thirty bobbleheads. That would be cool." But for now there's just one.

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