INJECTION MOLDING vs ROTO-MOLDING:

Our first doll was created with a process called injection molding. In this process you make a two part steel mold of each doll part. These molds are sandwiched together and hot melted plastic is injected to the mold. The plastic bakes and hardens under the extreme heat for few minutes, then the molds are separated and your hard plastic part comes out, cooled in water at room temperature.

Clea's torso is hollow and has two parts. The front part and the back part which are glued together in production. Four mold parts all together have to be made:
1.Facing side of front torso
2. Interior side of Front torso
3. Facing side of back torso
4 Interior side of back torso

Her arms and legs are solid so we only had to make two mold parts for each body part. But we also had to have injection molds made for all the internal parts of Clea's jointing.

So what does this all mean? Lots and lots of money. Because the molds are steel they are very expensive and take 3 to 6 months to fine tune.

Roto-molding, is different. It uses a softer plastic called vinyl. Most doll heads are made from vinyl because you can soften them under a heat lamp and root hair into them.

In Roto-molding, you start with a one piece mold. Because roto-molding doesn't require such extreme degrees of heat, the molds can be made out of less costly metals like aluminum. The molds look like tubs or balls with caps on the end of them. The operater drops liquid vinyl into the mold, locks on the cap then puts it in an oven. The parts then spin around in the oven. The syntrifical force of the spinning causes the vinyl to adhere to the walls of the mold. It can best be described like a carnival ride that spins you around and around until your body presses up against the walls.

Before the vinyl has fully backed they pull and twist the part out of the mold. As soon as the part is free of the mold, it untwists and pops into the doll part shape it's supposed to be. The cooling process completes the hardening of the part.

In our world of 4:1 scale dolls, most doll bodies are mold injected and most doll heads are roto-molded. The advantage of mold injection is that you get solid, hard plastic parts which are great for jointing and making articulated dolls. Parts can be produced quickly and in mass quantities. The fit of the parts are extremely reliable and the parts themselves remain strong and durable for years to come. The molds remain strong and you can get about 30,000 parts out of your mold before you have to replace it.

The disadvantage is that it takes half a day to heat up the humongous machines. You can also waste anywhere from 100 - 500 parts tweaking the machine and getting everything perfectly heated, lined up, and the skin tone corrected. You can only hold one piece, in one machine, so the color of doll parts can vary from one machine to the next. Once you have this however, you can produce thousands of parts in a short period of time. You can't have concaved areas in mold injected parts. If you do, you run the risk of the hard plastic parts not pulling out of your steel mold. This limits an artist's creativity. Because it takes two mold parts to make any single doll part there is always a seam. Most of the time these seams run down the entire length of a leg or arm. To avoid or disgiuse seams the pieces must be perfectly matched in the mold making process or, scraped and sanded down in production. Hard plastic also has a nasty habit of coming out shiny, so additional sanding is sometimes needed in production to give the doll a nice matte finish. Lastly, the cost is so exorborant that the artist has no choice but to use the same doll body again and again to recoop the cost of the molds.

The advantage of rotomolding is that it is less expensive. You also don't have to produce thousands of doll bodies at once. Rotomolding is perfect for the small and limited edition dolls. Within limitations, there can be concaves in the sculpt, so the artist has more freedom in their sculpting. Because it is a one part mold there are no seams running down the legs and arms. Seams only show on the cap of the part and these can be hidden in the jointing of the doll. Vinyl also has a natural skin like appearance which warms up in your hand. And, best of all, the parts can be softened with heat to allow for hair rooting.

The disadvantage of roto-molding is that the parts shrink 2-3% when they come out of the mold. While the shrinkage is predictable, it is not reliable. This combined with the pieces softening under pressure, and heat, make it very difficult to produce an articulated doll. Roto-molded dolls are typically strung. So this adds to the limitations of creating artuculated vinyl dolls. Assembling rotomolded parts can also be more time consuming than qucikly gluing injection molded pieces together. So, while you save money in molds, you may pay more a little more in produciton costs. Finally, because the molds aren't solid steel you can only get 500 - 1,000 doll parts out of each mold before you have to replace it.

In both techniques, a master mold is created. This is your perfect mold. It is tested but never to be put into production. A mold is then made of this master mold and new "Working" molds are casted for production. As a whole, injection molding is used for mass produced dolls. Especially those produced in quantities of 10,000 or more. Roto-molding, while used in mass produciton of doll heads, is reserved normally for limited edition and artist dolls.

THE NEW ARTICULATED CLEA BELLA

Our first production of Clea Bella was mold injected. It is an industry standard in fashion dolls. Numerous artists recommended that I use this technique. I wanted roto-molding but after our first attempt, it was a disaster. I bowed to the experience of others and followed their recommendation. Over the years, however, I've been working with the factory in developing a fully articulated vinyl doll. While the mold injection process makes for superior articulation, I prefer the seamless and skin like properties of the roto molded vinyl. For me, creating an articulated vinyl doll was more like becoming an inventor than a doll artist. I can't give away any of my engineering techniques, but seeing our first sample has helped all of us here at Bella! realize our dream of having Clea and her friends be exactly what I always envisioned.

I have many more samples to review before I can give the big thumbs up, but I thought you might get a kick out of seeing our first doll sample. As you can see our girl is already exploring her expressiveness and creativity. Just imagine how much more expressive she will be when she has a head!! L.O.L :-).

Thank you to all the collectors and dealers who have hung in there while Clea gets her body makeover. It is still impossible to give an exact delivery date until the sample is completely approved. But we are getting closer and eagerly await the day when we can toot the horns and declare "Clea is coming! Clea is coming!". Until then, remember, we will sell no doll before it's passed my pickiness.

enjoy!
-- BOGIE

ARE ALL OF THE CLEA BELLA DOLLS ASSEMBLED IN THE STUDIO
YES!!!! We remain a fully operating doll studio. We order parts from various vendors around the world, including the USA and China. We then complete the asembly in our Monrovia studios. This allows us to have a tighter control on quality and gives the colletors that even better sence of pride --- MADE IN THE USA!!!

DOES BOGIE SCULPT THE DOLLS?
YES! Bogie is very proud of the fact that she can, without disclaimer, call herself a 100% doll artist. Bella dolls are designed and sculpted by Bogie. Bogie also works out most of the engineering, such as jointing and facial screening, of her dolls. And if that wasn't enough Bogie has also sculpted, designed and printed many of the accessories that accompany Clea Bella products.

DOES BOGIE DESIGN ALL OF CLEA'S COSTUMES
Nope. Although Bogie has designed most of Clea's costumes she feels very strongly that Clea Bella collection is served best by NOT letting her ego be the headliner on the Clea Bella collection. "Great performances come from sharing the spotlight," says Bogie and she is always looking for other brilliantly talented artists to be a part of the Clea team.

Vince Nowell has been an indescribably asset to the Clea Bella project. Bogie's initial sketches of Clea's wardrobe was very "Tom Boyish." Vince's artistic eye and constructive criticism helped Bogie develop Clea into a more sophisticated young lady. He had a large part to play in Mother's Day, Premiere, Christmas with Papa and the entire London Fair collection. Bogie makes no hesitation in saying, "If it wasn't for Vince Nowell, I don't think I could have introduced Clea Bella to the world." Vince continues to be Bogie's life line to keeping the Bella! collection "on track." Collectors can look for more Nowell designs in the upcoming seasons.

Bogie has also received a lot of advice from Bay Area artists, Barbara Beccio and Bill Jones. Barbara built the prototype for "Milk Maid," designed "White Wedding" and participated in "Quarter Moon" and some upcoming "Jazz Train" costumes. Bill Jones is currently the company's official theatre consultant.

Our newest guest designer, Janee Turner, loves the ballet. Bogie and Robert have been oohing and awing her creations on the internet for the past year. This spring, Bogie and Janee hooked up through another Clea Bella fan and the rest will be Clea Bella history. "Janee is absolutely amazing," says Bogie. "Not only are her designs beautiful, she constructs costumes with immaculate skill and accuracy. We are so blessed to have her on the team."

Bogie encourages all collectors and designers to make Clea their canvas and is very proud to share the Clea spot light with these talented artists.

DOES BOB HELP?
Bogie couldn't do it without Bob. While Christina creates the initial prototypes, Bob and his mom, Gail, have been roped into helping with the assembly of many doll accessories and packaging. And any one who knows Bogie knows she is your stereotypical designer: talented, dreamy and hyper. Bob's number one task is keeping Bogie healthy, inspired, calm and on track. In short, thank God for Bob!