March 2012
Our questions in black type, My Twinn's comments in blue:
It
is a pleasure to be able to address your questions and concerns. We
are very happy that our collectors, as well as our non-collector
customers are pleased with the changes that have taken place over the
past few years. We continually strive to make our dolls and
accessories better for all our customers.
We are interested in the story of how the prototypes have been found. This includes the NHE from a year or so ago as well as the recent 040 and 063.
We are always reviewing our inventory and we occasionally come across a rare beauty.
One point I'm still not clear on is how you go from an exciting find in the warehouse, such as finished a finished head for one of the recent 'prototypes', to being able to make more of them. Do you have to re-create the molds for these faces in order to make more of them?
We found the prototype in our inventory. We are thinking that the mold was created and the head poured and sent out and in the course of several moves packed away. In some cases our vendor still has the master mold and we are able to have them re-poured.
A past employee from the Denver days recalls half a dozen or so non-production 'prototypes' that she personally painted. The 040 with scalp imprint 'Haley' happens to be one of them. Whenever one of these prototypes appears it is quite exciting to collectors. If others are discovered, it would be informative to collectors to report the scalp markings and neck dates (if any). For all of the 'Friend' dolls, especially Vintage and the prototypes, it would be helpful to collectors to report the scalp markings somehow... perhaps as part of the sku number?
Often when we find these heads they are already complete with the wigs attached. We understand that as a collector that information would be helpful to you; however we do not want to risk damaging the wig or the head by removing the wig, as the wig is vintage as well and we may not be able to replace it.
How many of each of these prototypes has been poured? It appears they have been poured in 'Fair' and 'Olive' skin tones. Can we look forward to seeing other skin tones as well? Any chance that the NHE face mold will be re-poured and available for sale?
We have poured less than 15 of each; some of them have not made it through our QA process. We do not have any plans to re-pour NHE at this time. If we continue to re-pour heads, we may look into pouring in some of the other colors.
It appears that several of the previously retired face molds (8 perhaps?)*** have also been re-poured in new vinyl and have been available for sale on the Vintage Friends page, wearing the pink chiffon dress or grey with pink sash dress. Would you kindly confirm this? Will these previously retired face molds be reintroduced into your custom doll selection? Any plans to continue to re-pour more of the retired face molds?
We have re-poured some of our retired heads and they were dressed in the outfits mentioned. At this time, once we sell through what was re-poured, we have no plans to either pour them again nor offer them as custom dolls. As these sell, we may look into offering more re-pours.
Are you still finding Denver heads/dolls in the warehouse? Will you continue to introduce these dolls into the 'Vintage Friends' page for sale?
We are always reviewing our inventory, and as we do, our findings will absolutely be offered on the vintage section of the website.
These new vinyl Vintage Friends dolls have Denver quality eyes and lashes. Are there any plans to move in this direction with your custom and BFF dolls? I know many customers would be very excited by that prospect.
We always love suggestions from our customers, and are always looking at new options and vendors. At this time the vendor that we are using does not offer the selections that the original company in Denver was using.
The BFF dolls... any plans to change the available face molds periodically?
There are no plans to change the BFF head selections. BFF was created as a way for girls who already have their “Twinn” to go online and create a BFF for their Twinn. It gives the girls and parents complete control over how their doll is created.
The new vinyl of these dolls in general is quite beautiful... with several being very close in look to the Denver vinyl, while some have a slightly more of the glossy/ translucent appearance. In the past there has been quite a bit of variation in the color and texture of the vinyl. Is this improvement in the quality of the vinyl something that you as a company are working toward? Is there a set recipe for the vinyl or other controls in place to achieve consistency? The doll I believe to be the re-pour of scalp code IN (neck date 1997, collector name ' Lydia ') is a gorgeous doll with a slightly softer appearance to her Denver counterpart. If you are able to keep this quality consistent I believe you have a very promising product line with these re-pours of the retired face molds.
A couple Bernetta re-pours courtesy of Anita in Missouri (Thank you!!!):
Thank you first of all! We have been very pleased with the way the re-poured dolls have turned out. The recipe used for the vinyl is the same each time; however there are factors that can affect the outcome of the product. The molds themselves have to be cleaned from time to time, and temperature plays a big role in the final product as well. Our vendors work hard to make sure that each batch is just as the one before it.
A comment on the face painting. The lips on 4 of the 6 dolls from this purchase appear to have been painted over with a darker color resulting in horizontal streaks. It is the only negative comment I have about these dolls. The two without this over-painting are gorgeous.
Again, thank you for the feedback! We will be certain to pass this along to our artisans.
Has My Twinn ever considered participating in IDEX or other doll shows or having an event of their own?
We are not certain if that has been considered or not, however we will be more than happy to pass this along to our PR department for their review.
Does My Twinn give tours of their doll hospital and facilities on a pre-arranged basis?
While we would love to be able to have visitors, we are not able offer tours of our warehouse facility due to safety concerns.
Would My Twinn be willing to answer collectors' questions on a quarterly or semi annual basis? This could be an opportunity to get product wish lists and hear what the desires and concerns are of your collector customers.
What a great idea! We love to answer questions. We will pass this along in hopes of being able to work something out with this.
Anything exciting on the horizon for My Twinn that you would like to share to generate interest?
As we are sure you have noticed the outlet sales that have been going on. We have to make room for our new and exciting products! Our buyers and designers work very hard after the holiday season to bring new items to our My Twinn customers. They use this time to put their heads together to see what is new and trending for girls everywhere. New items will be available late summer to early fall.
Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions and best wishes for the continued success of My Twinn!
*** We believe the 'retired' face molds that have been re-poured on this limited scale include (in addition to Haley and Carolyn), Lois, Jessica, Lydia, Mallory, Sharon, Bernetta, Beatrice and perhaps Tamsen. The current production face mold Audrey also appears to be in this group, and that is a curiosity. If you have any of these new re-pour dolls, we would love if you would share photos and particulars about them. Many thanks!
Beatrice Re-pours (MT 'Mug Shots'):
