What happens to the moulds of limited or special event dolls?

Sometimes they do re-releases. Soom often does. So am pretty sure they keep the mastermolds in a special place to let them become alive again for re-releases.
I wondered about this when Iplehouse discontinued some sculpts. Wondered if they destroy the mastermold (of the head, as the bodes stay the same usually) and store them in a "box for rubbish" or destroy them. What a shame, if they did

 

Well, the moulds themelves have limited life expectancy. They will deteriorate over time, or after a certain number of casts. This can sometimes cause delays in orders of normal line dolls, when a mould has to be remade. The original sculpts (if not damaged by the mould making process) could be remoulded or if damaged could be repaired and remoulded.

I’m not sure exactly how long a mould would last or how many casts you’d get before it needs re making, I suppose that depends on the mould material, casting material and the style of the mould.

I think if the mould is still useable, but they don’t want to cast any more at present, it’ll be put somewhere for storage that will enable it to be preserved for as long as possible. If it’s a third party casting company, they will keep the moulds in case the customer wants more casts, or they can destroy it on instruction.

In the case of some custom sculpts I commissioned , I was advised the mould would keep for a year or so - but that’s specific to the material they used. Moulds can last many years if stored right and depending on material. However, with heavy use that time is greatly reduced. One of the original wax sculpts was destroyed and the other was shipped to me by the sculptor. If I ever see any others of these the casting company lied (I have no indication that they’ll not keep their word)!

 

@Spuggey pretty much covered it. The casting company I plan to contract for my dolls will also destroy molds on request (or ship the mold to me). Basically, for individual artists, we hold sole rights to our original sculpts. It's a bit more complicated with company dolls like soom/iplehouse/volks since the sculptor is essentially the contractor in that case (so they're selling a service and their rights depend on the particular contract).

It's worth noting that the mold itself is a sort of intermediate step in the process. The prototype or any cast sample set aside actually acts as the original piece. Molds are just the way the doll gets reproduced. They're always disposable in that sense.

 

@Glowycatlamp100 You can check out some artists' social pages to get more insight into this. The habits vary, but usually we have our own copies of the dolls even if the mold is destroyed. I'll have 1-3 samples of each sculpt, for example. Destroying a mold is a security measure or a simple necessity if the mold is worn out. They're inherently disposable. But yeah, contract work aside, you can check out solo artists' blogs and social media feeds to see that typically they have their own copies, usually multiples.

idrisfynn's right about Volks. They're the oldest and biggest company, so their facilities are incredible. Plenty of other companies have showrooms and such too. So even for companies, there's always a showroom type copy. It'd be interesting to know how sculptors who do contract work for the companies interact with their work. I sort of doubt they bother to keep copies in most cases.

 

I can also imagine that particularly body moulds are kept permanently. You sell the same body for a certain time, but there is always room for improvement. Maybe the artist wants to try out new joint technology, or he (general he) improved sculpting abilities and wants to rework something. That can always be an option.

Or maybe change a head from headcap to face plate system or something like that. Since I have been in the hobby, there were always improvements on joint systems, changes in technical trends, to which sculptors have to adapt their bodies to a certain degree in order to be still able to find customers for them.