FIFTEEN YEARS AFTER hatching the idea to make rubber ducks that look like celebrities, San Rafael resident Craig Wolfe has turned his hobby into a full-time business and is pioneering an effort to bring rubber ducky manufacturing back to the United States.

Surrounded by hundreds of rubber ducks at his home, which also serves as his office, the 60-year-old Wolfe said he’s passionate about his new line of rubber friends made in the states. He said his company, CelebriDucks, decided it was time to return the art form to the country where it was invented.

“I realized I had an opportunity to do something no one else had done,” Wolfe said.

The rubber duck was first created in Ohio during the 1800s by a tire and rubber company, but was eventually manufactured overseas to reduce costs, according to Wolfe. The duck’s popularity exploded in 1970 when Jim Henson’s Muppet Ernie sang a song on the children’s television show “Sesame Street” expressing his fondness for the rubber bird.

“Every home in America had a rubber duck,” Wolfe said.

CelebriDucks has created more than 300 rubber ducks featuring such icons as Betty Boop — the company’s first duck — characters from “The Wizard of Oz,” numerous athletes, Shakespeare, Kiss rock band members and Mr. T — the company’s best-selling duck. While he began making ducks in China, Wolfe’s goal is to eventually bring all production back to America.

For now, five all-American ducks are in circulation, including “Sam,” the first all-American duck; a black and white loon; a Future Farmers of America duck; a Harley Davidson duck; and the “Pork Chopper,” a duck clad in a leather jacket that’s ready to embark on a motorcycle trip.

Most of the ducks made overseas cost $11.99, while the new American-made ducks sell for $14.99. Wolfe said it is indeed more expensive to make the ducks in the states, but he wants to support local jobs. In addition he can make the product faster, not having to wait on international shipments.

“We can turn on a dime,” he said.

Todd Lipscomb, owner of the California-based www.MadeInUSAForever.com, sells two of Wolfe’s rubber ducks on his website. Lipscomb said Wolfe could easily continue to make the ducks for much less money in China — where Lipscomb said he has seen the factory conditions that allow for lower production prices.

“I saw dirt floors, pollution spewing everywhere,” Lipscomb said. “It’s no wonder chemicals are getting into the environment, air and ultimately the products.”

Lipscomb said the devotion of Wolfe and his other website suppliers to return production to the U.S. demonstrates American pride and a desire to make safer products that infuse money into the national economy.

Wolfe runs the entire business from his San Rafael office, overseeing workers at production centers in the eastern U.S. The design process starts in Ohio with sketches; once a design is approved, a sculptor makes a rendering out of clay. Then a series of wax, metal and spray mask molds are created, a process that takes weeks.

The final product is ultimately made in the Bronx in New York using weights and plugs from Illinois and Texas, which makes the ducks float upright, and then trucked to Brooklyn for their final logos and some hand-painted features like eyes.

“There’s no machine that will paint a duck’s details,” Wolfe said.

His company has found a niche market; it has sold more than 1 million rubber ducks, and Wolfe hopes the new all-American line will become popular. He said the company has total revenue of about $385,000 a year.

“I always believed it’s good not to be the cheapest, but the best quality,” Wolfe said. “I knew nobody could duplicate us.”

The company also works with clients who want to create their own duck design. Diane Sloboda, a social worker in Detroit, is having a baseball-themed rubber duck created through CelebriDucks. A baseball enthusiast, she said she trademarked the duck’s image about a year ago and expects to launch the new duck in the next few weeks. She said she remembers the first time she saw Wolfe’s rubber ducks.

“I just remember looking at them and thinking, ‘Oh my God,’ they’re so intricate and detailed,” Sloboda said.

As a person who works with children, Sloboda said it’s important to her that toys be made in America, with safe and lead-free materials. She said she appreciate’s Wolfe’s commitment to U.S.-based production.

“He definitely has a vision and passion for American industry,” she said.

Wolfe was born in New Jersey, studied English in college in New York and moved to Marin County in 1995. He wasn’t always devoted to ducklings; he used to own an animation company that turned advertising artwork from companies like Coca-Cola and Hershey into art people could hang on their walls.

In 1998, Wolfe and his daughter began crafting rubber ducks as a hobby. She would design all the ducks and Wolfe would have them made. Soon, sports teams began requesting the ducks for stadium give-aways. Their popularity soared and the duck business became a full-time occupation.

Since then, CelebriDucks has been voted one of the top 100 gifts by Entertainment Weekly and featured on multiple television talk shows, including ESPN.

“We found out we’re one of the most popular promotions on the market,” Wolfe said.

Having never been trained in business or marketing, Wolfe said he simply enjoys doing what’s fun, including answering his own phone. He said he thrives on helping other entrepreneurs pursue their dreams and is adamant that the key to success is surrounding oneself with good, knowledgeable people. “I just do things I’m passionate about,” he said.

His passion also includes chocolate. In the next six months, he plans to launch a gluten-free American chocolate line in conjunction with his company’s “Cocoa Canard” chocolate lover’s duck. The company already sells Belgian chocolates with rubber ducky imprints on each square.

“Ducks make people happy. They’re whimsical,” Wolfe said.

Contact Megan Hansen via email at mhansen@marinij.com or via Twitter at http://twitter.com/hansenmegan