CONFECTIONS TO WIN YOUR AFFECTION.

Byline: Sharon Cotal Staff Writer

VALENCIA - The artist gently molds the material, forming it in the shape of the Eiffel tower, a swan or a piano with black and white keys and a lid that really opens.

And when the artists or workers on the production line at Chocolates a la Carte get hungry, all they have to do is take a break - and a bite of the material they are working with.

While all the chocolate you can eat is a nice job perk, Juana Arredondo, who creates three-dimensional pieces at the factory, said she also enjoys the challenges of the work.

``It's entertaining for me because I do so many different pieces, and I challenge myself to find better ways to make them,'' Arredondo, who has worked at the factory for about a year, said in Spanish.

If visiting a chocolate factory brings to mind visions of Willy Wonka and his river of chocolate, or Lucille Ball trying to keep up with the speeding assembly line, it's not far off the mark.

There is no river at Chocolates a la Carte, but huge vats of chocolate being constantly stirred by mechanical arms can be seen throughout, and workers add toppings and trimming to chocolates as they pass on a - slow-moving - assembly line.

While the company makes the usual boxed chocolates associated with Valentine's Day - including some that allow the recipient to eat the box - it specializes in creating artistic chocolate designs for special events, cruise lines and high-end hotels and restaurants.

With chocolate imported from France and Belgium, Chocolates a la Carte creates Elvis guitars for the Hard Rock Cafe, glass - well, white chocolate - slippers for Disneyland and Disney World, movie cameras and award statues wrapped in gold foil for those fancy parties after the Academy Awards and Capitol dome and White House shapes for the recent inaugural festivities in Washington, D.C.

Elvia Gomez, a packing employee at the factory, also considers herself an artist as she trims the pieces and packs them into decorative boxes for shipping.

And like Arredondo, Gomez loves coming to work.

``Every morning when I wake up I am enthusiastic about coming to work,'' she said in Spanish. ``I am excited to see what new products are coming out.''

Gomez has worked for Chocolates a la Carte for 10 years, starting out in the Cerritos plant and transferring to Valencia last year when the company consolidated operations into a 110,000-square-foot facility in the Valencia Commerce Center.

The new plant is more than twice the size of the former two, giving the company room to grow, officials said.

``We were getting bigger and bigger, so we couldn't accommodate the amount of business we had,'' said plant manager Rubby Garces. ``Acquiring this location allowed our company to deal with everything under one roof and become one solid company.''

Factory workers have learned to create just about any design - as clients come up with new ideas and then order thousands of pieces, Garces said.

``The great thing about our company is we can create something from scratch, find a way to mass produce it, and provide our clients with thousands of units,'' he said.

But for those who don't need 1,000 pieces of chocolate around the house, the company has a Web site, www.chocolatesontheweb.com, where chocolate lovers can order a box of chocolates or some of the simpler chocolate designs at prices ranging from $15 to $60. Chocolates ordered online come straight from the factory and will be delivered the next day.

For a catalog of all the chocolate designs available, call [phone].

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3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- 2 -- color) Chocolate truffles, above, are bathed in a final coat of chocolate at Chocolates a La Carte. At right, a Chocolates a La Carte worker has the sweet task of plucking finished truffles from a conveyor belt for packaging.

(3 -- color) Samples of some of the designer sweets made for Valentine's Day at the Valencia candy-making factory.

David R. Crane/Staff Photographer

(4) Miniature chocolate White Houses receive final touches before being shipped off for inaugural parties last month.

(5) Thousands of different candy molds line the warehouse at the Chocolate a La Carte factory in Valencia.