***SLOW LOADING - LOTS OF PICTURES***

VH1 Pilot, Page Three

Another segment of "Reality Theatre" was about rock/soul/funk/blues legend James Brown. On one of his many scrapes with the law, he led police on an high-speed interstate car chase while hopped-up on PCPs after crashing an insurance seminar and brandishing a shot gun. The medium of choice for this segment was bobbleheads. No, really, bobbleheads - they're funny.

Since all the bobbleheads had to made from scratch - you just can't go out and buy rampaging James Brown bobbleheads on the open market - alot of labor-intensive sculpting, molding and casting went into this project.

James Brown rendering Rick's original James Brown sculpt clay dam
Above, the final version of my concept sketch of the bobblehead James Brown that rampages into the insurance seminar. Above, my sculpt of the James Brown head in plasticene clay. Note there are no teeth - they were made seperately and added later. Once the sculpt is finished, you have to make a two-part plaster mold of it. First, the head is surrounded with a dam of water-based clay which seperates the front from the back.
walled dam of clay first half of mold
A wall of water-based clay is built around the dam to contain the plaster. A seperator is applied to the sculpt so the mold can be pulled off the clay once the plaster hardens. Very thin plaster is carefully applied over the sculpt, making sure there are no bubbles. As the plaster starts to set up, the thickness of the mold is built up.

Page Four: More James Brown --->

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Photos from Private Collection of Rick Lyon
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