April 22, 2003 (Earth Day)

Today, we gathered pictures from around the web both of Lionel and of his sculpture as seen in the "Hello" video (see top of page). There are hundreds of pictures available, as we found on Google. The pictures will be used to guide the sculpting of our own Lionel Richie head.

We also spoke with our buddy Lloyd, who is a potter. Lloyd has agreed to let us create the Lionel Richie head in his studio. This will be convenient, as Lloyd already has hundreds of pounds of clay available (will this be enough?), plus the tools necessary to carve the Lionel Richie head. Lloyd has also offered to bisk the Lionel Richie head in his kiln to make it stronger. I should say now that this is the extent of Lloyd's assistance. Lloyd is an accomplished artist who we are sure would get very different results than we would. We'll begin on Thursday.

April 24, 2003 (Barbara Streisand/Shirley MacLaine's birthday)

Today, I went to Lloyd's house to begin the Lionel Ritchie head project. First, Lloyd and I enjoyed a beer as Lloyd showed me his pottery, his house, and explained different kinds of glazings, firings and techniques. What I remember most vividly from our conversation is that we had lite beer.

We ate dinner, then I received an emergency call from work to come help fix the email server. Below is a picture of all we accomplished that evening.

May 1, 2003 (Ray Parker, Jr.'s ["Ghostbusters" theme] birthday)

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OK, this time Lloyd and I got straight to work. Lloyd suggested we try making the head by building it up with coils. Lloyd showed me how to make the coils. Like you need to show a preschooler how to make Play-Do snakes, Lloyd. Whatever.

So then Lloyd left me to it, to start building up the coils. I soon had a ribbed volcano that did not and would never look anything like Lionel Richie's head. In the meantime, Lloyd had gone upstairs to have a veggie burger. Seeing my inevitable volcano, I decided just to make more coils and lay them out on the table. By the time the engorged Lloyd returned downstairs, I had many fine coils. Lloyd then made the coils form inward, then begin to form outward again. I still don't know how he did this. Look at the picture below, you'll see.

Lionel Richie's head and Lloyd

Knowing I had no further use for Lloyd, I elbowed him out of the way, then again added coils to Lionel Richie's head. Lloyd got me a beer anyway.

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Here, Lionel is really starting to take shape. You can see the shoulders narrowing to the neck, then the coils coming back out to begin forming the head. Or, it also looks like one of those spool-thingies that you see guys at the Renaissance Fair with, flopping it around on a string. I hate those guys. That's not a sport. Gimme a break.

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Lionel has a massive jaw. There are just no two ways about it: the man can eat. Here is the beginnings of Lionel's jaw. Also note on the sides the temporary ears. These are just serving as guideposts for now. Good-looking ears will be added later. This would make an attractive and functional Lionel Richie Head Dog Dish.

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Here I'm adding more to Lionel's head. No face or top yet.

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Now here comes Lionel's face. Don't be alarmed; this is only a mock-up. Lionel is no pinhead, and our Lionel Richie head won't be a pinhead either. The sponge is just there to support Lionel's huge jaw.

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Now, I've added some eyeballs. Lloyd pointed out by this time, I think, that Lionel has a "Shovel Face." I had no idea what Lloyd meant by this. Apparently a "Shovel Face" is a face that severely angles back. That is, Lionel's modest forehead is waaaay set back from his massive jaw. You can kind of see this aspect of Lionel beginning to take shape here. Also note Lionel's massive neck, which looks a like that of the "Cave Troll" in Lord of the Rings. No neck at all, more or less. I think we've made a real improvement here over Lionel's original sissy neck.

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Now we're talking! I've added Lionel's fabulous moustache, and pupils to the eyes. I've overestimated the clay's structural integrity, why is why Lionel now has a double chin on the right side of his face. We'll fix it in post. I've also started the lips and am beginning work on Lionel's nose.

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Finally here, you can see the beginnings of our Lionel Head's clay-fro on the back. No double chin on this side, right Lionel!

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May 17, 2003 (Happy Birthday Bob Saget [star of Full House and former America's Funniest Videos host!])

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Well, the big day came. The plan was, we would unveil the completed head at my wife's birthday party, on May 17. The day was perfect, about 72 degrees. The lilacs were in full bloom and gloriously fragrant. But we just hadn't finished the head.

Not wanting to have nothing to show for our efforts, we decided to proudly display our very first Lionel Richie Head as is. We felt that the results were something to be proud of, for our very first Lionel Richie Head.

Here it is, on display in my garage, where it sat atop the woodpile in front of the leaf blower. I placed numerous Lionel Richie pictures around the head, so everyone could see our major influences in this project.

That's all--until we build our next Lionel Richie Head. We'll see if Lloyd can fire this head, where it will go on display in the back yard.