The Shelf and the busts

I wanted to include my sketches so far for my shelving unit for my boxes.  I am thinking that I will make this out of black bristol with the shiny black coating as a finish, I was also thinking that I could pop the underside of the shelves with a bright emerald green to add a little color.  I was going to stack the boxes vertically like books between two bookends on both the top and bottom shelves, and then have them open on display in the middle.  I think my biggest challenge is going to be making the busts and not the shelving system.  

I want the risers to be thin, like I drew here, but the support legs to be wider and have a soft curve, reminiscent of French antique furniture

Ok these busts are going to be pretty tricky to make.  I would love for them to be constructed out of plaster, but my sculpting skills never developed, so I am thinking more of a two-dimensional, or abstraction, of what the busts would look like, we will see how that goes though.