The Creative Process: Jewelry/Dinosaur Version

Hey ho.  I haven't been doing as much writing as I'd like lately, but that doesn't mean I'm not getting into storytelling shenanigans.  Today I'm going to share with you how my latest jewelry WIP came about.

Basically, our assignment was to create a piece of jewelry using a "found object", definition of which is something that a) isn't metal and b) isn't like a normal jewelry component and c) we aren't supposed to drastically alter (i.e. can't find a thing and then cast it in metal, though it is acceptable to cut bits off and whatnot).

After some scrounging around, I came up with this little guy who came all the way from the desert:

I found him!
...in a basket.
...full of other dinos.
...at the dino museum.
...as a prize for small children who completed the Dino Quest.
...yes, I completed the Dino Quest, as did Krispy.

I stared at him for a while, procrastinating hardcore imagining the possibilities, and eventually an image percolated through my brain.  I have done my best to faithfully render it for you as pictured below:

Like any other person, I decided I'd make a necklace featuring a plesiosaur riding a meteorite that has smashed a chunk out of the earth.  He is the only survivor of dinosaurkind because he hitched a ride on the very bringer of armageddon, but he's not unhappy with being an extremely endangered species; on the contrary, he's had it with the rest of his kind!  Screw them!  He's on to bigger and better things!  Space, the final frontier!  He'll probably don some badass steampunk goggles and become a time traveling explorer who surfs the stars on his own personal meteorite.  Aww yeah.

So, with that in mind, I set about with hammer and torch to bring my vision into three-dimensional form.  As usual, it ended up getting tweaked and modified along the way.

First, I took a rectangle of copper and beat the living crap out of it with assorted tools to get a crumpled shape that my mom said looks cool but not like a meteorite, though I assure you, it is a meteorite.  I then fused silver over the surface to give it texture and different color, and then soldered onto it flattened silver wire for the dino's harness.

Not finished yet, of course. Needs more cleaning,
a patina, a bail from which to hang, and of course the dino
must be set. The harness wires will be crimped to hold him safely
in place during his spacefaring adventures.

Quick test fit to see that the dino can actually be squeezed under the harness.  I've just been calling him Dino, by the way, I thought maybe he needed a poncy or kickass name, but I think he likes being called Dino because he is the last and only dino, thank you, so he needs no other name.  Yes, he has that kind of personality.  Tsk.

I also made a little partly-domed earth with the continents sawed out of bronze and soldered to copper, but it's kind of small and after some general advice and critique, I decided it will be an additional ornamental dangly bit rather than a counterpart to Dino the Meteorite Rider.  Meteorider?  Whatever.  I also decided to make a lariat necklace with the Meteorider Dino at one end and a big copper hoop at the other end for visual balance, fused with silver to match the meteor.  I also added tube settings and will be putting sparkly cubic zirconias in them.

The continents are bronze, they just need cleaning.
The matching other dome half says "Au revoir SUCKERS".
And on the hoop piece, there's a big red CZ at the point
with a smaller orange one on the left, and the third white one
is on the upper right side, by the dino's neck in the pic.

When everything is soldered and sawed and cleaned and polished and chained and patina-ed and otherwise finished, it should look vaguely like this:

I'm still toying with some ideas for the Earth, such as whether I should cut the chunk out or make it some kind of locket (awesome, but I might not have the time and tools to do this), and I'm not sure where/how I will attach it to the rest of the lariat.  I am also uncertain whether the circle part is a wormhole that Dino is using to travel to the far reaches of the universe or if it's an oddly-shaped planet through which he has blasted.

At this time, I have reached the "I HATE LIFE WHY HAVE I DONE THIS TO MYSELF THIS WAS A STUPID IDEA" point that most writers/artists/humans go through when engaged in a difficult project, so I'm definitely having more fun with the narrative aspect as opposed to the actual fabrication.  It doesn't help that Dino is constantly sneering at me either, seriously.

When doing something creative other than writing, do you find yourself making stories?  Also, Dino needs a fancy or badass title.  Got any suggestions beyond the default Meteorider?