I was working on another project which I hope to post here soon, and had to cut the bottom out of a brass bowl. I kept it around for a while. My wife suggested making a trilobite so I eventually decided to cut out a trilobite head out of it. The project has a few years in the making and was finally accelerated so it could be my wife's sort-of-late-sort-of-finished Christmas present this year.

Step 1: Plan the Build

I only have one copper sheet, so I made a cardboard version first out of cereal boxes.

Step 2: Cut the Copper

Now that we have a plan for this thing, we can cut the copper sheet using the cardboard pieces as stencils.

Step 3: Real Trilobites Have Curves

So now we take the pieces that we cut out of copper and bend them to make them more like the cardboard model. It takes a little work to get them to match up reasonably well with each other. I also ended up shaping the head later which you can see in the final steps.

Step 4: Attach With Screws

So now we drill holes so we can attach the pieces together. I used tape to hold them where I wanted them while I drilled the holes.

Step 5: Adding Some Eyes

Trilobites had a ton of different kinds of eyes. I drew a couple of possibilities for the eyes but finally went with something a little different. cutting out paper shapes helped me to make them symmetric and place them carefully. Then I cut them out with a dremel cutting wheel. Adding some copper mesh helps give them shape and looks pretty cool like the compound eyes of a real trilobite.

Step 6: Done! ... for Now

Pretty much done here. Sanded off the rough edges and added a couple more screws to attach the head. I'm planning to add some sweet RGB LEDs inside the eyes and along its belly, then hang it on the wall, then write a part 2 of this instructable.