Trilobite Metal Sculpture or Wall Art

by Jordan Bell

1.5K3013

Intro: Trilobite Metal Sculpture or Wall Art

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.

12 Comments

JAMESM466 6 years ago

I need to make one of these for my classroom. Thanks!

skullsoup432 6 years ago

So cool. Man, wish I could do one, but I don't have the talent. I love trilobites, even have a few tattoos of them. You did them justice.

RobertW327 6 years ago

I think you will find that this creature is know as a cybermat . One of the most fearsome doctor who aliens .

Jordan Bell 6 years ago

I had to look that one up. I'm not caught up on all the older episodes. Something to put on my list.

RobertW327 6 years ago

Try episode "moonbase :with 2nd doctor . . plus they have appeared in some of the newer ones .

acheide 6 years ago

Beautifully done. Thanks.

Glumgad 6 years ago

Great trilobite! I like those prehistoric guys.

Jordan Bell 6 years ago

Thanks! I hadn't realized how many kinds of trilobites there were before starting this thing. Tons of really cool ones!

BenjaminB98 6 years ago

That's awesome, I've always loved Trilobites!