Another change of plan, this little chap was sitting on the welding bench when I went down to the shop this morning, so I got my daily drawig done early and tried to make up an armature thing of him. I think it will work OK in the end, experimenting with the different metals, I guess if I look up how to get a green patina on copper I could even get that color.
Some technical points. The copper steel joints are not very strong and copper is not too good for filling in areas as it conducts heat to well and tends to drip off even with careful torch use. I am using 4mm wire for the frame and applying steel welding wire of 1mm. The copper wire is from scrap electric cable of 1.6mm I think. It is quite good fun for drawing in 3D with steel, but the copper is really just for paterning. It is worth brushing or sanding every now and again to convince yourself of the results as it all turns black while working. Anyway, this is as far as I got today.