Here is one of the shapes gripped in a vice having been chased a little with nails and whatnot ground to give different textures. I added the eyes later with the TIG welder. Copper is a very good conductor of heat, so welding is a different process than when welding steel. If you are familiar with aluminium welding then it will seem easier, if not then here are a few tips. The extra conductivity means that the whole item will get red hot before the little patch you want to make molten will start to form a pool of metal. I guess you could imagine you are trying to braze it. The pool once formed spreads much faster than with steel, so you have to pull out quickly or keep shifting your arc a lot more to stop the whole thing turning into a puddle. I wanted to make little blobs to then drill out to make an eye shape. I used some old electric cable with the insulation stripped off as a filler rod.