Making of a Goblet, Part 1

I love sterling silver. I love the color, I love how it saws (like butter!) and how cleanly it solders. But most of all, I love to hammer and form silver. In making this piece, I am celebrating silver being a little lower in cost (under $16 an ounce last I checked) and indulging my love of the whitest metal.
I'm also fabricating this goblet as part of an advanced metals class I'm teaching at WCCPL, a great continuing education facility just a mile from my studio. The class goes for seven sessions, and so far students have been working on paper models and copper samples to get amped up for working "big" in silver. I soldered the first seam during the last class to the students' delight (didn't melt it, thank goodness). It has been way too long since I've worked on this scale, so I am having so much fun.
The design is based on a smaller vessel I made years ago (in a few of the pics), but in this one I am being unabashedly inspired by George R.R. Martin's great books and TV series, Game of Thrones. Design elements that are just in my head so far include a base and stem consisting of twisting tree branches, with perhaps a few red leaves (copper with rokusho patina for the technically minded). Also riveted mokume gane shield shapes.
Stay tuned for more progress pics!