My next project and personal challenge

I've been working on a new project with a few goals in mind. Here are the goals:

-Oxidize the finished piece
-Make an ornate higher end piece that takes lots of hours to complete
-Use higher quality stones
-Don't stray too far from the original loosely based idea in my head

The main challenge for me is that as I work, I'll start forming a piece and it will transition into something else all together. In general, I love that, but I want to try to do something different!
I also usually find a peaceful ending to a piece some hours before I could really end it. This is okay because it's my natural style, but just once I want to keep working on the same piece for days if not weeks. Oxidising? -- Just want to try it. Higher quality stones? This one isn't too hard except for the fact that I have scarcity issues around the more expensive stones and have a difficult time using them all in one place - you know?
On top of these challenges, I've decided to take some photos along the way and share them with you. Here's a little teaser for ya...