Circa 1986, I was 10 years old running through the woods by our house where I grew up. There’s an old spring deep in the trees and it’s really the coolest thing because some old homesteader built a circular shaped wall (out of rocks laid by hand) around the spring. All sorts of creatures called that spring, Home. — On this day whilst running to said spring, I ran right upon an angry Copperhead Snake, a thicc mama in fact! That sucker lunged right up between my knees AND MISSED! Frightened beyond comprehension, I ran….the other way. Once I caught my breath and gumption, I hurried back to the spring where the snake nearly took me out. Grabbed a loose rock from that wall & smashed that snake. Left it there overnight and went back next morning to check on it. I gathered the dead snake, brought it home and tossed it in a box where it laid to dry for many years. Fast forward, I disassembled the carcass and made a mold from one of the snake’s vertebrae - the rest, as they say, is history.