[AndreD]

Hi,
here comes another wip,
just need to cook longer...



All the best,
Andre

[glypticmax]

Hi Andre,
That is a good start to a very difficult object.
You may be doing some of these things already, but here are some thoughts.
Try multi-light, maybe four, front/back/both sides. You're going to need just the right balance, particularly front and back light, to bring out both the faceted spines, and the sublte form of the face and body.
An alternative may be a single spot light. Finding the perfect position would be time consuming.
Consider a gentlly sloping floor/background. Maybe darker. This will help get some gradients in the reflections of your subject. Notice the flat grey areas at the base of the spines. Transparency or a gradient might be helpful in those areas.
Some really good shots of crystal make the surface reflections suggest or define the form of the object. Shots which are over lit may show too much of the *volume* of the object and often include artifacts that interfere with these defining reflections. I would lose some of the volume of the piece to bring up reflections that show the expression on the critter.
If you are looking for good reference material, you can't do better than books on Czech art glass. They are masters of both art glass and photographing it.
I look forward to seeing how you develop this.