Wow, that was amazingly helpful and clear, and looks like it took a whole lot of work. Thank you so much! I learned so much from this, I can't even tell you. The most surprising thing to me was your use of the eraser tool on the mask of the overlying duplicate texture; that was a revelation. The number of textures and unseen layers was rather boggling, too.

The icon itself looks even more awesome on its own like this. The burnished gold glow and the amount of movement and gritty emotion it conveys is intense. Thanks again, so much, for being willing to share your secrets like this!