[Gary Mulkey]

I am currently in the process of building a damascus Keris(Kris) and would appreciate your thoughts. I would like to do some handle carving in order to make it as accurate a reproduction as I can but don't want to be stepping on cultural toes. Since I am obviously not an Empu, I am not a certified maker of such a knife. Do any of you have any suggestions(thoughts) as to what carving(s) I could add to the proposed handle and still be somewhat realistic without being disrespectful to the select few who are in the know about such a knife?

I realize that this is a rather strange request but thought that there might be some here with more cultural knowledge on this than I.

Thanks in advance.