The lionfish is, without question, one of the most visually striking fish in the ocean. Those bold alternating stripes of red, white, brown, and gold. The fan-like pectoral fins spreading out like a peacock's display. The venomous spines that somehow manage to look beautiful and dangerous at the same time. I have been captivated by lionfish for years, and they've sat near the top of my "I need to make this" list for a very long time.

The opportunity finally came when the Museum of Life and Science in Durham, NC put together a conservation-themed show. One of the topics was invasive species, and the lionfish is one of the most well known examples. Originally from the Indo-Pacific, lionfish have invaded Atlantic and Caribbean waters where they have no natural predators. They're devastating local reef ecosystems. So here was this incredibly gorgeous creature that also happened to be causing serious ecological damage. That contrast fascinated me, and I knew it was time to finally create one.

What Color Is a Lionfish, Really?

If you've only seen lionfish in photos, you might think they're just red and white. But in person, the lionfish color pattern is much more complex than that. The stripes range from deep maroon and rusty brown to bright reddish-orange, with cream and white bands in between. Some bands have a golden or amber tint. The fins can be translucent with spots. And depending on the species and the individual fish, the exact pattern varies. No two lionfish look exactly the same, which is something I can definitely relate to as someone who makes everything by hand.

The challenge for me was figuring out how to recreate those organic color transitions in stainless steel. I don't use paint on any of my sculptures. Every color comes from heat patinas, which means I'm working with a palette determined by physics: blue (the hottest), purple, gold, and the natural silver of the stainless steel. There is no red in my heat patina palette. So I had to get creative.

The Coloring Process, Step by Step

Here's how I approached the lionfish colors. First, I colored the entire fish blue. Blue is the hottest temperature, so it has to go on first because you can't go hotter once you've already colored an area. Then I took my pencil grinder (a small detail grinder that lets me work with precision) and started grinding away the blue everywhere I didn't want it. Every area that needed to be purple, gold, or silver had to be ground back down to bare metal.

Next I went back with the torch and colored the purple areas. Then I ground away the purple everywhere I wanted gold. Then colored the gold. And finally, the areas I wanted to stay the natural silver color of the stainless steel, I just left alone after the last grind.

This sounds straightforward, but imagine doing this across dozens of separate pieces that all need to match up when they're welded together. The stripes on the lionfish had to flow continuously across pieces that were shaped and attached at different angles. Getting a stripe on one fin piece to line up with the stripe on the adjacent body piece took careful planning and a lot of squinting at reference photos.

The pencil grinder work alone took days. I was hunched over this thing for hours at a time, grinding tiny areas, checking the color, heating, grinding again. It was tedious in the best way. The kind of tedious where you look up and realize four hours have passed and you forgot to eat lunch.

The Finished Piece

The finished lionfish sculpture is 31 inches wide, 27 inches tall, and 13 inches deep. It's entirely three-dimensional, with those signature pectoral fins fanning out and the venomous dorsal spines rising up from the back. The layered heat patinas create a depth and vibrancy that I'm honestly still a little surprised by every time I look at it. The blues pop against the golds, the purples add richness in the transitions, and the natural silver areas give it that shimmering quality that real lionfish have.

If this piece caught your eye and you enjoy colorful sea creature sculptures, you might also want to check out my sea turtle, octopus, and jellyfish. Each one presented its own color challenges, and I love how different they all turned out. You can also browse all of my fish and sea creature sculptures to see the full collection.

Thanks for reading! If you have questions about my coloring process or anything else about how I work, feel free to reach out. I love talking about this stuff.