I felt very lucky to have been able to go to Costa Rica a few times in my life. While there I saw breathtaking nature filled with some of the most incredible animals. One that blew my mind was the poison dart frog!

I was fascinated and inspired by the many brightly colored varieties casually hopping through the jungle seemingly unworried about my presence or all the various predators surrounding them. There were some jet black ones with cow-like markings that were either bright green or bright blue. And others that faded from orange to blue with jet black striping.

A good friend of mine approached me asking if I could make a poison dart frog sculpture for his parents for the holidays. I had always wanted to try to make one but complex smooth curves are nearly impossible to do out of stainless with my shop set up. So I had to get super creative! I love challenges like this. I had to split it up into many pieces to accomplish all the complex curves and decided to back areas of burnt holes with glossy black painted pieces of metal as I can't get a true black with my heat patinas. And the black seemed very important to the design of this animal. After that was done I just needed a couple ice cream scoops for eyes and boom! A metal frog sculpture! I was quite happy with the final product, I hope you enjoy!

This poison dart frog sculpture is wall hanging, made entirely of stainless steel, colored using only heat patinas and a bit of black paint, and is safe to be kept outdoors!