When working on an order for a coastal gallery we were brainstorming ideas for sculptures that might work for their location and clientele. And we though of a yellowfin tuna as they are a beautiful distinctive looking fish that are a prized catch and delicious.

So I added it to the list and got to work. A challenge of this piece was getting the bright yellow color on the fins and spines. In order to get yellow heat patina you must heat the metal very hot and stop heating in a very narrow temperature window for it to cool the the desired bright yellow. a little too cool and it will be blue are a silvery gray color and a little too hot and it will burn to a dingy flakey dark gray. Because of this it has hard to get a consistent yellow because if I keep the torch too long on any portion of the piece it is very noticeable and I need to regrind it and start over. But once I got the fins done it was pretty straight forward from there. Just some little grind details in the body and coloring the rest of the fish, made an eye, bead rolled in texture in the fins and then cold shaped and welded it together! 

This yellowfin tuna metal sculpture is wall hanging and is safe to be kept outdoors.