A Very Rare Blue Lobster (Oct. '25)

Why am I only creating one original Blue Lobster artwork EVERY TWO YEARS?

Well, I have been just a little bit fascinated with rare, electric blue lobsters for a number of years now. Although there has been recent debate about their numbers increasing, it is generally considered that there is a one-in-a-million chance of sighting or finding one in a fishing net, anywhere around the UK coast!

In Cornwall, only two have been caught between 2021 and 2024. The last blue lobster was discovered at Polperro seashore in 2024, and was donated to Padstow’s National Lobster Hatchery. You can read the BBC news article about this rare sighting and the couple who found the 'irridescent sapphire' shelled lobster and let it be protected in conservation, here...

Therefore, I’ve decided to make an original blue lobster polyfusion piece only once every two years, to acknowledge this fact. The artwork pictured here (above) is the first original lobster, which I created from plastic bags and other packaging waste using polyfusion and stitching methods, in 2024 inspired by the above news story. So there will only ever be one original textile and recycled material framed artwork like this for sale, no others will be created even as copies – until early next year – when I will create another different (but same subject), original artwork. Again it'll be the only one of it's kind artwork to be for sale– so watch this space – and I hope it will be snapped up!

The Lobster Hatchery, Cornwall – ExploreCornwall.com

I like that fishermen consider these rare creatures to be lucky (this is a very much orally passed-down instance of wider 'lobster lore') and traditionally believed to appear as a charm or sign – so will not eat them. Instead they are set free, thrown back or nowadays, donated to protected habitats which help maintain breeding of vulnerable species and balance the marine ecology. In the last instance, the lobster is also safe from natural predators. (View more about: The Polperro Lobster Hatchery ...)

The genetic abnormality that leads to this Lobster's striking electric blue colour is due to an over-production of the protein crustacyanin, which is thought to make them easier prey in the ocean. In most other lobster types, their shells are a darker, muddier blue/green hue, which helps them blend better into the seabed. 

My new, 2-yearly specialist Lobster piece – to be completed early next year will be called ‘Lucky Blue’ and will act as a commentary on the way plastics are increasing in our seas – so much so that generally more and more creatures struggle and become more affected as a consequence of this pollution. Nature has made these blue lobsters a thought-provoking rarity and by making one in plastic, I am echoing a wider vulnerability which we all need to consider . . .

Ruth Proudfoot-Smith @CornishTiddlers (Sept–Oct 2025)