Lucky the Green Lobster: An Unexpected Catch
- Shannon Cyr
- Mar 19
- 4 min read
Updated: Jul 27
Do green lobsters actually exist? A rare Maine catch and a sheet of emerald green paper inspired Lucky the Lobster, a handcrafted St. Patrick’s Day Green Lobster greeting card that carries a bit of Irish luck.
Studio Note: This post documents an exploration from my design process. The artwork shown represents prototypes and works in progress. Some designs eventually become Mainely Cards. Others remain studio experiments and are never released.
A St. Patrick's Day Lobster
This week, while working with sheets of emerald green no-shed paper for a shamrock St. Patrick's Day card, something unexpected happened. For a moment I just stared at it. Then I thought of a lobster.
It made me laugh at first. A couple of weeks ago I had been experimenting with Valentine’s Day cards and tried adding a lobster design. The result was odd. Completely wrong for the holiday. As it turns out, lobsters are not particularly romantic.
But the more I looked at the emerald green paper in front of me, the more the idea made sense. A green lobster felt like a playful way to bring a Maine symbol into a St. Patrick’s Day design.
That led to a simple question: do green lobsters actually exist?
Yes, they do.
Rare Green Lobsters
Green lobsters are extremely rare. Marine scientists estimate they appear as infrequently as one in thirty million to one in one hundred million lobsters. Give or take a few million.
A rare genetic mutation changes how pigments are expressed in the shell, creating the vivid green color that inspired Lucky.
A Green Lobster in Maine
In the summer of 2016, a lobsterman hauling traps off Cundy’s Harbor in Harpswell, Maine pulled up something that immediately caught everyone’s attention: a bright green lobster.
According to local coverage from WGME 13 News, the catch stopped people in their tracks. Longtime locals, wharf workers, and lobstermen who know these waters well said they had never seen a lobster that color before.
The lobster was brought to Watson’s General Store, a historic sixth-generation market and working wharf that has been part of Cundy’s Harbor since the 1850s. For a short time, locals and visitors could stop in and see the rare lobster up close. Photos shared by WGME showed just how vivid the lobster’s green shell was.
After its brief public appearance at Watson’s, the green lobster was sent to the Maine State Aquarium in West Boothbay Harbor, where rare catches are often examined and cared for.
Designing the Mainely Cards Green Lobster
The lobster begins with one of my original designs, created specifically for the Maine Symbols collection.
One thing I’ve learned in the studio is that a good design rarely lives in just one iteration. When a design works well in paper, it becomes something I return to and explore in different colors. The shape stays the same, but the personality shifts depending on the color, materials, and details used.
The first version appeared in classic red, the color most people associate with Maine lobster. Later, I explored the same design in blue, which gave the lobster a completely different personality.
A design that worked in red and blue felt like a natural fit for emerald green.
Meet Lucky the Lobster
Because this lobster was created for St. Patrick’s Day, the spirit of luck was in the air before I even started cutting the emerald green cardstock, I found myself giving him a name. Lucky the Lobster.
He seemed perfectly happy with the name.
Creating Lucky the Green Lobster
Once the name was settled, the phrase “Wicked Lucky” felt like an inevitable pairing.
In Maine and throughout New England, wicked is commonly used as an intensifier meaning very, really, or extremely. Pairing it with the green lobster makes the message feel both Maine-specific and perfectly suited to St. Patrick’s Day.
Below Lucky sits a small paper plaque with the phrase “Wicked Lucky.” The lettering is drawn with a Cricut fine‑point pen and set on a layer of gold no‑shed glitter cardstock. The gold brightens the white card and adds a gentle nod to St. Patrick’s Day—the glint of a hat buckle, a hint of treasure, a little sparkle of good luck.
Lucky’s silhouette is cut from emerald green foil cardstock, giving the foundation of his body a strong visual anchor before any details are added. On top of the base, his shell segments are cut from emerald green no‑shed glitter cardstock. Each piece is placed and glued by hand so the claws, legs, antennae, body plates, and tail segments sit slightly above the card surface. That small lift creates subtle shadows between pieces and gives Lucky his dimensional look.
Light moves differently across each layer—the foil reflects in a deep, smooth shine, while the glitter scatters light in tiny, bright flashes. Together, they give Lucky a lively, almost animated presence.
And then there are his eyes: two tiny circles of black cardstock that do far more than complete the form. They give Lucky his temperament. They soften the boldness of the green and introduce a spark of friendliness that shifts him from a simple design into a cheerful character.
Once everything came together, Lucky the Green Lobster had exactly the personality I hoped for: bold, playful, and unmistakably Maine.
Lucky Makes the Collection
Lucky came together exactly as I had hoped. The emerald green paper, layered shell, gold plaque, and tiny black eyes all worked together to create a card that felt playful, full of personality, and perfectly suited for St. Patrick's Day.
The design became part of the Mainely Cards St. Patrick's Day collection alongside Lucky Shamrock.
Feeling Lucky?
Like the rare green lobsters that inspired him, Lucky is a reminder that wonderful things sometimes appear when you least expect them.
Beginning in 2027, Lucky will return to the Mainely Cards shop each year in the weeks leading up to St. Patrick's Day. A small seasonal batch will be handcrafted, and once they're gone, Lucky disappears again until the following spring.
Either way, Lucky began the same way many of my favorite designs do: with an unexpected idea, a sheet of paper, and a simple question that was too interesting not to explore.
Mainely Yours,
Shannon
