Jeff,
very interest blog articles, enjoyed reading it.
I also find allot of really neat stuff for tying at Thrift stores, walmart, dollar general ... places like that. As we don't have any fly shops in our area unless you want to drive about 5hrs, so I do all my specific fly tying materials on line but you can finds all kinds of alternate materials just about any where.
That tinsel fly looks like it might work well in a couple of ponds I fish here ... but won't be able to try it out till probably early March
Mike
"The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of that which is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope" -John Buchan