Thanks guys, I?m really glad you like my work! I have so much fun with realistic fly tying that I actually changed careers last year. Now I supply realistic bugs to the entertainment industry, natural history museums, nature centers, retail merchants, etc. Next week I?m sending a few dozen flies to a major clothing retailer to be photographed and incorporated into their new catalog. This week is challenging, making a specific species of rare butterflies for Disney?s Imagination Movers, with flapping wings. Nitinol wire is pretty cool stuff to experiment with, especially for animating bugs, with low voltage electricity.

I don?t spend much time on forums lately, for a number of reasons, including time constraints, and reading people blasting me for model making as opposed to fly tying. I used to disagree because I tyed everything, with thread. But, with that said, this year I?ve had several orders for more than 50 bugs at a time, such as 212 moths I created for a movie Adam Sandler is currently filming, and I pushed the legs through the foam body with a needle, and set them in place with glue, which saved me countless hours. I still thin of flies as lures, too light to be cast with a spinning rod, requiring a fly rod and line, and to that effect, I still think of my work bench as my fly tying desk. I very seldom fish realistics, but I do have a fondness for realistic stones because they work so well on pressured waters, such as the E Walker in the sierra.

BTW, FAOL has some of the world?s best realistic tyers on boards, such as Mantis (Bob Mead) who keeps realistic tying in its purest form, no glue, no synthetics, all natural materials, and his creations are masterpieces, to be framed and admired by those who appreciate the fine art of fly tying. I use a lot of synthetics, most notably, thin strips of foam, segmented onto fine wire, and painted over with clear acrylic varnish, custom colored with pigment powders, and pantone markers. One of the reasons I used synthetics when I began realistic tying, was to prevent moths from destroying my stuff. About 12 years ago I bought a gorgeous full-dressed salmon fly, and about five years ago I moved the frame to a different location on my wall, and most of the framed fly crumbled into dust. I like to think my flies will outlast me?

Thanks again for all of the kind and supportive remarks; I will be smiling all day,

Graham