Could be. I’m pretty sure the manufacturers were thinking Foamies door hangers and picture frames rather than fishing flies. :lol:
There are three of us who have been using this stuff for about ten years now. We have some “deadly” bass and sunfish patterns to show for it. Also have some GREAT grasshoppers and blue Damselflies made using it, as well as other “bugs”.
There are at least three very good, inexpensive glues for lamination. One is the already mentioned Pliobond. Perhaps the oldest, and best, is Barge Cement, but it is hard to find. Another old standby is Weldwood Contact Cement (red can). In addition to the “original”, they now also offer a “Nonflammable” version that is a water-cleanup cement (green can). I have it from a reliable source that the “rubber cements” also work. I recommend that you take either a rolling pin or a brayer to the sheets immediately after putting them together. Rolling them together eliminates any air pockets that might have been trapped and also ensures that both surfaces are in direct contact with each other over their entire surface.
Rather than poke a hole through them, we cut a slit with a razor blade on the bottom side and glue a hump-shanked hook into the body using CA glue. The faces can be cupped by using a round polishing stone in a Dremel tool before they are glued to the hook. After being glued to the hook, the bodies can be shaped as desired with a Dremel tool equipped with a 320 grit sanding drum while being held in a small pair of vise grips or a sturdy pair of hemostats. (They can be hand held, BUT, I don’t recommend it!!) You have to make your own 320 grit sanding drums. I save my old drums that have been relieved of their grit and cut strips of 320 grit sandpaper to fit and apply using whatever contact cement I happen to have on hand. They seem to never wear out “sanding” foam rubber!
You can add rubber legs, tails, tails of feathers, flash materials, or even rabbit strips; whatever your heart desires. Use you imagination. A pair of eyes adds a lot of “fisherman” appeal.
Care to share any of the deadly bass and bluegill patterns?
Another post on this topic intrigued me enough to buy some foam and give this a shot. Looking forward to spring already!
Greybeard
Agree with the Walmart statement above as I have a couple of packs I bought there and they were low cost and lots of colors. Each pack had different colors on the ones I bought.
Skip
Hobby Lobby Stores sometimes have 3mm thick sheets along with the 2mm sheets.
I can’t find a “how to” for posting photos to this site. Will be happy to post if someone will take me by the hand! (I am not the swiftest cricket at the ranch when it comes to computers! Wated til too late in life to try to learn,)
Aged_Sage,
Posting pictures isn’t difficult but like everything associated with a computer you need to know how its done before it becomes simple. Until you know how to do it, posting pictures isn’t difficult, it’s impossible!
The first thing you need is to post your pictures on a website that hosts photos. Once you’ve done that you reply to a note normally and then click on the icon between the Title and Body of your note that looks like a post card with a yellow sky and a dark mountain. If you mouse over the icon it will say insert image. Click on it and it will ask you for the web address of your picture(s) (a URL - you know www.someplace.com/aged_sage_photos/foampopper123.jpg or something like that).
If that’s too complicated, you can PM me and I’ll send you my email address and if you can email the photos I’ll post them.
Greybeard
The Aged_Sage passed these pictures along to me to post, so here they are. I’m not sure which ones work the best but I’m hoping we’ll hear more from our Sage - who apparently has at least a bit of a sense of humor (either that or he believes fish can read the top side of a popper).
Greybeard
Aged_sage passed these along to post. Hopefully he’ll explain which ones are the most productive.
http://picasaweb.google.com/DonaldJAlexander/BassAndBrimBugs#5423721751330150882
http://picasaweb.google.com/DonaldJAlexander/BassAndBrimBugs#5423721756853999346
http://picasaweb.google.com/DonaldJAlexander/BassAndBrimBugs#5423721761681707234
http://picasaweb.google.com/DonaldJAlexander/BassAndBrimBugs#5423721770372396482
http://picasaweb.google.com/DonaldJAlexander/BassAndBrimBugs#5423721775460475058
Our Aged_Sage e-mailed me some foam poppers and brim bugs to post here. Here they are. He mentioned the last one is the bit he uses in his Dremel tool to hollow the face of the poppers out. Other than that, I’ll let him explain the pictures.
Greybeard
??? You can post pics on this site right straight from your computer…!!!
Go down below a post to “attach files” and pick the ones you want to show
You have a PM.
John
Frank,
You are getting behind on your photo posting here and elsewhere…I’m waiting to see those furling pictures;)…
I’m not having trouble with photobucket but if you are I would uninstall it and do a fresh download and start over.
Actually if John doesn’t solve your problem PM me and we can go through it over the phone.
Greybeard…if you do it the way you say does that allow folks to access your folder[s]…through “properties”?
ducksterman:
Just like an old cow’s tail, I have always been behind. I WILL get them posted.
Now, let me extend my profound thanks to greybeard for posting these for me.
The first two are of a striped bug to show both the cupped face and the quilting pin eyes I often use. The bass seem to really like the vertically striped body.
The third one is a horizontally bi-colored bug with doll eyes. Note that the yellow part consists of two sheets of foam. These bugs were shaped with a Dremel tool and sanding drums.
Pictures 4 & 5 are of a simple bug made from 6mm thick foam. This one was given to me. I have another made the same way, but with the body more akin to a grasshopper.
Photo 6 is of a balsa bodied bug that has been epoxy coated to enhance durability.
Photos 7 & 8 are of one of my balsa bugs that has an attitude. This bug has a flat face and has also been “epoxied”.
Gurglers!!! Will catch almost everything (other than trout)
The first photo is a sampler of my deer hair bugs. The second photo is a combined “sampler” of my balsa bugs, some of which date back to the late '60’s, and my balsa box. Photo three is a sampler of my foam bugs. Photo 5 is of foam, balsa, and deer hair bugs that I have made. The silver minnows in the upper right-hand corner are balsa bodied. The steeply angled “forehead” makes them great divers. The two foam frog patterns in the upper left corner are fantastic if you want to “walk the dog”. They make a heck-uva- commotion. I do get whimsical with them on occasion, as noted in the eyes on the deer hair bug, right side, mid way up. The little white foam minnow just above the little frog on the lower left corner, is a great wobbler-diver. Photo 7 is just another view of the foam sampler and my foam box. The final photo, number 8, is of the Dremel tool that I have used for over thirty years to cup the faces of balsa, cork, and foam bugs.
Drop me a line if you have any questions about any of these.
Frank
I think so but I’m still figuring things out here. Posting the pictures was more of a challenge than I thought it would be…but not impossible or hard, just head scratching. If you can’t access them, PM me and I’ll see if I can change the settings. FWIW, all the pictures in the folder are posted here, so you’re not missing a thing.
Frank, Not a problem - poppers are an area of tying I’ve never done and I want to learn…well I started trying some last spring and didn’t like the results. I plan to figure it out though…if nothing else, I’m persistent.
Greybeard
Greybeard:
My German ancestry won’t let something like this defeat me. I just need to devote the time to figure it out. It’s not that I am persistent; I just don’t have sense enough to know when to quit!
I sincerely appreciate the advice and the offers to help from all.
Frank
Greybeard those are great looking flies…two thumbs up!