DougB

This makes me want to pull out the vise again. Good work.

I agree with the others. Very nice finished work. Wouldn't have guessed you were new to this.

Good work. Like the segmented abdomen and eyes.

Thanks everyone. Here are some side views. http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2637/412790...347ed370f_m.jpg http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2776/412791...15d44fa0d_m.jpg Larger pics also available on my Flickr page http://www.flickr.com/photos/blankenshipim...57620698555246/ I'll also see if I can get that blogspot link fixed.

Laurel Borer Beetle: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2592/412789..._5740baf049.jpg Dogbane Leaf Beetle http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2513/412867..._6ab15bb269.jpg Elder Borer Beetle http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2755/412791..._61a8ec1090.jpg

The first one in green and red really caught my eye.

Great colors and paint work.

Here are a couple of recent flies.

Working my way through The Fly Tying Bible. Here is one of my pheasant wing cahill dry flies.

I've used a Peak rotating vise with pedestal for two weeks now. For years I used a $20 cheapo vise made in Pakistan.

Excellent work Greg. It's always nice to hear from another realistic tier. It keeps the bar high for the rest of us.

Great work Fred...as always. Another cool specimen.

I like it.

Excellent use of basic materials and lots of fancy technique. I like when someone does something neat with just thread on the hook. That way I don't have to buy some exotic material to do the same, only practice my skills until I can get it down right. Again, nice tie. And here's a good link to David Martin's stuff, thanks to Fred Hannie for the link. http://realisticfly.blogspot.com/

I like this pattern and the one in all black. I tie something similar to this, but with wire legs. I read the comment above about the amount of leg movement. I guess I need to try some rubber legs myself.

I've had some luck selling dragonfly patterns on Etsy.com and have donated two sets of realistics to the local opera house for their wild game dinner and auction.

I use a combination of online pictures, personal photos of some things, and field guides. I found some great old insect books at an estate sale, which come in pretty handy for insect anatomy. As far as what I'm working on, I just donated a half dozen realistics to a wild game dinner and auction at the local opera house. It's the second year in a row I've done that and it's great to hear how the bidding process plays out. Also, I wandered over into working in polymer clay for a few weeks, sculpting a couple of amphibians and reptiles, and now my wife is prodding me back to proper realistic tying again. She's a bit creeped out by the animal sculptures for some reason... says they serve no purpose. But, I must say, the polymer clay does show some promise for hard to form parts in fly tying. I always struggle with the legs. Anyway, here's a link to my Flickr site where you can find some of my work. Thanks for asking. http://www.flickr.com/photos/blankenshipimages/

Arkle: What a cool site. This is good motivation for anyone into realistics. Andres: I've checked out your site too and it's great. Excellent work.

When I opened the post I thought it was a picture of the real thing. Very well done.

Thanks guys for the positive reinforcement. Fred, I checked out your website a while back when I was trying to figure out how many realistic tyers were out there. Great work. Great red paper wasp. I recently found a perfect specimen dead on my woodshop floor and I quickly picked it up for reference. I hope to use it as a model for a coming fly. Looks like your pictures will be additional help. To answer your question, I'm in Memphis, TN.

Hello all. I just started a new blog to post my realistic flies. I would appreciate the feedback of experienced tyers such as yourselves. http://dougsbugblog.blogspot.com/ I know there's not a lot of content yet, but I'm working on it. I look forward to your comments.