52 weeks - 52 flies

[eide 0]

This year I'm having a 52 weeks - 52 flies challenge: each week have a different theme, and you tie up something that you associate with this theme. I post all my fly on my blog every week, but sniperfreak223 took the challenge and we decided to put up a thread here where we will post 1 photo each week. This is for everyone to follow: the main idea is to be creative on the vice and do something that you can show here (a quick explanation on why the fly corresponds to the theme might be in order sometimes...)

Week 1: Begin at the beginning
Week 2: Black and White
Week 3: Self portrait
Week 4: Hat
Week 5: Vegetables
Week 6: Something old
Week 7: Dots

Week 8: Dessert
Week 9: Rule of thirds
Week 10: Love
Week 11: Sky is the limit
Week 12: Conversation
Week 13: Street Art
Week 14: Look down
Week 15: Green
Week 16: Noooo!
Week 17: Leaves or Trees
Week 18: On the table
Week 19: Layers
Week 20: Running
Week 21: Blue
Week 22: Water
Week 23: Horizon
Week 24: I found it on the ground
Week 25: A summer treat
Week 26: Chocolate
Week 27: Coffee
Week 28: Red
Week 29: Fence
Week 30: Circle
Week 31: From a distance
Week 32: Get really close
Week 33: My home

Week 34: Fresh
Week 35: Movement
Week 36: Shoes
Week 37: Playtime
Week 38: Shadows
Week 39: Door
Week 40: Recreate a famous photo/picture
Week 41: Frame (Framing)
Week 42: Letters
Week 43: Mirror
Week 44: Technology
Week 45: Symmetry
Week 46: Architecture
Week 47: Animals
Week 48: Time
Week 49: Signs
Week 50: Light in the dark
Week 51: Temptation
Week 52: The end

[eide 0]

Week 1: Begin at the beginning

 

This is a re-do of the very first fly I ever created.

[eide 0]

Week 2: Black and White

 

 

[Piker20 0]

Look forward to following this thread. Almost feel bad replying and breaking up what would be a great flow of pictures.

[utyer 0]

Ok, I will take the challenge, I am already two weeks behind, so here is one for the Beginning, it doesn't get too much more basic than this:

 

 

 

and a Black and White foam Los Alamos Ant, I call it Spy Vs Spy:

 

 

[Flat Rock native 0]

I will gladly join in. With regular office work increasing recently I need some extra motivation to get to the tying bench once per week. Some of these concepts are very intriguing. I will post weeks one and two later and get busy on week three.

[sniperfreak223 0]

Seeing as I kinda pushed you to start this thread, I guess I'd better put my money where my mouth is. I apologize in advance for my terrible photography skills.

 

Week 1: Begin at the Beginning

 

Instead of beginning with my own beginnings in fly tying, I decided to go back a little bit further. My submission for this week is my own rendition of the "Macedonian Fly", one of the first artificial flies ever described. The original was little more than red wool with a brown feather wing, mine is a red silk floss body with a matched pair of ringneck pheasant body feathers for the wing.

 

 

Week 2: Black & White

 

I have been on a bit of a dry fly kick as of late, so my submission for "Black & White" is a catskill-style dry. This one is a fan-wing, using the broad, black-tipped white feathers from the white portion of the neck on a ringneck pheasant skin for the wings. The tail is white hackle fibers, the body is white floss with a rib of black 3/0 tying thread, and the hackle is black rooster saddle.

 

 

Week 3: Self-Portrait

 

I know I may be a little early with this one, but I have a busy week at work coming up and didn't think I'd get another chance at it. The self-portrait topic is quite a challenge, but my choice came down to the simple fact that I have a beard, and to me, beard = classic style flies. My submission here is kind of a take on a traditional hairwing salmon fly. I added a gold tip to represent the old-timey reading glasses I occasionally wear, the blue tag and rib represent my Bavarian Blue eyes, the cream floss body reflects my pale Northern European complexion, the brown hackle represents my beard, and a rusty brown calftail wing to represent my mutt hair (it varies from dirty blonde to brown to dark red depending on the season). This was a tricky one, and I'm sure it's a stretch, but it sounded good to me.

 

[Piker20 0]

I like the hairwing. Would definately take sea trout fresh on the tide. I'd probably just try to taper the wing the other way, so longest tips at the top and short beneath but I'm not sure the fish truly care when its moving on the swing.

[sniperfreak223 0]

yeah, I usually stack the wings, but somehow the big stacker has gone MIA, so all I have are the three little ones for dry flies that would never handle a hairwing for a 2/0 Dai Riki 899.

[eide 0]

Seeing as I kinda pushed you to start this thread, I guess I'd better put my money where my mouth is. I apologize in advance for my terrible photography skills.

 

Week 1: Begin at the Beginning

 

Instead of beginning with my own beginnings in fly tying, I decided to go back a little bit further. My submission for this week is my own rendition of the "Macedonian Fly", one of the first artificial flies ever described. The original was little more than red wool with a brown feather wing, mine is a red silk floss body with a matched pair of ringneck pheasant body feathers for the wing.

 

week1.jpg

 

Week 2: Black & White

 

I have been on a bit of a dry fly kick as of late, so my submission for "Black & White" is a catskill-style dry. This one is a fan-wing, using the broad, black-tipped white feathers from the white portion of the neck on a ringneck pheasant skin for the wings. The tail is white hackle fibers, the body is white floss with a rib of black 3/0 tying thread, and the hackle is black rooster saddle.

 

week2.jpg

 

Week 3: Self-Portrait

 

I know I may be a little early with this one, but I have a busy week at work coming up and didn't think I'd get another chance at it. The self-portrait topic is quite a challenge, but my choice came down to the simple fact that I have a beard, and to me, beard = classic style flies. My submission here is kind of a take on a traditional hairwing salmon fly. I added a gold tip to represent the old-timey reading glasses I occasionally wear, the blue tag and rib represent my Bavarian Blue eyes, the cream floss body reflects my pale Northern European complexion, the brown hackle represents my beard, and a rusty brown calftail wing to represent my mutt hair (it varies from dirty blonde to brown to dark red depending on the season). This was a tricky one, and I'm sure it's a stretch, but it sounded good to me.

 

week3.jpg

Great interpretations on the themes! The selfportrait description there is exactly why I started this challenge!

[sniperfreak223 0]

I have an amazing idea for my week 4 fly, too, I just need to find a moment to actually tie it as all my vise time lately has been filling an order of pike/muskie flies for a local shop.

[utyer 0]

Well into week 3 so here is a self portrait. I have never been known as a neat freak, my desk is always a mess. This is also the way I like my fur nymphs to look.

[eide 0]

Self portrait: this was a though one! But: for me hiphop and the entire culture is something that is a part of who I am. If you look at a lot of old-school videos or breakdance you will often see the three-striped adidas, I love the Adidas superstar, and the black/gold color combination is great, so for this week I came up with a black and gold "Adidas superstar" fly. The white thread on the rib is supposed to represent the thread on the three stripes on the shoe, the varnished head is the shell toe.

 

[Piker20 0]

Another lovely hairwing.

[sniperfreak223 0]

Week 4: Hat

 

Well, I finally got some free time, so I managed to materialize my idea for this topic. on the drive home from work a few days ago, this idea popped into my head.Knowing the next theme was hats, I realized how much a parachute hackle looks like a top hat or a fedora, depending on the length of the post...so, this fly is a bit of a departure from my normally serious approach to fly tying and pushes it into a somewhat whimsical territory,without further adieu, I present my "Jiminy Cricket", basically my foam hopper wearing a "top hat" made from black poly yarn and an undersized black hackle tied parachute style.