I came up with the two poppers I recently posted with the Rio Grand Cichlid to put in shadow boxes and be donated to help support my local fly fishing club during our annual conclave.

Here are the others I've done over the last five or so years along with a couple of others. Usually do a few of each so I have one for my own collection.


This one was part of the first batch... copies of Dave Whitlock Deer Hair patterns



Tied using a salt water popper body



Many of you will recognize this as after the Loudmouth Bass



My Crappie or Sac-a-lait in my part of the country.
From the black line of weed along the bottom you can see I've fished this one.



Blue Pencil Popper



Green Pencil Popper



Faux Deer Hair



My take on a Brookie



My take on a Largemouth Bass



This one I tied to fish



Just playing with Black and Gray



Mr. Spots



Sometimes I do other types of flies


Badeebahduh Badeebahduh Badeebahduh thats all folks!

Alright the bandana didnt help any....smartie pants. Again, stunning work!

beautiful man......

absolutely great work!

Beautiful poppers. What is the key to get the paint to adhere to the heads? I've had trouble with that.

Now those are SICK!!! Astounding work!

I use acrylic paint.

The first step is to brush whatever will be the major background color on the entire head
using a soft brush. Depending on the color this may take several coats.

Additional paint will stick to the earlier layers fairly well. So the background usually takes
care of the sticking to the head issue. Of course some kind of clear coat will be needed
to bring out the colors and protect the paint. Even after a number of coats the resulting
thickness of the paint is usually very thin. A single coat of something like 2-ton epoxy
doesn't add much thickness either.

Oh my word... I need to start wearing a bib before clicking on your threads. I just stare at them with my mouth open until I drool on myself. Those are simply amazing. I would think it would be worth sending some of your images and description of your techniques over to Hatches. You have carved out a unique style that marries your tying skill to your artistic ability in a way that is pretty rare, though I have seen it in a few great tyers.

BTW... the wasp is cool, but I think the wing is a little oversized. Other than that, it's amazing work.

Keep posting... I'll get a bib.

David <><

Superb beautiful and well done paint jobs !

wow love your poppers lol that dont sound right but they are truly amazing..

txflytier

I agree about the wasp's wings. The sharp taper on the wasp's body created such problems with the overhand knots slipping on me that I've avoided tying any more of this one. Have about 20 under-bodies completed in three different sizes for when I force myself to get back to it.

I understand that... I once tried applying a thin coat of contact cement to the underbody of a fly with a similar taper. I let it mostly dry and then built over it. It did help somewhat, but really stunk up the tying area with solvent fumes.

wow, very well done, I really like the Whitlock deerhair copy as well as the Faux, materials and colors chosen very well..
Look out to see your next project..

~ floris

Awesome!

Posolutely bah-root-e-full!

Incredible works of art!

cool beans......i love hand painted poppers. are you using premade popper bodies?

Yes. I use pre-made Hard Foam, Soft Foam, and Cork(when I can get it).

It takes enough time as it is. But there are a couple in the back of my mind somewhere
that, were they ever to move forward, would require me to shape my own.

cork IMHO is the best to use!!!!! but foam also works good!

I too like to use cork. However, it seems as of late it is hard to find. J Stockard is out of them and have been since last year. WTF?

Anyways, I spent all day tying my poppers and will have some photos up later. Rest assured there Stipple that they arent as good as yours.

I have a back order for pre-formed cork bodies that is several months old. That is why I said "when I can get it". The other thing is that some of the smaller cork bodies you receive in a batch are too pitted to do anything with other than to make poppers for my own use. When I called the firm I ordered from I told them to keep me on the wait list.

"Rest assured there Stipple that they arent as good as yours." Then get crackin' buddy. I don't want to become complacent about what I am doing.

do you think you could do a step by step sometime?

[quote name='Stippled Popper' date='Feb 4 2010, 09:16 AM' post='398213']
I came up with the two poppers I recently posted with the Rio Grand Cichlid to put in shadow boxes and be donated to help support my local fly fishing club during our annual conclave.

Here are the others I've done over the last five or so years along with a couple of others. Usually do a few of each so I have one for my own collection.


This one was part of the first batch... copies of Dave Whitlock Deer Hair patterns



Tied using a salt water popper body



Many of you will recognize this as after the Loudmouth Bass



My Crappie or Sac-a-lait in my part of the country.
From the black line of weed along the bottom you can see I've fished this one.



Blue Pencil Popper



Green Pencil Popper



Faux Deer Hair



My take on a Brookie



My take on a Largemouth Bass



This one I tied to fish



Just playing with Black and Gray



Mr. Spots



Sometimes I do other types of flies


Badeebahduh Badeebahduh Badeebahduh thats all folks!







VERY NICE POPPERS...GREAT CRAFTSMANSHIP INDEED. LOVE YOUR TECHNIQUE.
HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE YOU TO PAINT IT & COAT IT FOR THE FINISHED POPPER.
YOU HAVE INSPIRED ME TO TRY ONE MYSELF. I HAVE BEEN TYING FOR 15 YEARS.


THANKS,

EDDIE

These are the best/nicest poppers I have ever seen.
Lanning

Yakattack - Eddie

Small ones take anywhere from 20 to 30 minutes to paint and clear coat. Larger ones can take anywhere from 30 minutes to nearly four hours depending on how much of the smaller stippling is applied and the complexity of the design.

DoctorD - Lanning

Thank you. However, Pelhament and Japasam, to name just two others, have some impressive work displayed here too.

I ordered a dozen cork bodies and received something much larger than expected. The only hooks I had big enough for it were saltwater hooks. In looking around for inspiration for something to do with them, my eye was caught by a perch slider pattern posted by smalliestalker. The image doesn't do the head justice. It will serve as is, but may be tweaked a bit down the road. The tail is still a work it progress. Me thinks it needs a touch of orange marabou and perhaps I'll think of something else to add after I think about it. But this is it for now. It will be a while before more time can be devoted to painting the other three bodies.

You do make beautiful poppers!!!! On the painting, are you doing it by hand or airbrush? There is certainly a lot of paint work on them.

Ray

After a base color or colors is placed with two or more applications of paint by brush, the rest of the painting
is applied by hand with a set of stippling tools such as these created from different diameter needles
and metal rods:

Once again you have topped yourself.
Love those stipple paint jobs.

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

Very nice work!

Skip

Great poppers. They are just amazing!!!
You have inspired me to try one myself. I have shaped my head out of cork, and was wondering if you paint the head before you insert the hook? And also, how do you insert the hook? I was thinking of cutting a slit in the bottom, but then I would have to fill it up with some sort of filler material. If i did it this way I would have to paint when the hook is inserted,
Thanks for any advise
Cheers
Mick

I will post some pics when I get my popper finished

Cut a slit for the hook in the bottom of the popper.

A thread wrap should be applied to the portion of the hook shaft to be embedded in the popper body to help the cement hold.

The hook should be seated far enough into the slit so no part of the hook shaft is exposed but not so far as to significantly reduce the hook's gape.

If possible apply your superglue or epoxy to the slit before seating the hook. Make certain the cement used is completely and evenly spread.
Apply more if needed. Allow it to dry.

If there are gaps or if the slot isn't smooth with the rest of the bottom of the popper, I use Elmer's Carpenter's Wood Filler and lightly sand when dry
so the evidence of the slot is reduced or removed.

Allow to completely dry. Then paint. After paint has dried, apply a clear coat to protect the paint.

The final steps are to add a weed guard if desired and your tail materials

testy biscuits

How do you stipple those?