I need help for a friend!

[Harold Ray 0]

See pictures of Earl's last large, realistic dome I purchased in Mountain home, Arkansas in mid-March.

 

Here's three for starters and then Earl's letter:

 

 

 

I got a letter from my friend Earl Stanek today. He needs help and its help that all of us can give.

 

Earl is a 79 year-old man who lives in Cotter, Arkansas. A while back, I posted pictures of his dome of realistics I bought when in Mountain Home last October for the Conclave of the Southern Council of the Federation of Fly Fishers. I have since bought another at the Sowbug Tying Show, again in Mountain Home, in March. It is even larger than the first.

 

Earl does singles as you will see in a moment, but the singles then usually end up in a dome he donates to the Federation of Fly Fishers, whether it be the national organization or the Southern Council. He lives to tie flies and build dragon and damsel-filled domes of near realistics that fool the real thing and are the diamonds in the eyes of many flyfishers. Being one of them since I met him only a short time ago, I have bought the two that have come up for auction since then. Had I known Earl longer, I would probably have had to build the Earl Stanek Living Memorial Wing on my home just to store his domes.

 

Earl needs help! He needs as he terms, pretty, small stones and a few other things. The body of his poster, which came with his letter, follows a short excerpt of his letter:

 

I am thinking of building a "SUPER DOME" for donation at the 2007 Southern Council Conclave, Mountain Home, AR, October 4-7, 2007.

 

Ray, I need HELP!!

 

Maybe you could put this on the web. I am running out of small, pretty stones and pebbles to build the dome bases. I have enclosed a flyer I used at the April FFF meeting in Mountain Home to have member collect small, beautiful stones for me.

 

Help Wanted

 

I need small, pretty stones, pebbles and small pieces of unique drift wood to build the base for the 2007 "Damsels and Dragons" glass dome to be donated for auction at the National Federation of Fly Fishers Conclave this year at Livingston, Montana.

 

If you see a small, beautiful stone that has lots of color or unique streaks in it, please pick it up and save it for me. The same for small pieces of drift wood (2 to 3 inches long) that has a knot or protruding thumb or just unusual shape.

 

Please put them in a baggy and mail them to me at:

 

Earl A. Stanek

632 County Road 703

Cotter, Arkansas 72626-9123

 

Thank you, I will sure appreciate it.

 

P.S.

 

You don't have to be on a river to find beautiful stones. I have found some under the down spout and in gravel driveways after a rain.

 

_________________________________________________________________________________________

 

That, folks, is Earl Stanek's plea. He is an aging bachelor, 79 years-old, who lives for building domes and tying the realistic damsel and dragonflies that inhabit them.

 

I would greatly appreciate it if you would spend a few minutes when you're out finding and saving the pretty stones in your area along with pebbles and and small pieces of drift wood you may be able to pick up, and then please send them to Earl Stanek at his address listed above. I will guarantee it will mean a lot to him. He cannot get around like he could in his younger years, and domes and realistics are his passion and life. If he doesn't have the stones and drift wood, he can't do the job nearly as well as he wants to.

 

Please help Earl out!

 

Thanks,

 

Ray

 

P.S.

 

Below are pictures of Earl's last work I purchased:

 

Earl sent this fly today. It is a Skimmer Dragonfly Naiad. I picked it up and placed it in my palm for the pictures:

 

Here are images of the dome:

[Harold Ray 0]

If anyone wants to help and needs help in covering the postage, please send me an e-mail of PM and we will work something out privately.

 

Earl Stanek is a flytying artist who deserves our help. When you and I are older (I am already much older than many here), I hope people will find it in their hearts to help us when we are in need. I feel exactly like that for earl. To send a few stones, pebbles of a little driftwood to an older man who needs them for his art and enjoyment of tying is certainly not an earth shaking request, but I will guarantee you that if you help, you will have made an old flytyer happy.

[xspook2158 0]

I will be glad to help, pls just tell be how much of each you need stones and driftwood and the approx sixe needed, also do you want the worn and weathered drift wood? Also what type of stones pea sixed or larger and river bed or strean worn. Please email me at my yahoo or call 423-587-5928 work 423-581-9095 home.

 

Jeff

[letumgo 0]

Ray -

 

My son and I went to the beach this afternoon and were able to collect a few nice stones and pieces of drift wood. I'll try to get them off in the mail on Monday for Earl. The pieces we collected are a little larger than Earl had used above, but they were too interesting not to pick up.

 

Thanks for the post. It gave me some quality time with my son.

 

Kind Regards,

Ray

[Harold Ray 0]

Is this the same Earl Stanek that has been featured by the Ark. Flyfishers in the Sow Bug round up? I am sorry I did not catch that when I first replied to your post. I will be glad to help, he is a legend to some that follow the sport, he practices an art form that most would die to posses his skills and ability to see detail and adapt into fly patterns.

 

Jeff,

 

The Earl Stanek you mention is the Earl Stanek I know as a friend and am trying to help. He has been featured in several articles in major flytying journals and magazines. The reason is obvious when you see his work above.

 

The PM or e-mail was only if you were needing help covering the postage. I thought I'd answer your question about the size of the beautiful stones and pebbles Earl needs here so everyone will know what to look for:

 

the size of the stones Earl needs are the same as you see in the pictures above, from the size of the last phalanx of the fingers and thumb of your hand, the last segment of your finger that has the nail on it. If you find a lovely stone or pebble larger than that, I'm sure Earl will find a way to use it, too.

 

The driftwood should be similar in size or of the size he can adapt to do the job, breaking it down to smaller sizes. Send what you collect on to Earl Stanek. Earl may be 79 but he reacts like a little boy when these gifts and treasures come in. I don't mean to overstate, but to him all of the beautifully colored and streaked stones, pebbles and pieces of driftwood he finds are like diamonds to others. They make it possible for Earl to build another dome.

 

Ray,

 

Thank you for your efforts, and I'm glad you had a great time with your son. My son and I used to do similar things when he was young. Since I'm getting a little older myself, 66, he waits for me now where I used to wait for him when we are backpacking and out in the West Texas desert mountains, the Chisos of the Far West Texas Big Bend right on the Rio Grande, our border with Mexico.

 

I will guarantee you Earl will appreciate your efforts. I will and do to, because I love his work, really like him and buy his work when I am at a Conclave or auction he has donated to. Earl's creations, to me, are treasures and real works of art, 20, 30 or more many-colored, life-like damsels and dragonflies and all of their developmental stages enclosed in a dome of varying size.

 

At the end of the Sowbug auction a few weeks ago, I was bidding. I generally bid above the last bid by several dollars, $25.00, $50.00 or more to ensure I can win. Near the last of the bidding, I found myself going head to head with a person who would up me by a dollar every time I bid. I realized he was bidding, then dropping back to wait and see what I was doing, so I went to where I had some other clothes, changed and went back again. At that point, only he and I were bidding for Earl's dome. I bid, but my competitor didn't recognize me without my hat and the rough clothes I had been wearing, so he thought he had it and didn't bid again. I got the dome.

 

Some of the people running the auction realized what I had done and got quite a kick out of it. When I changed back to the clothes I really like to wear and came to claim my win, I took a lot of ribbing for the lengths I would go to get Earl Stanek's domes and flies. The money I spend is well worth it though because Earl doesn't take a cent. Every dollar goes to the Federation of Fly Fishers or another worthy cause relating to flytying, flyfishing and saving the trout and trout fishing in America.

 

Thanks to all who have helped in this; you are helping Earl Stanek with what he loves the most, building domes full of realistic flies and helping the trout and flyfishers of the United States.

 

Ray Emerson

[beaverfsu 0]

WOW, very impressive work and a great request to pass on Harold. I have very limited access to such items here in South FL-BUT I will look for driftwood.

[arkle 0]

I don't know if this is going to be of any help for you, but have you tried looking in local aquarists stores. A few years ago I managed to pick up some very interesting stones there. Also for driftwood, cork bark and the like take a look in either larger craft stores or gardencentres that have sections that do things for dried flower arrangements. Very best of luck, John

[RJD31 0]

-Ray

 

I have had a variety of freshwater aquariums over the years, and like arkle would also recommend considering aquarium gravel as well as possibly river rock from a large home center such as Lowes. However, driftwood is rather expensive whether purchased online or a local aquarium store. I live in Ohio, and unfortunately can't help with driftwood due to no access other than purchasing it. The following links might be of some help.

 

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=prod...t=river%20stone

 

http://www.bigalsonline.com/BigAlsUS/ctl36...amp;merchgroup=

 

Ron

[xspook2158 0]

I am sending a box tomorrow by Fed Ex Ground, These stones are different types of good ole river worn rocks and a bunch of drift, if they are not well suited, bare with me I am calling in a few favors from some of our locals, and hope to have a lot better selection of rocks in a short while.

 

By the way one thing I wanted to ask, has Mr Stanek ever tried a rock polisher to make some of the stones stand out and come to life. If one is not available and you know someone that does their own hand loads you can adapt a Brass Tumbler/Polisher, may have to adjust the grit of the polishing compound.

 

Jeff

[Harold Ray 0]

Jeff,

 

Thanks! Earl will be surprised and happy when these start coming in. To any people who think Earl might be getting too much for him to deal with, do not worry. Earl will enjoy all he receives and he will use it, too. Please keep shipping the small stones, pebbles, driftwood to him.

 

I am going to check the stores her and in Mountain Home, along with hitting the texas coast and beach this week and the stream and river banks around Waco, too.

 

Thanks for the help everyone; please keep it coming.

 

Ray

[xspook2158 0]

Done!!

Fed Ex tracking # 9612019370709610007039

[Joe Hard 0]

I picked up some neat looking stones today, I will send thm as soon as possible

[Harold Ray 0]

Thanks, Jeff and Joe. Earl will really appreciate your efforts. I am going to the coast this week and am going to pick up a bunch of driftwood if I like the looks of it. After rains and storms, which we've had a lot of, there's usually a whole lot of wood.

 

When I'm back, I'm going to hit the banks of the Bosque River just west of here to see what's there. I know there are a lot of small fossils so those should do well along with lots of rocks.

 

When you're doing this and helping someone, it makes it a lot of fun!

 

Ray