From beads to flys

As the beginning of posts on where my beads have ended up, I want to show the work of Ronn Lucas. He is a fly-creating master (fly-maker or tier may be more correct). These flys that Ronn makes do not end up in the water. They are part of a category called fancy dress flys. As I gather it, they are the ultimate demonstration of the fly tiers art, creating large flys often on custom hooks to show off their skill and showcase exotic design elements and components. Above are some of the beads before getting worked over by Ronn.

Ronn is pretty much out there in the lead as far as I can tell among other folks creating fancy dress flys. He has a whole bunch of flys tied with glass beads, some that I have made and some by other beadmakers. He just informed me that he expects some photos of his work to be showcased in June in Bead Style magazine. I wont be able to show every photo of his flys I have but this sample is surely representative.

Im going to show some of the photos I have of his flys that use my beads. I can tell you that it was a challenge to meet Ronns requirements for size while maintaining some of my design elements. I have never really been asked to make a particular bead only much smaller. Now some of these beads are not really small like you may think should be fishing fly size. Again, custom hooks and fancy dress flys are not for fishing.

I tried in a few cases to make beads that look like insect cocoons or things a fish may like to eat. In part however, I think what makes some of them look soo good is that they don't look anything like what you would expect to find on a fly. Once I kind of got the hang of the size of beads, shape, design elements that Ronn was after, I made him a good batch of beads. He continues to amaze me with the obvious mastery he has of pairing glass beads with feathers, hooks and other components to create these stunning masterpieces.

Here is another fine example of his flys. This one and a few other rely heavily upon my use of silver leaf and/or foils. This is what gives the glass the unusual silvery sheen. I an only imagine what inspires Ronn when he creates these. He told me once how much time he spent making each one of these and its amazing. Lots of these use highly specialized and exotic feathers which he culls for exactly the right colors. Custom hooks which he or his friends make. All these elements add up to some real special stuff.

This next one is one of my favorites. Its custom bent hook really adds a lot to the design. All I can think of is that this is sort of the fly version of a Jesse James or OCC custom bike. Every time I get an email from Ronn with photos of one of his latest creations, Im amazed and flattered to be part of such beautiful work.