A special rod

I met an amazing artist Tim Blueflint of Shades of the Rez Gallery We talked a bit of fly fishing and hoped to meet again.

He called me two weeks later and asked me to make a custom fly rod for him. I asked a couple questions to which he replied, “you are the expert; just make me something you think I would like.” I linked his site above because I want you to get an idea of what he does. His work making flutes and jewelry is beyond description. I needed to pull out the stops and do something cool.

The man who introduced us is John Heusler. We met in jewelry school when we were in our teens. John said he had some jasper with fossilized caddis larvae and could make a butt cap for Tim’s rod.

I settled on a Gary Loomis Iconoglass 7′ 6″ 4 weight. I made a cocobolo grip and reel seat from a single billet to get a good grain match. Three color guide wraps and a decorative first section topped it off.

A green agate stripping guide looks great with the blank color.
A pattern from my friend Hector at HM Custom Threads. I did a “back wrap” to make it a closed pattern.
My buddy John Heusler did a great job cutting the cabochon and making a sterling silver bezel.
My wife, Rebecca Wilks of Skyline Images did the amazing photography.

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