Battenkill Shadow Box

 Some years ago, in a conversation with my old friend, the late John Betts, I was bemoaning the fact that there are "artsy" maps of lots of the western rivers that you can buy as a wall-hanger, but very few of eastern rivers of any notoriety, fly fishing-wise.   A few months later (we're talking somewhere in the vicinity of 1999) a package from Denver arrived at my door...a gift from John.  It contained all kinds of goodies for the base map of the Battenkill he had drawn:

In the intervening 20 or so years, I got myself into creating shadow boxes, primarily related to Atlantic salmon fishing and flies which I typically have donated to Miramichi Salmon Association and/or the Atlantic Salmon Museum for their fundraisers.  Occasional commissions have helped keep my little framing boat afloat, so to speak, allowing me to purchase needed materials like matboard and especially the rough lumber (primarily cherry and oak) that I use to create the frames.

Speaking of lumber and wandering far from the title topic (as usual), I have a great source of cherry, red oak and walnut (which I don't use much; never really cared for it) about ten miles from me down in  North Pownal, Vermont.   A pile like this, which I bought yesterday, cost me all of 65 bucks.  Those boards are 10 to 12 feet long, and 8 inches wide.  Four quarter thick, and already lightly planed.

Weapons of mass construction;

The jointer, planer and table saw help me turn those big boards into smaller boards:

Which become frames.

But I digress!!   When I was the executive director of a fly fishing museum, I was able to buy shadow boxes with maps and flies for fundraisers from a generous gentleman, Barry Mill, whose company was Sawdust and Stitches.  Sadly, Barry passed away several years ago.  But the map/fly idea for me came from him.

Cut to the present day:   I finally decided to take John's map out of mothballs, and use it as the centerpiece of a shadow box all about the Battenkill.   Now, what flies to use?  Didn't take long to settle on some streamers designed by Battenkill legend, Lew Oatman.  His flies are particularly noteworthy for their tapered floss bodies...as well as their fish fooling capacity.   I settled on his "Dr. Oatman", "Shushan Postmaster" and "Battenkill Shiner."   Stuff about Oatman and his flies is readily available in books and, of course, the well-googled internet.  Joe Bates' book, Streamer Fly Tying and Fishing (Stackpole; several printings) has lots o' info on Oatman and his flies.

I have a printer (Epson WF-7710) that will handle up to 13x19 inch sheets, and also handles heavy,  #140, cold pressed watercolor paper, which is what I used to print the map and fly names on.  I always like to see the names of flies, and even who tied them, in shadow boxes.   And the watercolor paper is good to go, from an archival standpoint.

So, long story short, here is the shadow box.  I am doing it in a limited edition of only 10 framings.  The first four of the ten have already been sold.  You can click on the pics to enlarge them.

The cost is $175 incl. shipping and insurance anywhere in the lower 48.  If you live within 45 minutes of me, I'll personally deliver, and reduce cost appropriately.  If you're outside the lower 48, there will be additional shipping charges.  Might add another 25 to 35 bucks.   The sales of these framings will allow me to purchase more materials to make more framings that will raise important funds for Atlantic salmon conservation and Atlantic Salmon Museum operations.

You can contact me at gt05254@sover.net if you're interested.

Cheers,

Gary T.

LOL, I MUST NOT HAVE CHARGED ENOUGH FOR THIS FRAMING; IT SOLD OUT IN A DAY.

The Nepisiguit Grey Atlantic Salmon Fly

 Every so often, I get hung up on a fly.  This time around, it's the Nepisiguit Grey (note well the Canadian spelling of the G-word!).   I don't believe I'd ever even heard of the Nepisiguit River until Paul and Stephanie Elson and Howie Gould took me fishing there one lovely Autumn day a few years ago.  More about the river in this post from 2017, if you're interested:  https://theriverscourse.blogspot.com/2017/11/miramichi-salmon-camps-fall-2017.html. 

 There is another spelling, "Nipisiguit", that based on an hour of googling, looks to be an old French way of spelling.   I just bought a book, Salmon Fishing on the Nipisiguit - 1874, that lends a little credence to the older spelling.  Modern maps all seem to spell it Nepisiguit.  Several fly tying books, notably Farrow and Allen's Flies for Atlantic Salmon and Poul Jorgensen's Salmon Flies - Their Character, Style and Dressing use the Nipisiguit spelling, as does Joseph Bates, Jr. in The Art of the Salmon Fly.  

Historian David Ledlie, in an article he wrote for The American Fly Fisher (Fall 1976) concerning Dean Sage and his writing of the Ristigouche and its Salmon Fishing found this memo from Sage to his publisher regarding the spelling:  "Nepisseguit - Hickman spells it Nepisaguit and it is also spelled Nepiseguit and Nepisiguit, but my spelling is I think the most common and most in accordance with the pronounciation."

Others, including Bates and Richards Fishing Atlantic Salmon - the Flies and the Patterns and the monumental Hardy's Salmon Flies - Patterns from the Fly Tying Department 1883-1969 use the Nepisiguit spelling.  

In its earliest form, it's a beautiful fly - this one tied by Tyler Thompson.   Click on the pics for a larger version!

So who developed the Nepisiguit Grey?  Bates and Richards note, "No authentic information as to where, when or by whom the Nepisiguit Grey was originated, this evidence evidently being lost in antiquity."  In his Atlantic Salmon Flies, Jacques Heroux notes that the pattern was created by Ira Gruber.  I doubt that very much; the fly was around before Gruber's time, and looks unlike any other fly that notable fly developer created, particularly the complicated wing.  I am in communication with Gruber's grandson to see if he can shed some light on the subject.  New note:  Ira's grandson, also Ira, doubts that the fly was originated by his grandfather (pers. comm).  Also of note, a book he is writing about his grandfather is currently at the copy editor.

Enter Dewey Gillespie and his The Fly Tyers of New Brunswick - the 2nd Time Around (http://www.eskapeanglers.com/deweysbook/dewey.pdf).   Dewey introduces us to David Arthur LaPoiinte, a gentleman that owned a Fredericton, NB barbershop in the 1920's, and who moved to that hotbed of Miramichi fly tying, Atholville, NB in 1935 where he became more of a fly tyer than a barber.   He began teaching fly tying; Clovis Arseneault of Rusty Rat fame was one of his students.

Dewey credits LaPointe with creating the Nepisiguit Grey.   For the sake of argument, let's say LaPointe developed the hairwing Nepisiguit Grey.   He gives the dressing as follows:

Tag: Oval gold tinsel
Tip: Yellow floss
Tail: Golden Pheasant crest
Butt: Peacock herl
Rib: Oval gold tinsel
Body: Gray underbelly fur of a Muskrat
Throat: Grizzly hackle
Wing: Black Bear hair
Head: Black

In Hardy's Salmon Flies - Patterns from the Fly Tying Department 1883-1969, when discussing the Nepisiguit Grey, LaPointe was again given credit for the hairwing version:  "This was a pattern that adapted very well, largely because of its colouring, to a hair wing dressing, and the notebooks have a description, said to be taken from an illustration of one dressed by the American fly dresser LaPointe."

That's the most common dressing for the hairwing I've found.  Looks something like this:

In Bates and Richards' Fishing Atlantic Salmon, they list a simplified feather wing recipe:

Tag: Fine oval silver tinsel or wire and bright yellow floss

Tail: Golden Pheasant crest

Butt:  Two or three turns of peacock herl or black wool

Body: Medium gray wool, not built up

Rib: Fine oval tinsel

Throat: Barred rock (grizzly) hackle feather

Wing: In four sections, two on each side, bronze mallard

Head: Black

Looks a bit like this:

Together:

Those flies are part of a shadow box I created for the latest MSA online auction:

I found an old mining map of the river:

and through a little work with Paint, I was able to get this:

This whole deal pretty much started with a little favor I was doing for my friends up in Centreville, NB, Lottie and Stephen Nye.  They wanted to give a present to friends with a place on the Nepisiguit.  Stephen, like Tyler Thompson in the first pic in this blog post, has tying skills WAY above my paygrade, first tied the classic version from Hardy's recipe:

Tag: Silver and 152 yellow silk

Tail: Golden Pheasant crest

Butt: Black Ostrich

Body: Grey monkey fur (!!!!)

Ribs: Silver

Hackle:  Grizzly cock down body and at shoulder

Wing:  Golden pheasant tippet and golden pheasant tail, broadish strips of grey peacock wing feather and bustard, slip of summer duck and blue swan, brown mallard over.

They do list another wing variation.  You'll have to spend the 100 bucks for the book to get it, lol!

Here's what we ended up with for the gift the Nyes are giving (at least I THINK they're still giving it, lol) to their friends:

All that and we still don't know who designed the first Nepisiguit Grey!

Cheers, and get your shots!

Gary

Save the Date! MSA-US Atlantic Salmon Celebration 2021

 Save the Date! Feb. 20th at 7:00PM. The Miramichi Salmon Association's U.S. counterpart has put together an evening of salmon fishing entertainment that we are calling the MSA-US Salmon Celebration 2021.

We have a great Zoom livestream performance put together that will please any Atlantic salmon enthusiast. There will be lots of photos and videos of Miramichi salmon fishing that will feature some of the sport's best known personalities from today as well as the past. These include Lee and Joan Wulff, Ted Williams, Charlie DeFeo, as well as modern day fishers April Vokey, Deirdre Green, Bryant Freeman and Topher Browne. We have a fascinating illustrated history of the Miramichi salmon fishery by Morris Green from the Salmon Museum, and histories of the storied Black Brook Salmon Club and Doctor's Island. A special look at more than 50 flies tied by Charles DeFeo will also be featured. There's a lot more than this too.

The price for all this fun is $0. That isn't to say that the MSA wouldn't like a donation. The new president of the MSA, Dr. Robyn McCallum will also introduce herself, and I assure you we'd be happy to have your donation - but it isn't required to view the celebration. We want everyone to be able to see it. Donations of $50 or more will each get one chance in a drawing for a wonderful, Luther Hall, original painting. Goose Island Salmon. I almost forgot...you can register right now at this link http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event?oeidk=a07ehfy4gvx871d6ac5&llr=fgtk8ywab

So set the evening aside, open a couple of your favorite beverages, maybe order-in, and get set for a great evening of Atlantic salmon entertainment.

An etching project with Adriano Manocchia

Artist Adriano Manocchia and I go way back...so far back that I can't remember just how far back far back is!  We've fished together a lot, mostly on the Batten Kill, but some warm water stuff, too.  Even a trip to Pennsylvania to fish together.  We've worked on his vehicles a bunch, too.  Everything from classic pick up trucks to his Austin Healy.  Good times.

He has had an MGB restoration project to keep him busy during the warm weather and I have never-ending yard work to do then as well.   But as the cooler weather was showing up, we starting talking about what we were going to do to keep out of trouble when the weather started keeping us indoors.

I've been tying some older featherwing flies over the last year or so; I enjoy the look of them, and once I got bronze mallard feathers to bend to my will somewhat consistently, I began to enjoy tying them.  Out of the blue one day a month or so ago, Adriano wondered out loud to me about doing an etching centered around those old featherwings.  He didn't have to suggest that to me twice; I jumped right in and sent him photos of the flies I had done to date.

He came up with a lovely concept that harks back wonderfully to days gone by on the Miramichi.  Love the gent poling - not paddling - the canoe.  Just the way it's done on that river.  He hand-colored the flies, really capturing the look of 'em.

Uh oh - my turn.   While Adriano is selling some of the edition of twenty unframed (go here: http://adriano-art.com/), my job was to create a fly plate (when did shadow boxes full of flies ever become known as fly plates?) - one for him, one for Bridget and me, and one as a donation to the Atlantic Salmon Museum up in Doaktown, NB.  I said I'd like to frame 3 or 4 to sell mostly to raise money to buy more framing and matting materials for more donations to groups associated with the Atlantic salmon.  A guy can only dip into his social security check so often.

I usually fool around with a design for matting on a big piece of white cardboard or paper and then transfer that design to a first set of mats.  In this photo, you can see the white paper under the double mat, which really shows all the changes I end up making to the design.

I like to keep dimensions in easy (for me) multiples.  Double mats, for example, aren't very hard to do at all if you adhere them to each other before cutting the bottom mat.  It's a different story if the mats are going to be separated by spacers; you better have your act together when measuring out and cutting that bottom mat or what is supposed to be a quarter inch difference in mats will end up "not so much."

Once I've got the mat scheme down to what I want it to be, I've actually learned that it saves a lot of time if I do however many sets I'll need all at one time.  If you have a small shop like mine that has to serve as both a woodworking and a framing space, there is a major clean-up that has to be done, say, between making frames and making mats.  Sawdust is the enemy.   So here's a tidy stack, with a couple different mat options, ready for flies and frames:

On to the frames.  Always a fan of "simple" (the frame is about the artwork, not the framing, after all), I decided to use a simple oak frame.   I mill my own frame stock, usually from rough cut lumber.  In this case, I was using oak that had already been through the planer, but that would need to be re-cut and re-joined, and then the rabbet cut out.  There are several ways to cut that rabbet; I choose the safest way (most of the time), and use my table saw.

I do match up the face grains best I can.  I identify what will be the face and outside edge of the material with blue tape so that I know how to orient the piece in the table saw:

There is one little drawback to the way I do it.  Occasionally, the piece I am cutting out sort of has a mind of its own, and rather than sitting nicely on the table saw after being cut. tends to er, wander.  I had a few of those while making these frames.  I put the cardboard in front of the door in deference to buying a new door - and I always stand to one side when I'm doing this kind of work.  I have seen 2X2 lumber eject from the table saw and go through half inch particle board.  That taught me about the "stand to the side" deal.

I have taken to using strap clamps when gluing up frames.  Very easy to use.

A pile o' frames:

So there you have it.  I hope my framing does justice to Adriano's lovely hand-colored etching.   As I mentioned, I have 3 or 4 of these for sale.  Archivally matted and framed, they are $200 delivered to anywhere in the U.S and $220 delivered to Canada.  Anywhere else....let's talk.   Edition size is only 20.

Contact me through a PM on any forum I post this blog on, through FB's message system, or email me at gary.tanner117@gmail.com.   You can specify a light or dark frame.  The dark frame is a redish brown, which picks up the sepia bottom mat very nicely.

Cheers!

Gary

A Grandfather Remembered and Revered

 I did not know my own grandfathers well at all.  Truth be told, I never even met my mother's father, but I think, based on the one photo I have of him, that I inherited my moustache from him.   My father's father was an avid bird hunter and gear fisherman.  I have a photo of two of his setters, and a few of his shotgun shell boxes.   You can click on the pics to see an enlarged version.

Sadly, I never got to hunt or fish with him.

Not so for a fellow that recently contacted me about a creating a shadow box through Speypages message system.  Johnny Maltby's grandfather Charles (Chuck) Maltby was also a serious hunter and angler, and he and his wife would, according to John, often pick him up and take him fishing after school.  Chuck Maltby and his wife relaxing along the Ausable in Michigan:

John relates that his granddad was an architect, but was mostly a troutfisher, woodworker, and grouse hunter.  And an artist on several levels.  He made John this bobbin threader:

He made these tackle boxes for the Kalamazoo Trout Unlimited chapter every year:

John told me that the binders behind the box above contain his grandfather's notes on every trout over 6 inches that he caught between 1951 and 2011.  John wryly noted that "everyone thinks Robert Travers caught the most trout in Michigan...they are very wrong!"

Chuck Maltby took many trips to Yellowstone over the years, and would draw his own post cards to send back to the family.  He also tied his own flies.  These two facts lead us to why John contacted me in the first place:  he wanted a shadow box that contained mementos  of his grandfather's talent and thoughtfulness.  I agreed that it was a delightful idea, and why didn't John send me some cards and flies and we'd see what would become of it.

John sent me these two post cards that his grandfather drew, and 6 flies he tied:

I was unsure about how to mount the post cards and so purchased some clear "envelopes" that post card collectors use to store their cards.  That was never going to look right, so I eventually mounted them the same way I mount lithographs - with an acid-free hinge/tape system.

I played around with arrangements, and settled on this one:

That's the easy part.  Now a person has to start worrying about windows and spacers and such, and draw it out.

So, you get the top mat all cut out and put back together, now you have to stick the bottom mat on to that with two sided tape, and map out all the new cuts.  Gets a little dizzying!

I selected mats that I thought complemented the art, and I think it worked out.  I also used only an eighth inch difference between the mats, instead of a more customary one quarter inch.

Adding a one half inch foam core spacer gave the framing the depth it needed for the flies:

Now, about those flies.  I'm used to mounting nice big Atlantic salmon wet flies, either on their own posts or using beads:

These flies were little, puffy trout flies.  What to do?   I can (and do) make myself superglue a big salmon fly to a post by the hook point.  That's still what museum folks (remember, I used to be one of those) want: a  reversible attachment.  And the bead method is totally reversible.   Time for some experiments.  I have seen stiff, tiny diameter wire twisted around a fly to mount it (I have a John Betts litho with the fly mounted that way by a fellow in Denver), but this framing has to travel from Vermont to Chicago; I need a pretty bulletproof method to keep the flies aligned.

I needed a different kind of bead to "shroud" the wire.  Enter Heddie, from my high school homeroom fifty two years ago.  We are "friends" on facebook (even though she became a lawyer after high school) and I knew she is into "beading."   She turned me on to what has to be the world's biggest bead company, and we came up with just what the lawyer ordered...a little tiny clear tube that the wire could pass through on its way through the matboard to be secured on the other side.

My first attempt looked like this:

That silver wire wasn't going to cut it, so yippee, more fly tying materials!

A nice delicate yet stout arrangement:

Pretty invisible set-up looking head on:

I chose a red chestnut stain for the oak frame.  Think it complemented the artwork nicely.

Some closeups of Chuck Maltby's ever-so-cool post cards at home in the finished frame:

With renewed interest in bullet-proof packaging after a debacle with the USPS and their alleged insurance after they used one of my frames that went to California as a frisbee, I am happy to report that the framing is safely enjoying its place on Johnny Maltby's den wall.  All's well that ends well.

Cheers,

Gary