Abdominal Segmentation.

Take a 25mm x 15mm strip of Raffene and wrap around the tail end of the abdominal underbody. Raffene is fairly strong across its width but will tear easily along its length, ensure the length of the Raffene flows with the length of the Flies body and that the Raffene strip completely wraps the circumference of the abdomen and then overlaps slightly. Tie down the Raffene with 3 or 4 wraps as I have indicated in my diagram. It is important that the thread wraps lay on top of each other. Using open thread wraps, take the bobbin forward about an inch towards the head of the fly. Moisten the Raffene and draw forward; this will cause a small section of the abdomen to be ‘cloaked’ with a Raffene skin. This becomes a single segment. Repeat the above process until the abdomen is complete.

Wingbuds

Take four 30mm x 30mm strips of Raffene and coat the faces of each sheet with; “Floo Gloo” or “Dave’s Flexament”, Lureflash Featherweld” or even regular “Fly Tying Varnish”. Lay each sheet on top of the other and press together firmly. The four sheets will soon dry to produce a much thicker sheet of Raffene that is better suited to tying Wing buds, Pronotum covers or Head capsule plates.

Once dry, cut to shape and apply a coat of varnish to seal.

Wings

For my Realistic fishing flies I will use either a synthetic mesh wing or Stalcups medallion. For some of my Art Flies I will use “Close To Nature Wings” which is an Acetate wing material with the actual insect wing etched directly onto the sheet.

For my Limited Edition Art Flies I will use a technique very similar to creating the wing buds. First take 2 sheets of Raffene and then tape one sheet down onto a sheet of paper. I recreate the wing pattern of the natural insect using a combination of Porcupine Guard Hairs, Mink, stripped Hackle stems, Hackle Barbs and even Human Hair. Bend 2 Porcupine Guard Hairs to the exact outside shape of the wing. Place these onto the Raffene sheet and flood with varnish, the guard hairs will remain in position and eventually dry with the varnish. Whilst the varnish is drying, use a set of fine nosed tweezers and place strips of hair or hackle stems onto the Raffene wing plate. These too will dry with the varnish. Once complete, flood the wing area again with varnish and then place the second sheet of Raffene over the lower sheet and press down firmly. Allow to dry for at least an hour.

Thorax

For the thorax I will use 2mm strips of Raffene, these are wrapped around the thoracic section and produce a realistic ‘shell’ like body.

Gills

There are plenty of materials that are suited to tying gills on the Art fly. Here are a few that I regularly use: Poly Yarn, Partridge tail feather tips, Cul-De-Canard Oiler puffs, Regular Cul-De-Canard and Rabbit under fur.

My current favourite has to be Cul-De-Canard Oiler Puffs. Moisten the Oiler puff and then wrap it in a 10mm x 15mm strip of Raffene (wrap the C-D-C into the Raffene strip as if you were rolling Tobacco to make a cigarette) to protect the C-D-C feather. Tie this into position. Apply colour to your fly and varnish the entire body. When the fly is completely finished, take a dubbing needle and scrape away the root of each gill, the Raffene will eventually break off to reveal the white C-D-C Gill, trim this to length and then snip away at the tip to create more of an irregular shape to each gill.

Head Capsule and Pronotum

For the Pronotum, first tie in a strip of stout Flexibody or plastic sheet just in front of the forward wingbud. Now tie in 3 strips of Raffene of equal length and width at the same point. The Flexibody (or Plastic Sheet) is drawn over to form a solid base for the Pronotum and then the Raffene strips are drawn over the top of this to form the final textured layers.

The Head Capsule is a continuation of the Thorax, I use the same 2mm strips of Raffene to bind the entire head area. For the eyes, I use a strip of 100lb mono, I melt the end and then quickly touch the molten Monofilament onto the eye area. Apply varnish when complete.
Jaws

I find tying mouth parts to be amongst the most difficult areas of an Art Fly. I trim away the butt end of a Porcupine Guard Hair and then insert a needle in order to hollow out the hair. I can now insert the tip of the Guard Hair or even a “Japanese Nymph Leg” into this cavity. Small jaws can be created by flattening “Japanese Nymph Legs” and then cutting to a point using curved scissors or Nail Clippers.

Underbody.
I will then tie strips of micro chenille along the hook shank to build up the basic underbody shape, chenille provides a near ‘bomb proof’ foundation to my flies. To build up key areas, I tie in small strips of chenille; I will burn these strips at each end to provide a more tapered underbody shape. Once the underbody is completed, bind securely with tying thread; add 3 or 4 coats of varnish and allow the underbody to soak up the varnish.

Tails and Antennae.
The Tails and the Antennae of my flies are created from Monofilament. 25lb mono will create fine antennae such as those found on a Hopper whilst 100lb mono will be suited to Salmonfly Nymph tails. Trim a short section of mono and pass it quickly through a candle flame. The outer layer of monofilament tends to crystallize when brought into contact with a naked flame. Now using a scalpel blade, gently scrape away the crystallized mono. Keep working towards the tip of the mono section in order to produce a tapered shaft.

Diagrams.
Over the years I have slowly perfected and streamlined many of the techniques required to tie a convincing Art Fly. As a result, most of my flies are now constructed in pretty much the same way. First of all I sketch an overhead view of the insect I intend to tie. I also produce scale side and front view drawings of the insect. On many occasions I will have a preserved example of the Natural to follow but, the drawings allow me to accurately measure and reproduce a near perfect fly.