Honestly never thought about making a shadow box until I watched this video. One of those would look awesome on the wall at my camp. Thanks for the idea.
Excellent little project. Thanks for sharing. A project that I've done, was placed flies in clear Christmas tree bulbs and gave them to my son and his wife. They decorate their tree with them every year. Happy Father's Day
Thanks Layton; I love this idea! Do you just suspend the flies with some thin tippet? I might do that for my own tree this year. :-) And happy father's day to you too!
@@SavageFlies Thanks Matt, I do use 7X tippet to suspend the fly. I also use large bulbs, large flies; small bulbs, small flies. Finding the perfect balance is the hardest part of this project. 👍
Thanks for the great video Matt. I’ve had flies by well known fly tiers just sitting in a box when they should have been displayed on the wall. Bought 1, got two free shadow boxes at Michaels. Heck of a deal! Thanks again…tight lines!
What a great video! I did some shadow boxes with fancy wet flies in the top two rows and Maine streamer flies in the bottom two rows. I did it basically the same way you did Matt, but I used little nails through the back of the board and mat and stuck the corks on them. Then after I put flies on the corks, I could rotate the corks a little if necessary for positioning the flies. I made my shadow boxes a long time ago now, and I still have them and I am glad I did it. I second the recommendation that all tiers do this. Once you do one or two, they are easy and make really great gifts too -. Be sure to put your name and the date on it somewhere, like a brass plate like the video, or even just in pencil in bottom corner.
Thanks Pete, and great comment! I gave one as a gift once and it was pretty well received. But I'll bet you're right that they really should hold up well over the years. Now you've given me an idea... I should make one every year, of the dozen or so of my favorite flies from the year. Then over the course of the next ten years I'd have some pretty cool mementos to hang on the wall. That's it; I'm going to do it. Thanks for the idea. :-)
Go for it Bob! Pete just gave me an idea too. I think I'm going to start making one every year, just to keep track of my dozen or so favorite flies from the previous year.
Thanks Matt! I made one a few years back for my sister out of a rigged up picture frame, with some flies my 13 year old son tied, and it came out great. He’s great at tying but doesn’t like fishing much, rather be skateboarding 😂, she put it on her fireplace mantle front and center. That really made him proud of his work. I’ll have to get some of those boxes and make up some more. Hope you had a wonderful Father’s Day. Best wishes to you! 👍👌✌️
That's a great story Charlie! I'll bet every time your son goes to his aunt's house he sees it and feels a bit of pride. What a great gift. Thanks for the note and happy father's day to you too!
Great project Matt. Thanks again for sharing. Another thing to add to my “to-do list”. I was thinking of making Christmas tree ornaments this year for my lure tree as well as gifts for my kids to put on their trees. The shadow box might also make a nice gift.
Thanks Jon, and making Christmas ornaments is another great project! I'm thinking of making some of these myself this year. Hope you had a great father's day my friend. :-)
You bet Chad! I'm sure your dad would love a gift like this. Even if he's not a tier or fly fisherman, something like this coming from your son would be pretty special.
Great job Matt.The last one I made has all 62 from E T Pritts book North Country Flies,all with original materials.It took a while,but we'll worth it.Every tier should make one.I got my brass plate at our local trophy shop.The first one I made I got all the stuff from a thrift store.The one you made I is a lot less work.Great job Matt.Cheers. Ken
Wow Ken, that sounds amazing! I'd say you need a pretty big frame to put all 62 flies in it. What a cool project. I'd say these small frames are good for maybe up to 20 flies, but probably look best with a dozen or so.
You can also get some acid free scrapbooking paper in the pattern of water or mountains (or whatever) and lay that on the Styrofoam background. Takes more finagling and an exacto knife before affixing the corks, but giving it a natural background makes it really pop.
That's a great idea Ryan! A water theme background would be perfect for flies. Since I've now got half a dozen empty shadow boxes, I just might give that a shot. Thanks for the note. :-)
Hi Sir Matt, Happy Father's Day, wow Super Amazing Project that is so cool I will always remember this video in the hopes of one day I can do that with some of my best flies thank you.
Edward, thanks, and happy father's day to you too! And oh yeah, I've seen plenty of your flies and they are definitely good enough to put in a frame! You should go for it. :-)
Thanks Joe! And great idea for cork poppers. I might have to break out an X-acto knife to carve them, and then the Tester's model paint for some shiny, hard heads. (This was actually the first fly I tied in the 80s, a cork-bodied, red and white popper. Fun times.)
@@SavageFlies Ahhh, tesTors, I love the smell of enamel paint in the morning. Back in the early 60's the drugstore across the street held a model car building contest every summer. They'd put them on display in the storefront window. Now the paint is for eyes on streamers. And a computer screen is the storefront window. Thanks for the flashback Matt :o) Say, how's the "name the coyote fly" coming?
Sound like some more contests are in order!!! I gotta put some SAVAGE FLY 14th place winner tags under my beauties!!!! (Assuming I’m that good, of course)
@@SavageFlies lookin forward to it! Matt, I was curious if at some point, you could do a video on stocking a fly box. I’ve got an idaho/Wyoming fly trip coming up this week and I think I went a little overboard on tying. I picked 5 dries for the area (I hope) and tied 5 of each size (10’s to 16’s 20’s and 22’s for some) Same with emerges and nymphs. Plus a handful of mixed flies I managed to not get stuck in trees over the past couple local trips. I’m not sure if being loaded down with 200 pounds of fly boxes is the right way to approach a stream, but I didn’t want to NOT have the right one. Is there a “standard “ load out of flies? Or will a pared down version (2 or 3 of each) be plenty? Being self taught causes anxiety, Matt!!! Ha ha 😂😂
@@kalikasurf Great question Eddie! How I stock my fly boxes is a lot of trial and error. The good news is you can fill a few boxes with flies that basically work everywhere, and then add some local favorites here and there. I don't have any specific videos on what to take where, and there's not likely a lot on TH-cam about it either. I think your best bet is to just do a little research online (regular websites, non-TH-cam stuff) and hopefully you'll find a list of favorite flies for the waters you'll be fishing. I'm kind of jealous of your trip! I did a week on the Salmon River in Idaho last year and had a blast. I wish I had more advice for you. Good luck and have fun!
@@SavageFlies I did look up a few of the typical July hatch bugs, so I whipped up a few of those. (Green drakes, rusty spinners and some caddis) More than likely, I’ll be able to pare down my boxes after this trip, but I can’t imagine I’m the only one that struggles with that question. Gonna stop in Provo for a day, then spend the week in Ashton area getting sunburned and catching branches! It’ll be a good time! Might be some Instagram worthy comedy!!
You're absolutely right; we all struggle with too many flies sometimes! I'd be embarrassed to admit how many boxes I might have on a typical trip. I'm sure you'll be in good shape. 👍
Thanks for the video. My recent diy project was to dye hackle from natural to orange. Turns out that Cool Aid is an acidic coloring that permanently dyes feathers, wool, etc. There is a variety of commercial acidic dyes to change the color of feathers.
Good stuff, Matt. The former president of our local TU Chapter used to make an oak clock as a banquet donation. It had flies, shadow box-style at all 12 hour positions. I always wanted to make something like it, but haven't "accepted the challenge" yet.
Thanks John! The fishing for me was meh... there were plenty of cicadas out still, but I couldn't fool any fish big enough to eat it. Lots of little guys slapping at it, but no monsters. And the only fish I caught at all were on a black foam ant. Oh well... you can't win them all!
Hey Matt, awesome shadow box idea. Thanks for sharing!! I'm new to fly tying and have so many questions. I'm learning a ton from you, but I'm a bit confused on feathers... I get dry hackles for dry flies and bugger Hackle for wooly buggers. however, partidge feathers, peacock hurls, hen saddles are just some I'm lost on... Lol. When do you use one over the other. What feathers are better for wet flies as opposed to dry flies? Do you have any videos that would give me a little guidance or would you make a video to give new fly tiers like myself a better understanding of feathers and what applications you would use some over others? Thanks in advance. Keep doing what you do. Tight lines!
Thanks for the question! I've got one video that explains most of the differences between wet and dry fly hackle (hens vs roosters). Check this one out: th-cam.com/video/J56c-Avq2I0/w-d-xo.html I haven't really done one with the other bird skins, like partridge, quail, or pheasants. I do talk about these randomly throughout other videos, but start with this hackle one first and it will tell you a lot of what you're asking. Maybe I'll add an "all about bird skins" to my video to-do list. There really is a ton to learn about all this so don't worry if you feel overwhelmed at first. A lot of us fly tiers have been doing this for years and we still get confused. :-)
@@SavageFlies Awesome! Thanks for the encouragement. 🙂. I actually just finished watching your video on the Catskill bucktail steamer and then I tied it. I must say, not bad for a novice fly tier..😁😁.
Here in the U.S. I got them off Amazon. amzn.to/3TchOdv Or you can just search online for cork test tube bottle stoppers. I think they're a size #1 and their dimensions are 0.4 x 0.3 x 0.5 inches.
Honestly never thought about making a shadow box until I watched this video. One of those would look awesome on the wall at my camp. Thanks for the idea.
You bet Michael! They do look great in any room you want to give an outdoors/fishy feel to it.
Excellent little project. Thanks for sharing. A project that I've done, was placed flies in clear Christmas tree bulbs and gave them to my son and his wife. They decorate their tree with them every year.
Happy Father's Day
Thanks Layton; I love this idea! Do you just suspend the flies with some thin tippet? I might do that for my own tree this year. :-) And happy father's day to you too!
@@SavageFlies Thanks Matt, I do use 7X tippet to suspend the fly. I also use large bulbs, large flies; small bulbs, small flies. Finding the perfect balance is the hardest part of this project. 👍
Thanks for the great video Matt. I’ve had flies by well known fly tiers just sitting in a box when they should have been displayed on the wall. Bought 1, got two free shadow boxes at Michaels. Heck of a deal! Thanks again…tight lines!
What a great video! I did some shadow boxes with fancy wet flies in the top two rows and Maine streamer flies in the bottom two rows. I did it basically the same way you did Matt, but I used little nails through the back of the board and mat and stuck the corks on them. Then after I put flies on the corks, I could rotate the corks a little if necessary for positioning the flies. I made my shadow boxes a long time ago now, and I still have them and I am glad I did it. I second the recommendation that all tiers do this. Once you do one or two, they are easy and make really great gifts too -. Be sure to put your name and the date on it somewhere, like a brass plate like the video, or even just in pencil in bottom corner.
Thanks Pete, and great comment! I gave one as a gift once and it was pretty well received. But I'll bet you're right that they really should hold up well over the years. Now you've given me an idea... I should make one every year, of the dozen or so of my favorite flies from the year. Then over the course of the next ten years I'd have some pretty cool mementos to hang on the wall. That's it; I'm going to do it. Thanks for the idea. :-)
I like what you did with that box !!
Thanks Franky! You should make one too. It's really pretty easy. :-)
Brilliant. This has been on my to-do list for years. Time to fix that.
Go for it Bob! Pete just gave me an idea too. I think I'm going to start making one every year, just to keep track of my dozen or so favorite flies from the previous year.
Nice touch Matt, hope you had a relaxing Father’s Day with the family 👍
Thanks Jim! Brunch this morning and then a lazy afternoon playing around in my tying room. Hope you had a great one too. :-)
Thanks Matt! I made one a few years back for my sister out of a rigged up picture frame, with some flies my 13 year old son tied, and it came out great. He’s great at tying but doesn’t like fishing much, rather be skateboarding 😂, she put it on her fireplace mantle front and center. That really made him proud of his work. I’ll have to get some of those boxes and make up some more. Hope you had a wonderful Father’s Day. Best wishes to you! 👍👌✌️
That's a great story Charlie! I'll bet every time your son goes to his aunt's house he sees it and feels a bit of pride. What a great gift. Thanks for the note and happy father's day to you too!
pretty cool matt .. i like that .. great job..
Nice DIY video, thanks Matt
Appreciate it Lee!
Cool project. Thx Matt!
Thanks Clyde! You should make one with some big Alaskan streamers. :-)
Nice job Matt!
Appreciate it George!
this is great i have a couple shadow boxes that I never completed that now i think I can finally finish up.
You sound like me Mark! I've got at least two started that I just haven't finished all the flies for yet. :-)
Great project Matt. Thanks again for sharing. Another thing to add to my “to-do list”. I was thinking of making Christmas tree ornaments this year for my lure tree as well as gifts for my kids to put on their trees. The shadow box might also make a nice gift.
Thanks Jon, and making Christmas ornaments is another great project! I'm thinking of making some of these myself this year. Hope you had a great father's day my friend. :-)
Great video Matt. I’m going to make one of these for my Dad. Thanks for your wonderful videos.
You bet Chad! I'm sure your dad would love a gift like this. Even if he's not a tier or fly fisherman, something like this coming from your son would be pretty special.
Awesome, ty for the tips. I always look forward to your videos
Appreciate it Thomas. This one was for you!
Love that project!!
Appreciate it Rollin!
Great job Matt.The last one I made has all 62 from E T Pritts book North Country Flies,all with original materials.It took a while,but we'll worth it.Every tier should make one.I got my brass plate at our local trophy shop.The first one I made I got all the stuff from a thrift store.The one you made I is a lot less work.Great job Matt.Cheers. Ken
Wow Ken, that sounds amazing! I'd say you need a pretty big frame to put all 62 flies in it. What a cool project. I'd say these small frames are good for maybe up to 20 flies, but probably look best with a dozen or so.
You can also get some acid free scrapbooking paper in the pattern of water or mountains (or whatever) and lay that on the Styrofoam background. Takes more finagling and an exacto knife before affixing the corks, but giving it a natural background makes it really pop.
That's a great idea Ryan! A water theme background would be perfect for flies. Since I've now got half a dozen empty shadow boxes, I just might give that a shot. Thanks for the note. :-)
Hi Sir Matt, Happy Father's Day, wow Super Amazing Project that is so cool I will always remember this video in the hopes of one day I can do that with some of my best flies thank you.
Edward, thanks, and happy father's day to you too! And oh yeah, I've seen plenty of your flies and they are definitely good enough to put in a frame! You should go for it. :-)
@@SavageFlies Thank You Sir.
Thank you 😊 This is really nice, especially, that All a person needs to do, is to glue the already made parts together!
Thank you my friend! And yes, it really is a pretty easy project that ends up looking nice.
Great looking shadow box Matt. Hey, make lots of panfish poppers with the leftover corks. Great project Matt, retro into too, awesome!
Thanks Joe! And great idea for cork poppers. I might have to break out an X-acto knife to carve them, and then the Tester's model paint for some shiny, hard heads. (This was actually the first fly I tied in the 80s, a cork-bodied, red and white popper. Fun times.)
@@SavageFlies Ahhh, tesTors, I love the smell of enamel paint in the morning. Back in the early 60's the drugstore across the street held a model car building contest every summer. They'd put them on display in the storefront window. Now the paint is for eyes on streamers. And a computer screen is the storefront window. Thanks for the flashback Matt :o) Say, how's the "name the coyote fly" coming?
I have always wanted to do one but never got around to it
I like the way you done that one
Will have to try it out
Thanks for the video Matt
Thanks Dave! Definitely give it a shot; I'm sure you'll like how it turns out. :-)
great idea thanks for sharing buddy!
Appreciate it James!
Sound like some more contests are in order!!! I gotta put some SAVAGE FLY 14th place winner tags under my beauties!!!! (Assuming I’m that good, of course)
Ha! I'm sure you're that good Eddie. And don't worry, we'll have another contest later this winter. :-)
@@SavageFlies lookin forward to it!
Matt, I was curious if at some point, you could do a video on stocking a fly box. I’ve got an idaho/Wyoming fly trip coming up this week and I think I went a little overboard on tying. I picked 5 dries for the area (I hope) and tied 5 of each size (10’s to 16’s 20’s and 22’s for some)
Same with emerges and nymphs. Plus a handful of mixed flies I managed to not get stuck in trees over the past couple local trips.
I’m not sure if being loaded down with 200 pounds of fly boxes is the right way to approach a stream, but I didn’t want to NOT have the right one. Is there a “standard “ load out of flies? Or will a pared down version (2 or 3 of each) be plenty?
Being self taught causes anxiety, Matt!!! Ha ha 😂😂
@@kalikasurf Great question Eddie! How I stock my fly boxes is a lot of trial and error. The good news is you can fill a few boxes with flies that basically work everywhere, and then add some local favorites here and there. I don't have any specific videos on what to take where, and there's not likely a lot on TH-cam about it either. I think your best bet is to just do a little research online (regular websites, non-TH-cam stuff) and hopefully you'll find a list of favorite flies for the waters you'll be fishing.
I'm kind of jealous of your trip! I did a week on the Salmon River in Idaho last year and had a blast. I wish I had more advice for you. Good luck and have fun!
@@SavageFlies I did look up a few of the typical July hatch bugs, so I whipped up a few of those. (Green drakes, rusty spinners and some caddis)
More than likely, I’ll be able to pare down my boxes after this trip, but I can’t imagine I’m the only one that struggles with that question. Gonna stop in Provo for a day, then spend the week in Ashton area getting sunburned and catching branches! It’ll be a good time!
Might be some Instagram worthy comedy!!
You're absolutely right; we all struggle with too many flies sometimes! I'd be embarrassed to admit how many boxes I might have on a typical trip. I'm sure you'll be in good shape. 👍
Cool idea maybe if I get better at tieing I may want to show some flies off sometime .
You definitely should. These frames look really cool hanging in your home office or tying room. :-)
Thanks for the video.
My recent diy project was to dye hackle from natural to orange. Turns out that Cool Aid is an acidic coloring that permanently dyes feathers, wool, etc. There is a variety of commercial acidic dyes to change the color of feathers.
Great tips Michael! I've never dyed with Kool Aid but I've seen people doing it. I may have to give it a try. Thanks for the note. :-)
Good stuff, Matt. The former president of our local TU Chapter used to make an oak clock as a banquet donation. It had flies, shadow box-style at all 12 hour positions. I always wanted to make something like it, but haven't "accepted the challenge" yet.
That's a really cool idea Jim. Now I might think about doing a clock for me. :-)
That is very cool, thank you for this. I'm about to frame my first set
Excellent Rocky; good luck with it! Email me a picture if you can. I'd love to see how it turns out. :-)
Sounds good, will do
Very good how to video and a nice way of displaying your work. How was the fishing yesterday?
Thanks John! The fishing for me was meh... there were plenty of cicadas out still, but I couldn't fool any fish big enough to eat it. Lots of little guys slapping at it, but no monsters. And the only fish I caught at all were on a black foam ant. Oh well... you can't win them all!
Hey Matt, awesome shadow box idea. Thanks for sharing!! I'm new to fly tying and have so many questions. I'm learning a ton from you, but I'm a bit confused on feathers... I get dry hackles for dry flies and bugger Hackle for wooly buggers. however, partidge feathers, peacock hurls, hen saddles are just some I'm lost on... Lol. When do you use one over the other. What feathers are better for wet flies as opposed to dry flies? Do you have any videos that would give me a little guidance or would you make a video to give new fly tiers like myself a better understanding of feathers and what applications you would use some over others? Thanks in advance. Keep doing what you do. Tight lines!
Thanks for the question! I've got one video that explains most of the differences between wet and dry fly hackle (hens vs roosters). Check this one out: th-cam.com/video/J56c-Avq2I0/w-d-xo.html
I haven't really done one with the other bird skins, like partridge, quail, or pheasants. I do talk about these randomly throughout other videos, but start with this hackle one first and it will tell you a lot of what you're asking. Maybe I'll add an "all about bird skins" to my video to-do list. There really is a ton to learn about all this so don't worry if you feel overwhelmed at first. A lot of us fly tiers have been doing this for years and we still get confused. :-)
@@SavageFlies Awesome! Thanks for the encouragement. 🙂. I actually just finished watching your video on the Catskill bucktail steamer and then I tied it. I must say, not bad for a novice fly tier..😁😁.
Hi! I was wondering where I can buy those small corks! Thanks for your answer
Here in the U.S. I got them off Amazon. amzn.to/3TchOdv Or you can just search online for cork test tube bottle stoppers. I think they're a size #1 and their dimensions are 0.4 x 0.3 x 0.5 inches.