Hello everyone,
Let me show you my last project; a split bamboo fly-fishing rod enhanced with engravings of course…
As you will notice, I’ve been inspired by Andrew Biggs’s work. Since I saw his first Maori bracelet, I had it in my mind to also try out an engraving with a Maori theme. Evidently, copying Andrew’s design was not an option. So I read all I could find on Maori culture. Fortunately Internet provides us with lots of pictures of Maori tattoos.
I also found this book translated in French; The Maoris by David Lewis
I spent hours drawing Maori spirals and believe me, this is not as easy as it seems. Try drawing one and you’ll see what I mean.
After settling on a pattern, I sent it to Andrew who was kind enough to make a few corrections so my work would look more Maori. You can read and draw for months, but you’ll never have the true soul of someone who was born in New Zealand…Thank you Monsieur Andrew for your kind help.
I like very much the mythological legends and the story of Maui’s fish “Te Ika a Mauiâ€.
I had read this story for the first time in our forum
So to me, this seemed to be the perfect theme for a hand made fishing rod.
http://www.igraver.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5184&highlight=maui
The trout you’ll see on the butt cap was highly inspired by this one:
http://www.igraver.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4521&highlight=lies
The engravings were done on the rings of the reel seat, on the ferules,
On the sides of the fishing reel,
And even on the handle of the bamboo fishnet.
I’ve put Maori spirals on every item, including the leather of the rod case and the reel case.
For that I had to engrave brass and steel punches with several different sizes of spirals
Brazilian agate stripping guides with titanium snake guides were tied on the rod.
I also use a natural silk fly line.
Maui’s fish has been coloured by a process of anodization, using the technique I showed in the tips section.
The colours of the engravings are not traditional Maori colours. Usually, these are red, white and black. Since red is difficult to obtain when anodizing Titanium, I decided to use only blue tones I remembered seeing on the Maori Jewellery made with Paua.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paua
For those interested by engraved rods, below are a few links that show some very beautiful creations:
Check Nick Taransky’s Gallery with Australian engravings
http://www.taranskybamboo.com.au/
Wagner rods have beautiful ones here:
http://www.wagnerrods.com/limited.html
Bill Oyster has made a spectacular rod for President Jimmy Carter:
http://www.oysterbamboo.com/
We all know Ray Cover’s work, his rods are gorgeous:
http://www.rcoverengraving.com/flyrod.htm
I like very much those made by my friend David Riccardo. Thank you Dave for your advice on holding and engraving the ferules:
http://www.riccardoengraving.com/gallery.php?id=Fly Rods
Voilà , j’espère que cela vous a plu…
Thank you for reading. Merci beaucoup!
Best regards
Jean
Let me show you my last project; a split bamboo fly-fishing rod enhanced with engravings of course…
As you will notice, I’ve been inspired by Andrew Biggs’s work. Since I saw his first Maori bracelet, I had it in my mind to also try out an engraving with a Maori theme. Evidently, copying Andrew’s design was not an option. So I read all I could find on Maori culture. Fortunately Internet provides us with lots of pictures of Maori tattoos.
I also found this book translated in French; The Maoris by David Lewis
I spent hours drawing Maori spirals and believe me, this is not as easy as it seems. Try drawing one and you’ll see what I mean.
After settling on a pattern, I sent it to Andrew who was kind enough to make a few corrections so my work would look more Maori. You can read and draw for months, but you’ll never have the true soul of someone who was born in New Zealand…Thank you Monsieur Andrew for your kind help.
I like very much the mythological legends and the story of Maui’s fish “Te Ika a Mauiâ€.
I had read this story for the first time in our forum
So to me, this seemed to be the perfect theme for a hand made fishing rod.
http://www.igraver.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5184&highlight=maui
The trout you’ll see on the butt cap was highly inspired by this one:
http://www.igraver.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4521&highlight=lies
The engravings were done on the rings of the reel seat, on the ferules,
On the sides of the fishing reel,
And even on the handle of the bamboo fishnet.
I’ve put Maori spirals on every item, including the leather of the rod case and the reel case.
For that I had to engrave brass and steel punches with several different sizes of spirals
Brazilian agate stripping guides with titanium snake guides were tied on the rod.
I also use a natural silk fly line.
Maui’s fish has been coloured by a process of anodization, using the technique I showed in the tips section.
The colours of the engravings are not traditional Maori colours. Usually, these are red, white and black. Since red is difficult to obtain when anodizing Titanium, I decided to use only blue tones I remembered seeing on the Maori Jewellery made with Paua.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paua
For those interested by engraved rods, below are a few links that show some very beautiful creations:
Check Nick Taransky’s Gallery with Australian engravings
http://www.taranskybamboo.com.au/
Wagner rods have beautiful ones here:
http://www.wagnerrods.com/limited.html
Bill Oyster has made a spectacular rod for President Jimmy Carter:
http://www.oysterbamboo.com/
We all know Ray Cover’s work, his rods are gorgeous:
http://www.rcoverengraving.com/flyrod.htm
I like very much those made by my friend David Riccardo. Thank you Dave for your advice on holding and engraving the ferules:
http://www.riccardoengraving.com/gallery.php?id=Fly Rods
Voilà , j’espère que cela vous a plu…
Thank you for reading. Merci beaucoup!
Best regards
Jean
