I read this post because I have a history of making the wrong 'ingredients' do the right job, just because the right 'ingredients' are usually unavailable/too expensive... and then you mentioned a fishing tackle store, and guitar strings.
I tie fishing flies, and have been doing so since fly fishing practically didn't exist in this country (South Africa). I could get the hooks, but very little else was available. Flies are a practical artform, and for me tying them is also a kind of therapy. As a kid I learnt not to throw out broken violin and guitar strings. How to cure hackle capes myself. Would buy any peacock feather I found. Would pick up and keep any wild bird feather. Kept every scrap strand of wool my mother cut off after finishing a sweater/whatever. I saved and bought embroidery silk (can't tie flies with cotton thread), and it was only in 2000 that I first got a bobbin holder, and my word but that thingummy makes fly-tying easy. I can now buy a fly-tying vise, but I prefer the one I built out of clamps and bits of metal hand-ground to form with a file...
Hardcore crafting is AWESOME crafting. I get a little kick of pride out of having made do.
After warbling: this might be helpful– ask hardware stores for fine guage spring steel wire (0.3/0.5/0.75mm). It makes awesome jump rings, and it's hardened and oil-tempered, which means it resists rust.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2013-01-25 02:56 pm (UTC)I tie fishing flies, and have been doing so since fly fishing practically didn't exist in this country (South Africa). I could get the hooks, but very little else was available. Flies are a practical artform, and for me tying them is also a kind of therapy. As a kid I learnt not to throw out broken violin and guitar strings. How to cure hackle capes myself. Would buy any peacock feather I found. Would pick up and keep any wild bird feather. Kept every scrap strand of wool my mother cut off after finishing a sweater/whatever. I saved and bought embroidery silk (can't tie flies with cotton thread), and it was only in 2000 that I first got a bobbin holder, and my word but that thingummy makes fly-tying easy. I can now buy a fly-tying vise, but I prefer the one I built out of clamps and bits of metal hand-ground to form with a file...
Hardcore crafting is AWESOME crafting. I get a little kick of pride out of having made do.
After warbling: this might be helpful– ask hardware stores for fine guage spring steel wire (0.3/0.5/0.75mm). It makes awesome jump rings, and it's hardened and oil-tempered, which means it resists rust.
Keep rocking that hardcore crafting :)
–Nic