Putter

Experimentation: Good things come from it (sometimes, anyway...)

When I gave this rod to my sister, she grinned from ear to ear as she slowly looked it over. The blank was painted white, but I think it was the feathers that tickled her the most, though. Randy Putter Parpart Williston, ND

I'm making a surprise gift rod with a split grip handle for my sister Penny. I tricked her by giving her a marbled ink pen and asking her favorite colors; she likes purple and silver...

Still having fun; lots of different pigments out there to try yet! These two went out to Maggie and Ron Schneider today in the mail.

Marbling with different pigments and finishes for next Saturday's final filming on my DVD on marbling. These two were with hardware store brown, Testor's white blended in, then gold Liquid Leaf and hardware store white for accents (contrasts). Stan Grace's wife, Bessie, provided the 'crafty' idea of trying to do this.

Getting ready for the marbling DVD final filming next Saturday. Trying different finishes and pigments. Caught up on my rod building for now and tried an idea Stan Grace's wife, Bessie gave me...

Lamiglas beauty of a blank built into a split grip spinning rod for walleye. Cut back on the marble quite a bit on this one; the name decals really appear to be floating on this one. Couldn't capture this with the camera though.

This boat sank nearly 20 years ago in 30 feet of water near Skunk Bay on Lake Sakakawea. Kinda shows the sad shape my lake is in... I wonder if the minnows are still alive?

My sister asked for a couple of pens to give to her friends on the 4th of July. She asked if I could do a red, white and blue on them. First attempts at it...

Andy's exotic and burnt burl cork with some craft foam from WalMart. Split grip with the split area and butt wrap area marbled in green. Guide wrap to match the rod colors.

Although a bit on the heavy side for a complete handle like this, I love the look of Andy's cork! Easy to work with and definitely very pretty. Thanks to Stan Grace for the idea on drilling holes in the woodworker's vise!!

I've probably done 150 of these hummers in the last 6 weeks. If anyone really wants to learn marbling and learn it fast, this is definitely the way to do it!

You guys can chime in and name them! It was a treat meeting all of these people.

These are some pens that I took to Charlotte with me and handed out. It was a great practice for marbling; I'd highly recommend this instead of doing it on a blank first...

"A long ways to go and a short time to get there." This was sprung on me with short notice; Sunday morning and the retirement party is tomorrow night; not much sleep since then. The truck is a picture of his truck printed onto a waterslide decal and inlaid in the cork foregrip. I left the Lamiglas titanium butt exposed in the split grip area; it matched the reel seat hoods and guides too well to cover up.

Top photo and bottom left: Bill at his trim band demonstration on Sunday. Bottom right: Bill and Tom Kirkman handing out door prizes at the RodMaker get together Saturday night.

Top photo: Ralph and Mike Barkley during Ralph's 'Tricks with Rod Bond' demo. Bottom; left: Ralph at same... Bottom; right: Ralph in the U40 booth on Sunday. I had the pleasure of spending some quality time with Ralph; I've come to the opinion he's forgotten more than I'll ever know...

Top photo: Ken and I in his booth after his 'color change with Permagloss' experiment. Middle, left: Ken in progress with above experiment. Middle, right: Ken showing Nick Brunetti a groove in the guide foot from a file; no groove in the guide ring from the same triangular metal file. I saw a lot of people try to wreck this guide! David Boyle and Billy Vivona in background. Lower, left:Ken coming back to the seminar booth with his "spoon" after blowing a syringe! Andy Dear and Bill Batson to the right... Lower, right: Ken warming everyone up before his presentation on color change (the chameleon at work).

Upper picture: Mark Crouse with his Batson presentation rods in their booth. What a work of art; what a craftsman!! His other rods here were unbelievable, too! Lower picture: Tom Kirkman and Mark Crouse enjoying a slack period (must've been lunch time) and a bit of humor together; I am tickled to death to have met these two gentlemen.

Emily Dear was special at the show; definitely Andy's way-better-half!! Couldn't find a photo to pin the bad on, so I figured Mike Barkley and Tom Kirkman have broad shoulders... The ugly was definitely me having to shovel the driveway in Virginia Tuesday morning before driving to Dulles Airport to come home!

I was able to present this to my niece last night. Again, many thanks to Stan Grace for all of his help on this project. This was a gift on her birthday. This is the actual copy of the 8 1/2" x 11" photo that I give out with all of my rods, now.

Not a great picture of the red one but these are a few that'll make the plane ride to North Carolina from North Dakota... These are ink pens I've marbled for the Big Show! Green one's for Mike!!

I saw this "chrome bolt cover" at the local hardware store. I painted over the chrome etch with flat black Testor's. Buffed off after dry to highlight the etching. Mixed flat black Testor's in the rod bond, too. Candy's gonna love this rod!!

4 sided view of a 2 1/4" marbled split grip area.

Electric blue A Gudebrod with silver Sulky and Fuschia A Gudebrod. #12 Pacific Bay single foot guide.