Hi All,

Like everything in the Art scene, rod building is considered as a work of Art for individuals and whether it could be admired by others is simply another add-on. Unlike the Fashion scene, you may considered it as a art but it constant influx of varities of the same things put together has created a fashion show of the latest trend..Do you consider showcasing your Rod Building works is something of a fashion and its latest trend too? Try all different, do the opposite, do something radical, is a fashionable rod not a functional fishing rod?

Gentlemen rod builders both professional and amateur have your say!

Cheerio
Chua LY
Dubai

Am I being chummed and baited here? :-)

I am sure both happen in this market. Both happen in the engraving market that I work in daily.

For my rods I don't care what others are doing aesthetically. I have worked hard to develop my own look using the lathe and engraving skills I have developed over the years. I am also in the position that I don't care if I sell a rod or not. The engraving school and my regualr engraving clients pay the bills around here and monies I make off of rods are gravy. That affords me the ability to do what I want on my rods.

I think a lot of the "fashions" or "fads" tend to be customer driven a large part of the time. In the gun and knife market a guy will see something in a magazine or on a hunting show on tv and he has to have it because it is the newest wiz bang thing and I think that is true in most markets. A lot of that stuff also tends to be cyclical too. The stuff that comes and goes is fashion and the stuff that sticks around tends to be the true improvements.

I try to avoid the fad thing and I don't incorporate something unless I think it does truly add something to the aesthetic or performance. I will tell a customer "NO" if I think something is a bad idea aesthetically or functionally. That's why I don't really call myself a custom rod builder. I build what I want not what the customer wants most of the time. I rarely build for a customer (sometimes but rarely). Most of the time I build what I want and if someone likes it enough to buy it great. There are times when someone likes a rod I have and ask me build one like it on a different blank and I will do that but the overall rod design is still mine.

At this point in my rod building I have conquered the ability to make a pretty rod. My current goal is to make a better rod performance wise that retains the beauty. I want my rods to be both beautiful and functional. It seems a waste to me to have a beautiful gun that won't shoot straight, a beautiful knife that won't hold an edge or a beautiful rod that won't cast and fish as well as possible. For me that is where the focus is right now.


That's my 2 cents

Ray Cover
My Projects Blog
[raycover.blogspot.com]

imo, there was, is and always will be an art form in a custom craft. That is to take the state-of-the-market in functional design and make it distinctively better asthetically, at least in the eyes of some beholders. There will be masters of the art forms. In our case engraving, thread art, weaving, grip inlays, etc. imo, these will be one of a kind pieces of functional art. If they are in fact asthetically pleasing and masterfully crafted there will be a market for the pieces. They are not mutually exclusive of being excellent fishing tools, they are however a different expression of the prevailing form.

I think too that there is another trend in custom rod building that is very, very important. imo, in recent years there are innovators using advances in materials as well as better understanding of rod attributes that do in fact improve (or impede) performance in order to push the functional envelope and challenge "conventional building wisdom". Conventions imo often based on the legacty thinking resulting from the constraints of properties of the materials from earlier times and just routinely carried forward without regard to new opportunities (e.g., our routine threads of ferrules). I think they become conventions that often interpreted as "laws".

There are in my mind any number of examples of functional recent improvements ranging from simple to complex - ceramics on fly rods, split grips, no foregrip, fly guides for casting/spinning running guides, high small spinnnig guides rather than "oversized" double foot guides, micro runnning guides, carbon grips, guides as tip tops .... Interestingly to me is that it seems we are on the "hockey stick" part of the innovation curve.

Again imo, a consequence of this custom and small volume specialty builder driven innovation is that these increasingly improved functional rods take on a "look". Once the improved functionality is proven by early customers who are willing to buy based on function and care less that it "doesn't look like a fly rod or casting rod or spinning rod", then the techniques are picked up by the big boys. The "look" becomes fashionable. The "look" of new fucntionality becomes asthetically pleasing overtime and expanding market acceptance. And over the same time, the next state-of-the-market platform as a canvas for the master artists - e.g., incredible thread work or marbling on split grips.

Lastly, I think the cycle time between custom innovation and mass market introduction is shrinking dramatically. Driving the need for even more innovation on the part of custom builders imo. So a big thank you to many on this board pushing the envelope.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/05/2008 11:04AM by Steve Rushing.

Ah a subject that is near and dear to my heart. I have been making rods for a good number of years and almost from my very first rod I came up with something different from other rods I have seen in stores, boats and shows . I designed grips that I have not seen elsewhere and not only in foam but also using cork with burnt cork inlay designs. Over the years of doing these designs I eventually came up with the idea of pictorial inlay designs and at the same time another rod builder in Chicago came up with the same idea but using a different method Together we brought a new excitement to the rod building seminars and I have been giving demos on grip inlays for more then 20 years now and I am still asked to teach the art of inlays. I do this gladly and proudly and get much pleasure when someone learns from my demos and takes up the inlay work. Art has always been one of my great pleasures and I still regret giving up my oil painting work because it was just too messy to do in an apartment. (Paint splatters) The art and craftmanship has come to me naturally and it goes back to 1940 when I was awarded the Haney medal by the Art League of New York City. I was 14 years old at the time and if you do the math you can figure out how old I am now. Believe it or not but the thing that broght me that medal was a work that involved inlays. I didn't put the pictures there as I am truly a klutz when it comes to computers otherwise I would have gladly sent it in to the Rod Maker website. If any of you want me to send you a sample of my work let me know your email address and I will comply. As you can no doubtly tell I am proud of my work and like to show it off sometimes. And oh by the way I take much much pride in my thread workd and and my ability to make a thorougly functional rod.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/05/2008 12:39PM by Tom Kirkman.

Fads and fashion come and go and tend to be duplicated by many when the fad / fashion is hot. Art is a unique expression of the human mind, crafted by hand, admired by many, duplicated by few. There are only a smal exceptionally talented few who can imagine and then craft an inlay like Bernie or Billy, a color change weave like Doc., wood grips like Mark, scrimshaw like Rhonda. Artists? You bet! Art? Heck, yes. Fad or Fashion? I don't see their art being knocked off at Wal-Mart! Oh and happy birthday Bernie, you look good for 39.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/05/2008 12:54PM by Ken Bonneau.

My experience is that most fishermen just want rods that work. They don't really care if art is involved or even if the rods are pretty. They come to custom rods for improved performance or special requests in rods they can't find on the shelf. But if you can mix top level performance with unique beauty at the same time so much the better. I don't think you have to give up one to get the other. You can have both if you give it some careful thought.

Bernie;

You have been one of my gurus for many moons and I do believe that your work is art. I learned inlay from an old tutorial that you did many years ago.

BTW; you and I are the same age: 39.

Hang in there. C2

Ly
A lot can be read into your query.
Anything beyond the basic need of engineering function in a fishing rod is reasonably considered art, combined they represent the facets of the craft of rodbuilding:-
- thread art
- weave art
- overlay art ( feather, abalone etc )
- handle inlay art
- handle insert art
- marbling art
- guide frame art
- reelseat art
- airbrush art.
- butt cap art
- etc etc.

What does "showcasing" mean.
If you mean construction of an art object that looks like a fishing rod ( but not intended to be used ) that is constructed only to be hung as a 'showcase'.........its just an art installation not really a fishing rod.

If you mean 'showcasing' as in the posting of images of completed rods ( such as in the gallery on this site ) this is very much in a communal context of sharing of ideas and for enabling evolution of skills, as the members are spatially distant & not able to see the rodwork of their fellow rodmakers first hand . This is much less in a context of "look what I can do", rather a context of here's a neat idea, look what you could do too.
There is no competitive award for rod art....................public awards in rodmaking are primarily made for engineering innovation & excellence in function rather than as eye candy.
The primary award for art in rodmaking is the one each of us individually gives ourselves when the result of our rodmaking is pleasing to ourselves. That does not mean that we do not appreciate another's creations or hunger for the ability to do similar ourselves .

As for "Latest Fashion", There is an element of that , that's for sure . Its not driven by promotion or massive advertising campaigns. It's driven by better engineering design, function as a fishing tool, and by what is pleasing to the eye of the individual , not so much by the desire to be seen with the latest 'trendy' accessory.
I guess that's why it is referred to as "custom" rodbuilding...................... custom to the individual.
DenisB



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/05/2008 07:37PM by Denis Brown.

It seems I can never get away from this subject which I have been fighting, explaining, and have been defending for many, many years. I long ago got the old Rod Crafter people to ban the word "Cosmetics" from use when calling decorative rods by that name. It seems that the word was used by rodbuilders who either couldnt produce a decorative rod or didn't want to for one reason or another. It is true that it takes a lot more time to make a decorative rod and I believe that would not be benificial to builders who knock out one rod after another.

Lets make one thing clear a decorative rod and a functional rod is what many of us do or try to achieve and they can be both.

Now does a highly decorative rod have a functiion? The answer is YES . I will explain why I say that. I am a saltwater fisherman and I fish on party boats. The type of rods I build are for all the fish that we have in the N.Y. Bight area and it's a great variety of fish.The party boat I fish on can take up to 110 fisherman but today we only get about about 50 fisherman on the boat during the weekdays. Because there are so many people on the boat a rod could accidently (or accidently on purpose) be taken off the boat.The chance of a highly decorative rod being taken is not very likely as it is too easy to spot. That is a great selling point and not one I have to even mention as the fisherman understand that themselves.

People also like the idea of picking out their own designs and sometimes I will have to make a new design for the fisherman who has something that I have never made before and have to come up with one. That's the great challenge that I enjoy and makes it interesting. It could be something in Sports or maybe a Vocation or on one occasion the man wanted something that would show the country of his birth. I made rod with the map of Italy (the booth) and the Italian flag for the but wrap. It brought the guy to tears when he saw the rod. And oh by the way he uses it every week.

I wonder when this subject will come up again. It never ends.

For me its all about doing something different than the one before. I get ideas from other builders/artisans. I get design and function aspects from books, other builders designs, and trial and error. Art on a fishing rod will never go away, so I dont beleive it to be a trend or fad.

Dying my hair blue, sticking a safety pin through my ear, listening to loud music while doing a closed wrap on a wine glass stem......thats FASHION !

NERB that types with a bar of Ivory soap in his mouth.

I have to let you know that this wonderful ART FORM is as far as i am aware never mentioned inside the mainstream art world. Much to there loss! Having painted and Scrimmed for people the world over not once did i ever even realize that this form exsisted.
I have in my new marrage with this rod building love of my life ,been amazed at what i am seeing done here in your world.
One thing artists do and look for in judging works of art is personality, and it is here in every stroke of love that i see in the rod builders art. The names of your rods 'Twisted sister" to name one brought a smile of delight to my face. I was amazed when watching my husband identify a Garrison or a Thomas and Thomas rod with just a glance in the beginning, that to me looked like the exact same one! Art is personality and imagination...who was that artist , why did they call it that, why did they make it or color it this way?
All art is functional, one functions just by being made to think when looking at art, then your art is duel purpose when you can use it on a day along a stream when fall leaves are falling in the beauty of a world any painter would give there heart for. You fishermen are something else, true artists of sight , sound and rod.
The first rod i built, turned out good! I called it my GOTH GIRL ROD, i colored it black and engraved barbed wire on the ferulles , i wont tell you what i did with the reel seat Ha! Art is so much fun and serious also.
No not latest fashion, fashions come and go only art indures. Changes and grows perhaps..but the personality of the builder remains.
As far as i am concerned a rod builder is in line with the old masters my friends.
For me a rod must be able to do its primary job, then add your persoanlity and you have art!
Rhonda Van Zandt

Beautifuly expressed. What a great web site this is with so many interesting discussions going on. I agree with so much you have said about art. Builders that do cross wrap designs and weaves and feather inlyays and foam inlays and all the other decorative things are all artists. I also include the builders of bamboo fly rods even without any decorative touches these are true artists. Whenever I need a lilttle inspiration for getting into a new design I find the visit to a great art museum inspiring. Fortunately I have some world class art museums here in N.Y. to get my creative juices flowing. I must tell you Rhonda that I have been and seen most of the worlds great art works like the Sistine Chapel, Michaelangelo's David, DaVinci.s Mona Lisa and the Last Supper, I have been to France to see all of the great works of art of the immpressionists and to England to see the works of one of my favorite painters Turner. I have also seen many of the great works of Art in Spain. I have been to many but not to the Hermitage.

Yes Rhonda these people who make decorative rods are practicing an art form and still there are people that deride the type of thing we do. That doesnt discourage us and as all artists in the past were ridiculed as were the impressionists we will continue to express our creations.