Christmas Ornament Project

I work with a group of eighth graders once a week that are interested in learning how to fly fish and tie flies.  They are an amazing group of young adults and I am so glad that I have a chance to work with such enthusiastic people that are incredibly interested to learn about a sport that I love with all of my heart.  After a lot of debate and brainstorming, I finally found a Christmas present I could give them that would not break the bank (there are about 20 of them) and would be a meaningful and lasting gift.  While I cannot remember where I originally saw this idea a few years ago, I certainly cannot claim it as my own creative idea.  I am simply taking an idea and showing how I executed it...and quite possibly in am imperfect way.  As always, if you have any ideas, suggestions, or comments, please feel free to share in the comment section shown below.  Here's the step-by-step process that I used to put a size six wooly bugger in a Christmas tree ornament.

Step 1- tie up a mess of flies that you intend to suspend from the inside of the ornament.

Step 2- you will need some fishing line, a wire hook or fishing hook, a clear ornament, and a fly to go in the ornament.

 Step 3- disassemble the ornament and attach the fishing hook or wire hook through the wire tension piece.

Step 4- here's the tricky part.  Thread some fishing line (I chose 2 pound line because I wanted it to be nearly invisible) and thread it up through the inside of the housing unit.  Come back down through the outside of the unit with your tag.  From here, I used an improved clinch knot to cinch the line tight against itself.

Step 5- I found placing the fly in the vice again gave me an extra set of hands.  I took the fishing line, threaded it though the eye of the hook and secured it by using two overhand knots.  This allowed me to adjust the length of the line first, and secure it tightly second.

Step 6- reassemble the wire tension piece, hook, and housing.

I made about 20 of these over the course of about 2 hours and I definitely got better and faster the more I made.

If you decide to give this project a shot, I would love to see your final product.  These were pretty small flies and ornaments but if I run across some larger ones, I think some bigger flies would look cool as well.  Also, my wife keeps telling me that I should try and sell these, so if you or anyone you know is interested in ordering some of these ornaments, shoot me an email at showmeflyguy@gmail.com.  We can talk sizes, flies, colors, prices, shipping, etc.