Tessie’s Ties

Tessie started fly-tying with Jim Bird during the STOKE class last January, after the class ended, she continued to tie flies on her own and with Jim’s guidance along the way. We (her parents) encouraged her to continue and brought her to fly shops to find supplies.

We stopped at a fly shop in Ennis that happened to be having a grand opening celebration, during that celebration she won a super fancy fly-tying vice and some other tying goodies. She entered a fly-tying contest over the summer and got a mention from Kelly Galloup- a world-famous fly tier! She then decided to sell some flies during Fall Fest, and they were kind and allowed Tessie to set up a space and come and go as the weekend allowed.

She was successful and that energized her to keep going. Rachel at Reading Leaves let Tessie sell her flies during the Christmas Stroll. She had the idea to make earrings out of some flies and sell them so even people who don’t fly fish could enjoy them. She sold out of all the earrings she made!

She recently opened a checking account as well, so she’s learning about responsible spending for the money she makes. Tessie saves a little bit from each sale and donates to Giant Cell Tumor research, a rare disease that affected her mom. She sold her items during the Lineman Rodeo at the Fairgrounds in July and hopes to sell them in Ennis during the annual Fly-Fishing Festival and anywhere else she can!

Because of Jim Bird’s teaching and guidance, our encouragement and support, and her enjoyment of learning, creating, and entrepreneurship she continues to tie and sell her flies!