[grinr]

Well I started to edit my last post(reply to Millartech)but time expired,sooooo...and not meant to be directed specifically towards Millar only,but anybody that's "thought about" joining swaps but perhaps lacks the confidence....??

Fwiw,I've found swaps to be a great way to hone tying skills.I've joined several swaps in the past where I felt intimidated by the skill level of others and I'd choose a new-to-me pattern or style of fly to comply with the theme.When I've sat down to tie a dozen flies of the same pattern that I've never tied before,at least for myself,I've found that each successive fly is an improvement over the previous one until I'm happy with the final end results.Depending on how complex the pattern or how far out of my comfort zone the style is,I might tie anywhere from 2 to 6,8,10(?) before I'm crankn out clones that I'm really happy with?Ill normally end up keeping those first attempts and fishing them myself....fish normally arent that critical?So I might end up tying 20 to get a dozen that are "swapworthy",but I learned some skills and built some confidence along the way.Then,once I'm confident in tying a particular style of fly,with the correct proportions,techniques,positioning of materials etc.,it's a simple matter of swapping out materials and colors to tie an infinite number of similar styled flies.
I'm not claiming to be any kind of master tier or even very good at it.....far from it....I'm just half decent at tying the styles of flies that I use and fish with most often,and joining swaps has often times forced me to challenged myself into learning new skills through repitition,whereas if I hadn't committed to a swap,with pride forcing me to turn out something that I wouldn't be embarrassed to put my name on,I might of just made a halfassed attempt at a new pattern that turned out butt ugly the first few tries and gave up?