The Salvadore Dali painting titled "Giraffes on Fire and Telephones" began my fascination with the work of this Spanish surrealist after I saw it in a poster in college.

I recall seeing some of his other works before that but none had left quite the impression on me as this painting did with its juxtapositions of imagery. Whenever I would see it or similar works, I would invariably end up just scratching my head and smiling. Along with his fantastic subject matter, there were often hidden or "camouflaged" images. Long before Bev Doolittle began playing hide and seek by concealing bears in trees and pinto ponies in snowscapes, Dali turned elephants into swans, nudes into furniture and the mundane into religious crucifixions. The veiled imagery, bold subject matter and, at times, playfulness, always held my interest.

After seeing an exhibition of Dali's canvases, sculpture and jewelry in Montreal during a rather "uninspired" period of my fly tying, I became inspired to sketch out ideas for a fly in an attempt to capture the feel of the exhibit. I wanted something different in the fly while still maintaining a classic salmon fly "look".

The body and "hackles" for the fly became a series of multiple veilings. The wing evolved into wings within wings with crests within the wings rather than only as. toppings. In addition, I wanted a hook what would exaggerate the shape of classic salmon fly hooks while complementing the mood of the fly.

Eventually., I settled on a version of a sketch of the fly that would later be named "Dali" and began its construction. I made a hook by using a propane torch, vise grips and auto enamel. As I began to tie, I tried to use common materials in different ways such as overlapping peacock crests for veilings instead of the usual hackles and in the wings I staggered the ends of the individual married strips to give a more tapered appearance.

My goal was to capture what I found interesting in Salvadore Dali's work - the feeling that you were seeing something different, the look of a picture within the overall picture and, of course, a bit of amusement. What resulted is what you see. I feel I accomplished what I had hoped for. Since my first sketches of the fly the name "Dali" eventually stuck - even if it seems a bit hokey. I hope you find something of interest somewhere in the fly, but most of all, I hope you smiled when you saw it!

Here is the pattern listing:

Hook: Dali Custom - Heavy iron.
Tag: Fine oval silver tinsel and purple silk; veiled top and bottom with Indian Crow (or a substitute) and along either side with Jungle Cock.
Butt: Black ostrich herl.
Tail: Golden.Pheasant crest.
Body:

First Section:

Body: Purple silk ribbed with fine oval gold tinsel and veiled top and bottom with Indian crow and along the sides with Jungle cock.
Wing: Mearns quail wing coverts (a pair back to back, black spotted) ; Mearns quail breast feathers as sides (white spotted); Blue chatterer as cheeks (or substitute) and a topping reaching to the tail tip.
Keel: A pair of peacock breast feathers back to back.
Joint butt: Black ostrich herl.

Second Section:

Body: As in first section.
Wing: Jungle cock (enamelled brown, wedgeshaped feather) over which is a married wing of the following: (top to bottom, one strand each) Amherst Phesant (A.P.) tail, red Swan, blue Swan, A. P., blue S., A. P., blue S., A.P., orange S., A.P., orange S., A.P.; Chatterer as cheeks.
Keel: Two pairs of peacock crests, back to back.
Joint butt: Black ostrich herl.
Topping: Golden Pheasant crest.

Third Section:

Body: As in previous sections.
Wing: A pair of black spotted Mearns quail feathers over which is a married wing of (again as above) orange Swan, A.P. dyed blue, orange Swan, Bustard, A.P. dyed blue, orange Swan, Bustard, A.P. dyed blue, orange Swan, A.P. dyed blue, two orange Swan strips, two blue Swan strips; Chatterer as cheeks.
Throat: Three pairs of peacock crest feathers.
Topping: Golden Pheasant crest.
Head: Black ostrich herl.
Gut eye: The gut loop is tied in vertically.

Comments.-, The individual strips in the married wings are staggered so that the bottom edge tapers to the shape of the wing, topping below it.