Laiquendi ar Moriquendi salque: The Elven and Drow Elf Wands
by maker Jeffrey L. Hatton, Chief Gnome and a true Noldori Deep Elf
Aiya Meldor ( Hail Friends),
This Rod Story is special because it is a culmination of 2 years of creative, heartwarming and truly wonderful correspondences with maker Jeff Hatton. As a mark of deep respect for his work, I have chosen to use elvish (Quenya) for parts of this story and to discribe some of the rods’ qualities but first here is a poem abstracted in part from Tolkien about the impression viewing the works that just arrived today:
La quettar ner caitane celusse ar ondo
Eresse Cale Anarp ar Elen ar Istil
Ar certar tureva i andonna
Tanome hyelere, marilla, hyelondo marya
No words were laid on stream or stone
Only the light of sun and star and moon
And runes of power upon the door
There beryl, pearl and opal pale
… May 2005, I contacted maker Jeff Hatton regarding his amazingly ancient looking yet modern performance rods and wanted to know whether he would consider making an ‘elven rod’ themed after Tolkien’s Lord Of The Rings for me. JRR Tolkien shared the same birthdate with me and I studied him for a thesis. I expected Jeff to brush me off as childish and probably half crazy but instead, ‘ Elen sila lumen omentielvo’ a star shone at the hour of our meeting… Jeff replied that he was great fan of Tolkien and would love to make an elven rod for Michelle inspired by the gold green Mallorn tree of Lothlorien and the beloved Olvar (Flora) of the Green Elves (Laiquendi) of Belleriad who were protectors of forests. The rod will have details of green malachite and feature the leaves of the fabled Mallorn. Months passed as Jeff laboured on the hardware and ideas. In the meantime, we had established increasingly deeper friendship, with me ordering his Book specially signed for my daughter Ashley, and learning about his devotion to rodcrafting and care of his elderly parents. We also realized that we shared passion for Celtic Arts, the early Arts & Crafts movement, semi-precious gems and of course both of us loved pure unadulterated imagination. The wand was to express total freedom of imagination made possible by Tolkien and will be totally unique depending on the artist’s interpretation.
A year later, the Elven Wand was almost ready when disaster struck and the varnish did not set well. It was back to the bench for patient Jeff, building a new ‘cleanroom cave’ to keep out ‘gremlins’ and rethinking his elven rod design as usual. But by that time, Jeff had shown me his ‘Beast of Bolo’ and so many ideas and images were swimming in my mind that I had to order another wand to partner Michelle’s… so in that moment of inspiration both us dreamt up the Drow/Dark Elf theme (Moriquendi). So connected were we in imagination and in aesthetics that before we knew it, we were speaking each other’s thoughts about ebony mortise, moonstones, lightning opal and mother of pearl!
Another half year later Jeff was experimenting with elaborate hardware and engraving and came up with the exceptional ‘Phillipe’ Grade rod. I was amazed by the carvings but thought that elvish aesthetics was more minimalistic. So, the ever responsive Jeff came up with a refined semi-engraved design I have now taken to name the ‘Mellon’(Friend) Grade. And to make this grade even more unique he invented a simple yet amazingly elegant reel seat design.
by maker Jeffrey L. Hatton, Chief Gnome and a true Noldori Deep Elf
Aiya Meldor ( Hail Friends),
This Rod Story is special because it is a culmination of 2 years of creative, heartwarming and truly wonderful correspondences with maker Jeff Hatton. As a mark of deep respect for his work, I have chosen to use elvish (Quenya) for parts of this story and to discribe some of the rods’ qualities but first here is a poem abstracted in part from Tolkien about the impression viewing the works that just arrived today:
La quettar ner caitane celusse ar ondo
Eresse Cale Anarp ar Elen ar Istil
Ar certar tureva i andonna
Tanome hyelere, marilla, hyelondo marya
No words were laid on stream or stone
Only the light of sun and star and moon
And runes of power upon the door
There beryl, pearl and opal pale
… May 2005, I contacted maker Jeff Hatton regarding his amazingly ancient looking yet modern performance rods and wanted to know whether he would consider making an ‘elven rod’ themed after Tolkien’s Lord Of The Rings for me. JRR Tolkien shared the same birthdate with me and I studied him for a thesis. I expected Jeff to brush me off as childish and probably half crazy but instead, ‘ Elen sila lumen omentielvo’ a star shone at the hour of our meeting… Jeff replied that he was great fan of Tolkien and would love to make an elven rod for Michelle inspired by the gold green Mallorn tree of Lothlorien and the beloved Olvar (Flora) of the Green Elves (Laiquendi) of Belleriad who were protectors of forests. The rod will have details of green malachite and feature the leaves of the fabled Mallorn. Months passed as Jeff laboured on the hardware and ideas. In the meantime, we had established increasingly deeper friendship, with me ordering his Book specially signed for my daughter Ashley, and learning about his devotion to rodcrafting and care of his elderly parents. We also realized that we shared passion for Celtic Arts, the early Arts & Crafts movement, semi-precious gems and of course both of us loved pure unadulterated imagination. The wand was to express total freedom of imagination made possible by Tolkien and will be totally unique depending on the artist’s interpretation.
A year later, the Elven Wand was almost ready when disaster struck and the varnish did not set well. It was back to the bench for patient Jeff, building a new ‘cleanroom cave’ to keep out ‘gremlins’ and rethinking his elven rod design as usual. But by that time, Jeff had shown me his ‘Beast of Bolo’ and so many ideas and images were swimming in my mind that I had to order another wand to partner Michelle’s… so in that moment of inspiration both us dreamt up the Drow/Dark Elf theme (Moriquendi). So connected were we in imagination and in aesthetics that before we knew it, we were speaking each other’s thoughts about ebony mortise, moonstones, lightning opal and mother of pearl!
Another half year later Jeff was experimenting with elaborate hardware and engraving and came up with the exceptional ‘Phillipe’ Grade rod. I was amazed by the carvings but thought that elvish aesthetics was more minimalistic. So, the ever responsive Jeff came up with a refined semi-engraved design I have now taken to name the ‘Mellon’(Friend) Grade. And to make this grade even more unique he invented a simple yet amazingly elegant reel seat design.
So here they are the Elven Wands.. the firstborn a Laiquendi salque ( Greenelven Grass).. a rod tapered after the famous Dickerson 8013, 8’ 2/2 5wt hollowbuilt with snakewood mortise, transparent colombian emerald green silk wraps with black tipping, double intermediate tip& butt section wraps in a style passed down from Murphy, Landman and Divine Fairy rods, the first ever Hatton Swiveling Hood hardware, purple heart formfit carved with wild rose leaf pattern inlaid with malachite culminating with a wild rose that remind Jeff of his hills while it reminded me of my hometown Larut Hills where a similar temperate flower bloomed white and pure among tropical green grass, leather scabbard detailed woodsman style with Malaysian Mahseer (Kelah) scrimshaw on fossilized ivory.
The deeply carved malachite inset leaves glow aquamarine like shady deep pools in the wind and water worn Colorado canyons so loved by Jeff. Right at the apex is a marking of the magic mistarille (mithril or true-silver) inlaid Hollingate at the entrance to Khazaddum. The gems in star pattern glitter. The gate reveals itself in moonlight and to access its secrets you need to speak ‘Friend’ in elvish, thus the ‘Mellon’ Grade. The rod is light, fast, extremely smooth and almost feminine in nature but designed to tame the king of my home tropical forest streams, the golden green Mahseer. Michelle loved the rod at first sight, especially how the swirls of the snakewood begin to come alive in the ornate elven bands and the most unique hook-keeper ever!…She was elated at first cast! Ashley also chose this rod… she noted my description of Divine Fairy details, coupled that information with her present fascination with Barbie and called it her Fairytopia Rod.. quite a funny and magical interpretation by my little girl which I’m sure her Uncle Jeff would approve!
The deeply carved malachite inset leaves glow aquamarine like shady deep pools in the wind and water worn Colorado canyons so loved by Jeff. Right at the apex is a marking of the magic mistarille (mithril or true-silver) inlaid Hollingate at the entrance to Khazaddum. The gems in star pattern glitter. The gate reveals itself in moonlight and to access its secrets you need to speak ‘Friend’ in elvish, thus the ‘Mellon’ Grade. The rod is light, fast, extremely smooth and almost feminine in nature but designed to tame the king of my home tropical forest streams, the golden green Mahseer. Michelle loved the rod at first sight, especially how the swirls of the snakewood begin to come alive in the ornate elven bands and the most unique hook-keeper ever!…She was elated at first cast! Ashley also chose this rod… she noted my description of Divine Fairy details, coupled that information with her present fascination with Barbie and called it her Fairytopia Rod.. quite a funny and magical interpretation by my little girl which I’m sure her Uncle Jeff would approve!
The secondborn.. a Moriquendi salque ( Darkelven Grass), a rod tapered after the impressive Dickerson 6611 4wt that casts 2wt to 5wt with equal aplomb except that it becomes faster action the lighter the line, 6’ 6” 2/2 solid-built with ebony mortise, honey wraps with black tipping, Fairy style double intermediates, original wave pattern Falathrim ( Teleri Sea Elves) design hardware, purple heart formfit with classic salmon fly silhouettes marked out with gems as if this petite rod was made to conquer big leaping fish ( a funny story about the flies framing the ivory plate.. they were fixed upside down as Jeff got too excited by the idea and overlooked the orientation!), matching leather scabbard with Jungle Perch (Sebarau) scrimshaw fossilized ivory plate.
The formfit and rod is dark, mysterious, and the inlayed gems glow and wink in the lights of elen (stars) like it belonged to the slopes of Hemingway’s Kilimanjaro. This rod is capable of casting all tempos and is truly powerful for such a small configuration. Tolkien lore spoke of the ‘imperfect’ Avari or Dark Elves who loved starlight and forests and never went to the Undying Lands. I always found this aspect of the Avari more interesting than the Eldar or High Elves and the rod reflects this aspect perfectly. The rod also represents my darker character very well when I set foot in jungles and transform into a solo machete wielding-bushwhacking ‘hunter’. Hopefully this wand will be little Marcus’ tropical jungle raime (hunting) rod in time. 
Both rods feature Fuji SiC single foot guides that seem totally out of this snakeguide infested flyfishing world but understanding Jeff’s obsession with rod history and casting performance, there must be a story behind it and true enough, he revealed that the SiCs were tested on a loom machine that ran 4 million feet of braided steel cables through the guide with nary a scratch! Another interesting twist is that this type of guide design was invented in 1864 predating snake guides! Amazing information. I find the black SiC particular handsome on the Drow wand playing up the ebony while the Elven wand’s fresh green with black tipping somehow played down the guides.
Before Jeff sent over the rods, he experienced separation anxiety and with my blessing shared his work with his best pals casting and generally admiring the rods. His pal Brent Curtice who is a SCOTT pro staff commented that the wand has serious Mojo and that he had never cast a SCOTT or a Sage that would even come close to that rod. Now that is high praise I’m sure Jeff deserves!
Before Jeff sent over the rods, he experienced separation anxiety and with my blessing shared his work with his best pals casting and generally admiring the rods. His pal Brent Curtice who is a SCOTT pro staff commented that the wand has serious Mojo and that he had never cast a SCOTT or a Sage that would even come close to that rod. Now that is high praise I’m sure Jeff deserves!
One last hug!
I now understand why Jeff had a problem letting go of the rods.. they are one of a kind, his children, his inspiration, a diary of Colorado mountains and waters, and to a great extent embodies his hope that the magical craft of rodmaking will stay alive. I felt teary when I saw his farewell photo and promised to fly the entire Kuan family to Paonia, Colorado one day so that rods and maker will meet again… Michelle said yes, we will do that.
Happy anniversary!
Thanks for the privilege Jeff …Meldomelin heth( Dear Friend-brother in Quenya-Goldogrin).
Arthur, Michelle, Ashley and Marcus Kuan
PS. Jeff also sent me a DVD of a documentary featuring him that was on air all over USA last year and a slide show of his ‘History of Rods’ that travels with his 250 plus ancient and priceless rod collection. The Kuans had a real kick watching these shows and hopefully they will be shared with all in the next Picnic session!
Arthur, Michelle, Ashley and Marcus Kuan
PS. Jeff also sent me a DVD of a documentary featuring him that was on air all over USA last year and a slide show of his ‘History of Rods’ that travels with his 250 plus ancient and priceless rod collection. The Kuans had a real kick watching these shows and hopefully they will be shared with all in the next Picnic session!
1 comment:
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