Substitute for Rare Pearsall's Gossamer Colors

[Mike Connor]

The polyester shades;










TL
MC

[Mike Connor]

Just for info. Nett Silk is silk which has been directly unwound from the cocoon of the silkworm and is considered to be the best quality silk, it is "bright".

Spun silk is made from short fibred silk and silk waste, It looks dull compared to Nett silk.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silk

TL
MC

[letumgo]

Mike - Thank you very much. Outstanding reference material. Much appreciated.

[Kelly L.]

Very interesting thread, thanks guys.

[DNicolson]

I have had this section on my web-site for several years,
the Clover silk section was added quite recently.

http://donaldnicolson.webplus.net/page250.html

Local suppliers are easily found on the internet for all of them.
They all have their uses in fly dressing.

[michaelgmcgraw]

This has been gone through on another thread I believe, what is the diameter of these silk threads-Gutermann,YLI etc . . . as to Pearsall's Gossomer?

[Kelly L.]

The colors, and different companies of silk is mind boggling here. I got two spools of YLI to try. Eventually I will try the others. The YLI is very nice, but you have to respool it, as their spool is way too big for a normal bodkin. I wish they would consider going to a smaller spool, and lowering the price. Then I could try other colors, if I like the YLI. I would like to try some of the other companies listed, in particular Clover. There are some higher dollar silks out there, but for my tying, I don't need that right now. Maybe in the future, but not now. Thanks for all the effort on this, and the time. This is great info to have.

[wayneb]

Hi Kelly;

I don't have a problem getting YLI to tot on a standard bobbin, what type of bobbin are you using?

Wayneb

[Kelly L.]

I don't have a problem spooling it on a standard spool. I just hate going to the extra trouble. What I was trying to say was, the YLI would be cheaper, if they would put it on say a gossamer sized spool, then we could afford to get more of their gorgeous colors, and they do have a wide selection. The price of their regular silk seems high, but there is a lot on that big spool. It will take me a very long time to use up one large spool. I'd rather get smaller spools, and more variety, I guess that is the jest of it.