substitute for Pearsall's Primrose Gossamer

[driftless]

By way of introduction, I am a friend of Phil Anderson and acquainted with the Forum Ghillie. I am a maker of bamboo rods (mostly in the Paul Young tradition), and a tyer of all sorts of flymphs, soft hackles & other minutia.

I thought I'd let you all know that YLI silk in size #100 & color number 261 is a dead-on match for Pearsall's Primrose Gossamer. The YLI thread may be a hair bigger, but just a hair.


Happy tying,

Paul Julius

[bearbutt]

Paul, it was good meeting you at the Badger show. Thanks for the YLI reference. When Phil was spinning for us, I think he was using yet another silk--rather thinner than Gossamer--fairly close to Primrose in color. Phil, can you enlighten us?

bb

[driftless]

Thank you, gents. Much appreciated.

Just checking on the YLI, it's widely available across the net. Rushbrooke strand, etc. will mostlikely have it.

I think Phil was using Piper silks from England.

best fishes.....

[letumgo]

Welcome aboard Paul.

[PhilA]

Paul, it was good meeting you at the Badger show. Thanks for the YLI reference. When Phil was spinning for us, I think he was using yet another silk--rather thinner than Gossamer--fairly close to Primrose in color. Phil, can you enlighten us?

bb

Yes, I have been cheating on Mr. James Pearsall. It's not that I'm upset about his abandoning us, or that I'm planning a new life after my years with Gossamer. I have lots of Gossamer in the larder, but sometimes I want a silk thread finer in diameter than Gossamer.

Piper's Silks (https://pipers-silks.com/) sells twisted filament silk threads that are 30 denier, 60 denier, and 90 denier (compared to the 126 denier of Pearsall's Gossamer). Pipers '4/20 twisted silk' (60 den) is strong enough for general fly tying, even though it breaks considerably more easily than Pearsall's Gossamer. I can tie small flies with the Piper's that I couldn't do with Gossamer (or, at least, not as compactly and neatly). For example, Dark Starling (a.k.a. Starling & Purple) flies on hook sizes #24 (left) and #26 (right) tied with Piper's 4/20 twisted silk in color 'deep purple':



Brown-olive mole fur spun sparsely on Piper's '2/20 twisted silk' (30 den, color 'pale cream', top) compared to Gossamer No.3 (primrose, bottom)



The thread core of the Gossamer spun body is considerably more bulky. Less bulky bodies make for less bulky small flies.

The bad news is that the color offerings of Piper's seem to change over time. I've bought threads there three times over the past couple of years, and each time some colors disappeared and others appeared in the listings. For example, Piper's 4/20 (60 den) in deep purple is not currently listed.

Cheers,
Phil

[redietz]

I haven't tried it yet, Semperfli Pure Silk comes in primrose.

[REE04419]

The Semperfli silk is considerably bigger than Pearsall's Gossamer. Colors appear to be correct, but really bulky thread. It also doesn't seem to be as finished as Pearsall's was.

[NedZeppelin]

I ordered a set of the Morus silks, who seem to be the buyers of the Pearsall’s brand. As soon as I get the, I’ll post a review.