Portabella Merlot & Dun Sekasa Kebari

[letumgo]

It is my impression, after close inspection of the abdomen, the yarn appears to become more opaque than pure silk would.

[gingerdun]

Lance - The card you sent had the words "Silk & Ivory - Switzerland - 50/50 Silk & Merino Wool". Is "Silk & Ivory" the maker? Where did you find this stuff? The colors are beautiful (very warm an rich). The Portabella color immediately caught my eye. Have you tyed with this stuff yet? It work very nicely.

Ray, It is imported by a wholesaler called Brown Paper Packages, and is available at some stores that specialize in embroidery supplies. I am not at all sure about its desirability as a tying material, either for wrapping bodies, or for dubbing. Now that William can photograph submerged flies, I should tie a fly dubbed with this stuff and send it to him to to photograph underwater. I was not aware that it became more opaque than pure silk when wet. That would not be an advantage, obviously.

Yes, it does help to be careful when wrapping the single ply if it is not twisted. When I tug too hard, it starts to come apart, but if I'm gentle, it goes around OK.

Lance

[letumgo]

Lance - I think this yarn will be very useful as tying material. The translucency may be more obvious with a tinsel under wrap, just like pure silk. I did not think to under wrap this body. I was too anxious to try out the new materials and just jumped in without a plan. Thanks again for the yarn. I'll put it to good use.

EDIT - Adding link to the source of the silk/wool yarn:
http://www.a-z-needlepoint.com/brownpap ... vory.shtml

[Old Hat]

I tie off the sakasa kebari style flies at the head as well. I do it just like the flymphs (out over the eye, wrap hackle back, tie down, then counter the thread forward through the hackle). The only difference is I set the hackle initially with the concave side down, not up, so the natural curve is forward not back. Just seems more natural to me that way.

[William Anderson]

Carl, I tie mine exactly the same way.

Ray, I have some of this material as well, and when I tie up a set...I'll give them a dunk. Thanks for the tip on the material.

[letumgo]

Oh yeah, that reminds me. Carl got a new tenkara rod earlier this year. Carl, how did you like the tenkara rod? did you get to use it much this year? I'd love to hear how you liked it.

[Old Hat]

Loved it. I was still getting used to landing fish with it though when the trout season ended. It does take some practice. I have the 13-14 footer and had no problem on the smaller streams. Right now there is a sale at Tenkara USA for the 11 foot Iwana. $100 bucks gets you the rod and $50 dollars of it is donated to charity. I was giving it serious thought.

[letumgo]

Yeah, I was showing that sale to my wife, as a Christmas idea. I don't think she was listening. She asked "Don't you already have six other fishing poles down stairs?" Like I don't need another one...