Stewart's Spider (brown)

[Izaak]

DSCN4701 by flympher, on Flickr

Hook: Daiichi 1550, size 14
Thread: Pearsall's Gossamer silk, brown
Hackle: Starling

[Mataura mayfly]

Nice work, is that a Starling covert feather? Cannot make out any tan tipping to the feather so I am guessing it is not a back feather and it just seems a little bulkier in the fibre than your run of the mill Starling body feather.

[tie2fish]

Dunno, Izaak ... on my monitor the "brown" Gossamer looks more like light orange. That aside, the construction is quite "Stewart-like" (with the obligatory nod to Mr. Baillie).

[Izaak]

Nice work, is that a Starling covert feather? Cannot make out any tan tipping to the feather so I am guessing it is not a back feather and it just seems a little bulkier in the fibre than your run of the mill Starling body feather.

Last week I found and bought this exceptional starling skin. I wish I had a dozen just like it! This is a hackle from the starling's back. The hackle feather stems on this particular bird are longer, with more prime barbs, than I have seen before, and very richly colored.

[Izaak]

Dunno, Izaak ... on my monitor the "brown" Gossamer looks more like light orange. That aside, the construction is quite "Stewart-like" (with the obligatory nod to Mr. Baillie).

There is a bit of an orange cast to it, but I promise, it is brown Pearsall's!

[letumgo]

There is a lot of variability in starling hackle. I have a few hand picked skins, that are exceptional. I have others, which rarely get used, because I do not like the shape of the feathers (too long and slender for my taste). I tend to like the skins with broader feathers, more spade shaped. I have had good luck with the dyed starling skins, but the natural skins seem to be more of a crap-shoot.

Lovely itsy-bitsy spider.

[Old Hat]

Nicely done. I bet the light apple green is playing a few tricks with the brown color. Looks quite orange to me also. The brown background is probably contributing as well.

[letumgo]

Ain't photography fun. Just the sort of puzzle that I enjoy. All part of the fun.

[Izaak]

I'm shooting against a white background in some shadow, too. It must be a combination of lighting, shadow, and reflected light from the apple.