Light Greenwell Spider

[willowhead]

Can you fill us in on who Alice Conba actually is? Tkx.

[tie2fish]

Thank you for the encouraging remarks, folks.
Willowhead: The heavier-than-usual waxing is done to get an olive tint to the thread color; I've also found that it -- along with high thread tension while making the body wraps -- also enhances thread translucence.
BobSmith: When I first started to learn about soft hackled flies, one of the patterns I heard about was the "Greenwell's Glory". I asked Mike Kidd, then at the Great Feathers shop, what it looked like. He steered me to Hans' "Danica" website, and specifically the versions shown there as tied by Alice Conba. I happen to admire her style and have attempted to mimic it.

[redietz]

Very nice indeed.......

Question: why does one "Very well waxed" the thread if for one, the fly is meant to sink, and two, if there is no dubbing involved?

"Well waxed" means to use enough wax (tying wax, not dubbing wax) to change the color of the thread. In this case, it turns a yellow thread olive. Additionally, it (obviously) gives the body a "waxy" appearance, which can be a good impression of what an actual insect looks like.

These flies (indeed, all flies) were tied "in hand" back in the day. The wax helped keep thread and material on the hook without having to constantly half-hitch. The fact that it altered the appearance of the body on a thread bodied fly was probably fortunate happenstance, but in those case where that was a factor in the success of the fly, there's really no other way to do it.

[willowhead]

Thankx guys.......i've been gathering that it has nothin' to do with dubbing for the most part, and is a darkening or coloring type a deal.....along with helping the thread stay put.....specially when using silk threads. Makes sense.......and fortunately, i have plenty of tying wax.

[Old Hat]

Leisenring mentions waxing mostly for durability in construction of the fly. Well waxed for sure. I believe he describes picking off the extra wax that is squeezed out of the thread during the process of finishing the head as a final step.

[William Anderson]

This is right in so many ways. It's a pleasure to see. Nicely done.

w