Dye Job?

[skunkaroo]

Anyone have a good source for (hopefully) easy to use fluorescent dyes? In particular I'm looking for "Sunburst" and any sort of red.

Thanks in advance,

Aaron

[Ron Eagle Elk]

Aaron,

Have you seen this by chance? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQtIPauZQ08 Don't know how much that helps.

REE

[DUBBN]

Thanks REE. After I brought that video up, I found a bunch more aswell. Some for rabbit fur.

[willowhead]

i bought three dyed Hare's masks yesterday, at Blue Ribbon.....an orange, a dark olive and a dun............they're beautiful........Wapsi again. Also got a few bags of dyed Mallard in different colors. Wapsi does such a good job.....who's got time to mess with all that........ The Mallard is only $1.80 a bag........and the Hare's masks we're only $3.50 each.....Wam Bam thank you Mam.
i went in there for another spool (bobbin) rack, for the Kreinik stuff.....(got it).....and they GOT me again..... i gotta cool it with the racks.....them dang things are $18 or more (depending), each.........
One good thing though........finding a place for it, forced me to clean up an area on my desk that was covered in feathers and all kinna little itsy bity pices of junk.....so now that's all clean.....for a minute

[letumgo]

Mark - What Blue Ribbon fly shop are you talking about? Is it this one in West Yellowstone Montana (http://www.blue-ribbon-flies.com/)?

[willowhead]

No, it's the one here.....originally owned by the same guy who was Craig Matthews partner in West.............he then sold it to the current owner. But the name remained.........i do not know if the original owner here, opened it up before or after he and Craig fell out.............matters not, to me.

[DNicolson]

I have to agree with Willowhead, there are so many excellent material suppliers out there, that
with the internet it hardly seems worth the trouble. That having been said, if you enjoy re-creating
or creating old or new colours of fur, feathers etc, it can be a fascinating exercise digging about in
old books and new articles for the info.
I have quite a bit of info on the old techniques using natural dying materials etc but I have curbed
my experiments with them, I can easily get diverted from other projects if I am not carefull.
I probably have not been exactly as helpfull as you might have wanted, but I am sure someone on
this site will know exactly what you want.
Och well, it has given me a chance at justifying my not doing anything with the info.

[skunkaroo]

Fluorescent colours are a bit hit and miss when it comes to material suppliers out there. I look for particular properties in the feathers and fur I use and I don't like to "make do" with substitutes. Not being able to examine the fur and feathers on line is a separate issue, but it also plays into looking for dying options.

I do use food based dyes (Koolaid and food colouring) but they don't impart fluorescence (thank gawd).

Thanks for the replies. I'll track down some Verniards (sp?) fluorescent dyes when I have a sec.

Aaron

[willowhead]

Skunk.....while i fully understand and respect your views as far as not liking to have to "make do".....for me, making do is all part of the process. It's like a drummer with a band who's road budget just does not allow for him to bring his own drums on the tour.....so he brings his stick bag and cymbals and the various promoters are required to provied a set on a nightly basis. If the durmmer caint "make do" and still get across the footlights.....you got the wrong drummer in the band. It's the same way with hooks and materials.....i'd NEVER be able to have the volume of stuff i have, if it were all Ronn Lucas hooks and the BEST/Rarest/and the most exoctic and very hard to find materials. So in order to be as prolific as i am.....i "make do." i hadda come to terms with all that years ago, and of course a lifetime in Jazz taught me how to think correctly about it.............i'm not "making do." i'm improvising......DE DIFF!

[skunkaroo]

I'm not quite as exacting as my post might imply. When I look for materials I'm mostly looking for items based on functionality and not based on some desire to slavishly imitate a particular pattern (I do do this, but it's mostly for the masochistic pleasure of creating shadow box flies).

If I want a webby barbed hackle in a particular colour/pattern for a fly, I will look for those qualities in the feather I choose--I don't really care what bird it comes from. What I don't like to do (under normal circumstances) is sacrifice one property for the sake of another--i.e. substituting a genetic cock saddle feather for a soft webby one, just because the colour/pattern is what I'm looking for. "Making do" just doesn't work for me.

Experimentation? You bet. Combining new and different materials in creative ways? I'm there. Improvising in situ with materials at hand? Yup. Slapping a coat of candy apple red paint on a Volkswagen and calling it a Ferrari?... ahh, no.

Aaron