Kreinik Silk Dubbing

[DNicolson]

Fantastic info Mike, I don't have much floss silk but I have
quite a bit of more heavy duty buttonhole twist type silk,
I suppose I could cut up some of that and see how it works.
You've given me an idea for a version of McCaskie's Green Cat.
Thanks a lot.

[CreationBear]

Outstanding...thanks!

[hankaye]

Donald, Howdy;

Fantastic info Mike,
You've given me an idea for a version of McCaskie's Green Cat.
Thanks a lot.

Is McCaskie's Green Cat anything like DougsDen's Gray Cat???

http://flymphforum.com/viewtopic.php?f= ... cat#p12480

hank

[DNicolson]

This is a version I tied a while ago, the body on the original was dubbed
with grey persian cat fur dyed emerald green. On this one I used SLF.


It is used for BWO.
You might prefer this view :-
http://donaldnicolson.webplus.net/page324.html

[letumgo]

Donald - Yes, I have used the Kreinik silk dubbing quite a bit. It is sold as a dry fly dubbing, but I have found that it takes on water allowing the fly to sink slowly. The body of the fly becomes semi-translucent when it gets wet. I have used this dubbing on a number of my wingless wet fly patterns. Here are a few of my older links that made use of the Kreinik silk dubbing. Overall, I really love working with the stuff. Very easy to dub, and forms a nice slender tapered body.

http://www.flymphforum.com/viewtopic.ph ... 5061#p5061
http://www.flymphforum.com/viewtopic.ph ... 4835#p4835
http://www.flymphforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=658

[Mike Connor]

Nice looking flies. Obviously you have used a "noodle" or "twist" dubbing technique there. The touch dubbing with short fibres gives an even greater effect of translucence but you can't build up a taper with it. Really quite remarkable. I will have to see if I can get my camera to work, it doesn't seem to want to since it has been lying around for a while.

By the way, the "touch" dubbing technique was very little known. I only actually knew one old dresser who used it on a lot of his flies, and he used saliva to stick the fine fibres to the silk before twisting the thread and then winding it on. he did the same for most animal dubbing. He told me that wax ruined some flies and he only used it on a few.

TL
MC

[letumgo]

Thanks Mike. I have only started using the "touch dubbing" technique this year. I received some special dubbing wax from Bill Shuck (tie2fish) earlier this year that has made the technique very easy. I haven't tried it with silk dubbing, but imagine it would work great.

[CreationBear]

Donald-- that's a great looking fly; it would make a killer "Little Yellow Sally" pattern here in the States. (These small stones, which come in a vibrant green color as well, are really the most consistent hatch on my relatively infertile freestoners here in the Southern Appalachia's.)

Ray/Mike-- speaking of "staple length," what are we talking about if you're making your own dubbing out of "frizzed" Pearsall's floss? I'm thinking chopping it down to one or two millimeters for smaller flies?

[letumgo]

I'm hoping that Ruard will chime in on this too. He once made a range of silk dubbing for some of his flies. I'd guess that the fibers should be cut in the 3/8" to 1/2" range. The fibers of the Kreinik silk dubbing is quite long (1" to 2" range), but it would be very hard to blend the stuff in a spice blender at that length. I think you'd end up with a big knot of silk around the blades. I would suggest using Marabou silk and first separating the strands as much as possible. Then brush the strands with a tooth brush to further separate the fibers. Once it is well separate, cut it into lengths and blend the fibers together to form a dubbing.

[Mike Connor]

You can't blend the Kreinik standard dubbing in a blender, it will break the blender. You have to chop it up. For the effect described here the dubbing needs to be chopped into lengths of 1/16 to 1/8 of an inch. Even that will be too long on some flies. Try it and see.

If you use a blender then you don't need any other special preparations. Just cut the floss into lengths and drop them in. They will separate out perfectly.

The same applies if you use water blending. Put an inch or so of water in a jar with a secure ( screw-top) lid. Cut the floss straight into the jar. Screw the lid on and shake vigorously for a little while. Pour the result through a sieve or ladies stocking ( remove the lady first! ) streched over a frame or another jar or whatever. Allow to dry. The result is a "mat" of fibres. To use, just pick this mat up and touch it to your thread as described previously.

TL
MC