Pearsall's Gossamer Silk Colors – Wet and Dry

[PhilA]

Ray, Stefan, and Mikael Modig posted here in 2011 a thoroughly excellent color chart of Pearsall's Gossamer silk threads (viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1863). I've consulted it many times over the years but have often thought that a useful complement to the chart would be showing both wet and dry versions of each thread. Most of us have no doubt witnessed the darkening of Gossamer when wet, and some of the outcomes are a bit surprising. For example, No.3 (Primrose) turns a very pale olive, something that several authors have noted.

I've been working recently on such a wet/dry chart, and it is finally ready for public consumption. Many thanks to Stefan for helping me sort out which of my Gossamer spools are Primrose, Light Yellow, and Lemon Yellow. I wrapped two layers of each thread about a bronzed hook and photographed both hook and spool simultaneously. The white balance of my camera was calibrated, and colors in the photos are, to my eyes, very close to those on the spools.

The chart is quite large and should be zoomed in for best viewing of the wet/dry hooks. For example, when viewed at 100% size, each spool looks something like this:




The full chart is too large for viewing here, but it can be viewed, downloaded, and saved at: https://app.box.com/s/y34hr9vpfzs54lv2byhj3xww1dhicpdi

I made a similar chart of spools only (no hooks), which is available at:
https://app.box.com/s/3pmuu5kg393fpzo6k3kts6hfsrzqg8ak

I realize the madness of making a color chart for threads that no longer exist, but I suspect that, like me, many folks here have stashes of Pearsall's Gossamer that will last for many years. I hope these charts are helpful.

Cheers,
Phil

[daringduffer]

Immensely valuable deed, Phil. I love maniacs!

dd

[Mike62]

That's amazing! I had no idea the colors changed so dramatically.

[Bazzer69]

The dramatic color change is in unwanted thread. Once silk is well waxed it seldom changes color when in water. It’s common in Salmon flies to use a white underbody so the over wrapped colors appear more brilliant when wet. It’s always a good idea to test a new pattern under water to see if it’s the color that you expected.
B

[FlyFisherMann1955]

Phil,

It's a wonderful resource and much appreciated!

I do have a few questions for the Pearsall's Professor:

Why does "Claret" have 2 different numbers (# 14) and (#191)? Claret (#191) actually looks like
the twin brother of "Cardinal Red" (#12); it looks nothing like Claret (#14). When did this color change
happen?

When did #15 (New) Dark Claret replace #15 (Old) Maroon?

Are there any differences in the thread on the wooden spools when compared to the thread of the same color on the white plastic spools?

Will you be producing this chart in "poster size" to hang on the wall behind our fly tying desks?

Thanks- Ken

[letumgo]

Magnificent! These are the best Pearsall’s color reference charts I’ve seen. Very well done.

Thanks Phil, for sharing these with us.

[REE04419]

Enlightening to say the least. Thanks for sharing those.

[Bazzer69]

The dramatic color change is in unwaxedw thread. Once silk is well waxed it seldom changes color when in water. It’s common in Salmon flies to use a white underbody so the over wrapped colors appear more brilliant when wet. It’s always a good idea to test a new pattern under water to see if it’s the color that you expected.
B

[PhilA]

Why does "Claret" have 2 different numbers (# 14) and (#191)? Claret (#191) actually looks like
the twin brother of "Cardinal Red" (#12); it looks nothing like Claret (#14). When did this color change
happen?

When did #15 (New) Dark Claret replace #15 (Old) Maroon?

Are there any differences in the thread on the wooden spools when compared to the thread of the same color on the white plastic spools?

Thanks- Ken

Ken,
Despite the Forum Ghillie's appellation, I am more of a Pearsall's student than a Pearsall's professor. I own both wooden and plastic spools of 3 or 4 Gossamer colors, and they are very close in color. Any differences are subtle and usually concern sheen of the thread rather than the color. I'll pull a few out and take some photos

I don't know the answers to your questions about the relationships of the several Clarets. My understanding is that plastic spools replaced wooden spools in the 1980s, but others here are more knowledgeable than me.

I'm quite puzzled by old No.15 (Maroon). My experience is that "maroon" is a reddish brown, but that wooden spool of old No.15 contains very little red to my eyes. Yet, the color does not match any of the other brown spools. In the Pearsall's Reference Card posted by Ray (download/file.php?id=2421), No.15 (Maroon) is quite brown. Did "maroon" have a different meaning many years ago?

I like your idea of printing a larger size of the color chart. The images have sufficient resolution to print the spools part of the color chart at 16" x 23" at 300dpi. Is 300dpi sufficient for a quality print? I know little about artsy printing. Still, some smaller size could be printed that is suitable for framing. Maybe a wingless wet tied with each color? This could get out of hand. After all, I need time to fish.

Cheers,
Phil

[daringduffer]

Phil, your maroon is, on my screen, much closer to brown than my maroon is. You could say that no 17, brown is a lot warmer brown than no 14, maroon. You don't see much of any red on the maroon spool but more of it when you tie.

Next step should be to keep both hook/thread and camera subsurface. That might give a different outcome.

dd