FLYMPH FORUM

OK so it's super cold here, I had a day off work and scored some natural sheep fleece when I was in Ottawa last weekend. What kind of trouble can I get myself into?

Here are some musings on some kitchen experiments.

Do not bother trying to use nutmeg for dyeing, it's too oily and doesn't do much anyway plus is difficult to wash out the bits. Tea and coffee are better for staining than dyeing. Turmeric takes very little work and is awesome! Oh and wool is best not dyed in hot water if it needs to sit for a time ( for obvious reasons that I didn't even think about ahead of time it's still usable though)

Here is a pic of the natural coloured white fleece.



Here is a pic of some of the experiments that worked. The white at the top of the pic is some sort of synthetic stuffing that came out of a stuffed dog toy, the yellow at the left side is the same material dyed with turmeric and salt. The next three were the sheep fleece from the first photo. Second from the left started out being tea dyed then I added some coffee to the mix and the colour was not dark enough to be interesting so I threw it in with some chili powder (still not very dark but an interesting colour I can use), the olive is a little bit of olive green #34 Dylon dye and a little bit of turmeric and salt for good measure, the far right is just turmeric and salt and takes very little time to get it this colour.



Now I need to find some more of that fleece to try some others.



Vicki

Real nice post thanks, for the olive are you using powder dye, I wonder what the toy stuffing is?

Best
JAD

The olive was a powder dye as for the toy stuffing it was quite white with a nice sparkle so I couldn't resist trying it. Even dyed it still had some sparkle.


Vicki

Very interesting! Do you have an old coffee grinder? If so, you can easily blend some of these to get some intermediate colors. I really like the look of the one dyed with turmeric and salt, as well as the one dyed with coffee/tea. They are all very useful colors.

Mais oui monsieur, I certainly do have a coffee grinder! Another way I like to mix colours is to use a different colour thread from the dubbing then dub loosely and light enough for the two colours to blend. It's just a never ending voyage we are on!!


Vicki

Hi Vicki,
I think your experiments look great. I'll bet Paprika would make a great dying colorant. The second color reminds me a bit of Tup's wool Roy Christie showed me.

Mark

Your right Mark. Blend that with a bit of red and yellow seal fur and you would have a great caffinated "Tups" blend. *laugh*

Yeah and with that great coffee smell. Do you think fish like coffee? Is it cheating to tie flies with dubbing that has built in scent? Actually right now it smells a bit more like chili powder.



Vicki

MUE' CALLENTI PESCADOR........(close enough for Jazz).......= VERY HOT FISH........ Vicki, you could make some money, sellin' Vicki's pre-chilled Trout. Fresh caught with HOT Tamale Dubbing......rotf........
You really did get some great results.....beautiful colors.
Ray's Idea (btw, the title of a great Jazz composition, "Ray's Idea").....of "caffinated Tupps blend" had me crakin' up.
i'd like to see what you come up with after puttin' the stuff in the blender.....
and another btw........i happen to have, two dispensers (tubes) of THE tyers wax everyone covets.....Overton's Wonder Wax..........what might you be willing to swap for one of those tubes. A tube of that stuff can bring $50 on ebay nowdays.....but don't get me wrong.....i'm NOT insinutating i need something of anywhere near that value, to be coaxed into gettin' up off it. i'm just givin' you a chance to use your "imagination".....hehehehehehehehe. And the reason is.......as you said, i am also a big fan of lettin' the thread show thru and dubbing lightly in some instances.....and Gary LaFontain, (THE "touch dubbing" man), always used Overton's when he incorporated his touch dubbing techniques. i got to watch him tye 3/4 times at Somerset, and i have his videos. So........make me an offer i can't refuse.....and you can own a little piece of fly tying tradition. .....i'll never use both tubes anyway

I know what you mean Mark. People seem to be just rabid for that stuff! Lucky for me I've never tried it, sounds addictive! Has got me curious though.

And Mark L. Paprika sounds like a good plan. Better get some of that.



Vicki