Another How To question

[fflutterffly]

I am often given skins of birds and deer. Obviously my present method of prep for tying is not very good. I'd like to hear from you how it's done.

[narcodog]

If you are talking about preserving them it's easy. Scrap all of the fat from the skin, rub Borax into the flesh side. Then just put the material between layers of newspaper until dry, several weeks.

[Soft-hackle]

http://www.uky.edu/~agrdanny/flyfish/petti.htm

Hope this helps.

Mark

[Mike Connor]

I am often given skins of birds and deer. Obviously my present method of prep for tying is not very good. I'd like to hear from you how it's done.

I spoke about using very high quality hackles in the last lesson, this is without any doubt at all, the best material to use, for many dry flies, but it is expensive. I often use much cheaper Chinese, Indian and domestic necks for many flies. Tied properly and used in conjunction with a good floatant these flies work perfectly well. One thing to remember is that rough water flies need better floatation qualities than calm water flies.

For some of my rough stream flies I will use up to eight turns of hackle, or in some circumstances even more, in order to obtain a good floating fly. When using the cheaper necks it is unlikely that you will get a single hackle long enough to allow this. No problem, use two hackles. Make sure that all the webby part of the hackle has been stripped before tying in, even a small amount of web causes the fly to sink much more quickly than a fly with no webby hackle.



It is also very good policy to use broken coloured hackles on many flies. The imitation properties are greater, flies tied with such hackles have a somewhat "buggier" effect, and these hackles tend to be cheaper and of higher quality than the pure colours, because the demand is not so high for these feathers, the trout don't seem to care much.

Unusual hackle colours are often of excellent quality, and there is no reason not to use them. Many top anglers use flies tied with at least two hackles as they are of the opinion that these are more attractive to the fish. A dark red and a light red game hackle is a good combination for instance, or a red game hackle with a grizzly or cree hackle in front of it, or wound through it. I am bound to admit I seem to catch more fish on these flies as well. The photo shows a selection of relatively cheap Indian capes



Bivisibles are flies tied with at least two hackles, usually a light coloured hackle in front of a darker one. The original reason for doing so was that the lighter hackle is usually easier to see than the dark one. Or it might be that under certain conditions the dark one is easier to see than the light one. Hence the term "Bivisible". Whatever, there are lots of patterns which use this idea.

One very popular pattern here in Europe which is similarly tied is the "Tricoleur". This fly uses three hackles palmered over a base of thread. You may of course dub a little fur on the body first if you want a hairier chunkier shape or silhouette. Unfortunately I have no idea who invented the Tricoleur, but from its name I would assume a Frenchman. The origins of many flies are unknown, or at least very obscure, and some fly dressers and angling historians spend years researching in an attempt to find the inventor, and lists of original materials. I have seen at least five different versions of this fly, this is the one I use.

To tie the Tricoleur wind your black or brown thread down the body to just before the bend. Tie in a length of fine round gold tinsel Take the thread back up the shank towards the eye and tie in your first hackle by the butt.

Take your thread back down the body about a third of the way, now Palmer the hackle a third of the way down the body in close even turns, tie off and remove the excess, take your second hackle and tie it in at this point, palmer it down the second third of the body, tie off and remove the excess, tie in your third hackle, palmer the last third of the body with this, tie off, remove the excess, and then using your thread rib the whole fly carefully back up to the eye, follow this with the gold tinsel, tie off form a neat head and whip finish.

This tying order may be reversed, and the hackles tied in starting at the bend, they must then be tied in by the tip of course and this is slightly more difficult and less strong than the method described.

This is really a "fancy" fly, but will often get fish especially in the larger sizes, when other patterns fail. It is a good night fly for big browns, and can be skittered over the surface to imitate a moth or large sedge.

The hackle combinations are up to you, usual is brown (red) white and blue dun (smoke grey!). I sometimes tie this in very large sizes up to size four, and use a white hackle in front, as a moth pattern, it is quite difficult to cast this any distance, but at night I fish a short line anyway. It is also excellent for dapping. It is a good way of using up some large feathers from some capes which would otherwise be wasted.

One of my favourite two-hackle flies is the Dogsbody. This fly was invented by an English dresser by the name of Harry Powell, who was a hairdresser and sometime dog trimmer!, and the body fur was originally camel coloured dog hair, ribbed with flat oval gold tinsel.



I use blended Hare fur for the body, as I don't know anybody with a camel coloured dog, who would let me take the animal for a short walk!

I read quite a lot about camels in my original attempts to discover the right colour, but was obliged to cease research after finding that there are all sorts of camels in all sorts of colours, and the chance of my finding the original colour was remote to say the least.

The hackle is a grizzly with a red game hackle wound in front, thread brown, and a tail of three strands of cock pheasant centre tail. The fly is extremely effective, and is a standby general pattern for me when nothing is rising but I still want to fish dry. I tie it in size 16 and 14. It may also be used as an alternative fly when fish are preoccupied with a specific insect, but refuse imitations of the natural, it is considered to be very effective for this purpose.

By the way, if you wish to collect "bits and pieces" from domestic pets or similar animals, ask the owners first, and be careful how you ask! Some people are very sensitive in this respect. Being charged with cruelty to animals because you have been caught chasing the neighbours cat brandishing a razor, is not likely to further your fly dressing career, especially as at least forty character witnesses will then proceed to swear on a stack of bibles that you are a well known pervert anyway, and your obvious intention was to torture the poor creature! Even if the judge is a fly angler, and able to appreciate how difficult it is to obtain dubbing in this particularly delicately mottled shade of light ginger, you may still have problems.

Half a pound of mixed smelly dog hair which has been removed from the vacuum cleaner is also not a lot of use I have discovered, it is extremely difficult to clean store and dye, and is difficult to use for anything but rough dubbing. If you collect hair try and get it on the skin. (I am not suggesting you go around skinning dogs or the like however!).

I have had a lot of requests from people at my classes and elsewhere to explain where and how I obtained some of my seemingly vast collection of materials, so here are some of the answers.

When people get to know that you collect fur or feathers they will often bring you the most amazing things. It is better not to discourage them if you can possibly avoid it. A nice trout or a bit of smoked Salmon can work wonders here when delivered to the appropriate people (nice old ladies who live under high tension wires is a good idea, see below! , and has some intrinsic merit!).

Admittedly it is very difficult indeed to look pleased and enthusiastic when the lady from down the road brings you the seventh completely tick infested and irreparably squashed Hedgehog in succession, (although Hedgehog belly is a very useful dubbing material.

You must skin a Hedgehog in the same way as hedgehogs propagate their species by the way, extremely carefully!), but do not be dismayed, the same lady may one day come up trumps and present you with a Heron found in the garden after falling dead from the high tension wires, or as also happened to me once some years ago, two perfect if somewhat dried out Jungle cock necks, apparently once part of the decoration on ladies hats! (I refuse to buy Jungle cock or any other protected species on principle, but see nothing wrong in accepting such serendipitous gifts which would otherwise land in the bin!).

I still live in hopes that somebody will one day bring me a genuine polar bear rug!

The old fur coat shown was bought at a jumble sale for next to nothing, and I have tied several thousand flies from it already, as have quite a few of my friends!



Fox fur stoles and other furs were once much in vogue for fashionable ladies about town, and may be obtained quite regularly for next to nothing at flea-markets, jumble sales and the like. If you see something like this you think may be useful, and it is cheap, buy it! Especially any pure white fur you can get. The same stuff sold in small patches in expensive packaging probably costs a fortune at your fly dressing supplier or tackle shop. No matter that you do not yet know what to use it for, or what it is, have no fear, we will go into that later!

If you have a taxidermist in your area, he will probably be only too pleased to give you sacks of material at a modest price or even free, especially if he gets a nice trout or sea-trout occasionally.

Furriers also have large amounts of off-cuts which are useless for their purposes, but excellent for fly-dressing.

Small zoos and aviaries will often have dead animals and birds that they are only too happy to give away, as soon as they have ascertained that you are serious, ask them to freeze them as soon as possible after their untimely demise, this makes things easier for you.

Large pet-shops sometimes have dead parrots and other birds and animals which have a lot of useful feathers, fur etc, it will not hurt to ask, but try and be diplomatic, if you walk into the shop when there are forty other customers in and ask in a loud voice whether or not the very ill looking blue macaw you saw last week has snuffed it yet, it is unlikely that you will receive anything other than black looks, even if the bird is indeed deceased, or perhaps even more so, because the creatures are apparently worth a fortune, and your enthusiasm for its feathers may be unfavourably connected with the unexplained mortality!

Such Monty Pythonesque scenes may be funny on television, but try explaining yourself to the officer who comes along to quell the resulting disturbance, this is not funny at all!

Dog trimming establishments can be an excellent source of materials, but talk to the owner and he or she may arrange for separate types of hair, colours etc, or even from individual dogs, to be placed in separate bags for you. Some hair will be useless, and you can simply throw this away.

You may get some really good stuff here though. The "Collie Dog" a famous and very simple and effective salmon pattern when tied correctly, originated from such a source. Some terrier breeds have wonderful fine mottled hair for dubbing purposes.

Farmers and smallholders who keep hens will often save you the heads and necks of their birds when they slaughter them, you wont get anything like a Hoffman cape doing this, but on occasion some very nice hackles. If you ask nicely and offer modest payment they will slaughter the animals in such a way that the capes are not soiled with blood etc. Blood soiled capes are just about useless. It is almost impossible to clean them.

Bantam cocks sometimes have excellent quality feathers in wonderful colours by the way. If you see an outstanding cock cape on a bird, ask them to reserve it for you, it is easy to remove the cape and saddle from such a bird, and the wings are also useful usually. After having served a useful life these birds usually end up in the soup pot, as they are too tough for anything else, and are consequently almost worthless to the owner.

A small payment or a nice trout now and again may result in a real prize here. One of my best capes, a very rare genuine Brassy Blue Dun of superb quality came from such a source! I have no idea what it is worth, as I have never actually seen one any where near as good for sale, but I suspect an awful lot of money!

The same goes for butchers who deal in game birds, turkeys, geese etc. This material can usually be had for the asking, and is absolutely perfect for fly dressing purposes. A good country butchers at Christmastime is a wonderful place for a fly dresser!

Human hair is usually relatively useless for dressing purposes, and contrary to popular opinion, is not the reason for my baldness! There are rumours of certain types of hair from specific parts of the anatomy of raven haired Andalusian virgins being used for some absolutely killing patterns, but the collection of this material poses problems which I consider beyond my capabilities of solving, however interesting and enlightening the attempt might prove, my wife would probably not believe my perfectly honourable intentions either!

For similar, but not quite identical reasons, patterns calling for hair from the scrotum of a wild ram or similar usually result in my seeking a somewhat less exotic substitute. Some people might consider this a little cowardly and less than dedicated on my part, and they would be perfectly right! Fishing is adventurous enough for me!

Road kills are also an excellent source of cheap and very useful material, I have a very large collection of materials obtained in this way. Cost? A bit of borax and salt, and the time spent in preparing them.

The photo shows a selection taken from dead birds found at the roadside.



If you do find birds like this it is best to clip off or pluck the feathers you require and not bother trying to skin them. Birds, especially small ones, are very difficult to skin unless you have a lot of practice.

The wings of most birds should be clipped off close to the body with strong scissors or pruning shears, and then the knuckles treated with a 1/1 mixture of salt and borax, and left to dry until no sweating or moisture is discernible, add more salt and borax as required to achieve this.

When dry place them in a sealed polythene bag and then in the freezer for a couple of days (this kills nearly all possible pests). After freezing I wash my stuff in warm soapy water, let it dry naturally for a while on a few sheets of old newspaper and give it a bit of a final blow dry with a hair dryer to smooth and fluff up the hair or feathers. I usually also microwave the stuff after freezing, for sixty seconds at six-hundred Watts, but this is not strictly necessary. I am just ultra careful.

Bugs can ruin a collection in no time, and my collection is large and irreplaceable. I have been collecting stuff for a very long time.

The result, when completely dry, is then placed in a zip-lock bag with a few crystals of Napthalene or similar moth and pest deterrent. Useful body feathers should be plucked and treated in the same way. Write down on the packet where you got them from, what bird, what part of the body etc.

Some old dressings give instructions where the feathers mentioned in the recipe may be found on the bird, this information is extremely useful, and saves a lot of frustration when tying some patterns, as you can select the correct feather to start with. Tying some flies with feathers from the wrong part of the correct bird renders them almost useless for their originally intended purpose.

Do not under any circumstances add materials to your collection until you are absolutely certain that all pests have been eliminated from them.


I also skin rabbits and hares, and the occasional bisam or squirrel, when I find them relatively undamaged at the roadside, squirrel skins and tails are especially useful. They must be fresh and not too badly damaged if you want to do this, if you are unsure how old the carcass is then leave it. If there is anything much crawling about on the carcass you should also leave it.



Animals found in winter are likely to be OK, in high summer be careful. You should wear a pair of heavy rubber gloves for picking such animals up and placing them in a well sealed polythene sack, and before commencing skinning or trimming operations douse the carcass with a good disinfectant, and wear gloves at all times.

In some countries or states it may be illegal to pick up road kills generally or just certain animals, make sure you are aware of the regulations before you do it. Cats and dogs should be left alone, they invariably belonged to somebody, and if you are seen cutting bits off them at the roadside completely unnecessary and ridiculous complications may arise, which it is better to avoid.

Skinning small furry mammals is quite easy, the usual method is to use scalpel or sharp carpet knife. Cut carefully around the legs slightly above the "ankles" of the animal, and then cut down the inside of the legs towards the middle of the animals belly. Cut as shallowly as possible to avoid damaging the carcass. A straight cut down the belly joining the four cuts you have made, and then using the back of your scalpel to ease the skin off works well.

The head of some animals is difficult to skin, if you don't need it, cut the skin at the neck and dispose of the head with the other remains. Hares and rabbits may be easily skinned, moles, squirrels and bisams are slightly more difficult, but after you have done your first one or two it becomes fairly easy.

When you have the skin off, take a piece of board and carefully nail (use galvanised roofing nails they do not rust and discolour the skin) the perimeter of the skin to the board fur side down stretching it as you go, when the skin is stretched fairly tight on the board carefully remove any fat or flesh left on the skin by scraping with a flat bladed knife or similar.

Then powder the skin with a layer of salt and borax sufficient to cover the skin entirely, a few crystals of napthalene or paradichlorbenzene suffice to keep insects away. Put it in a cool dry place away from draughts and the likelihood of other animals getting at it. Inspect it at least once a day adding salt and borax if there is any trace of wetness. When completely dry, remove from the board, shake off the excess salt/borax mixture, wash and dry the skin, and proceed as already described for feathers.

It is not necessary to tan the skins, this is a far more difficult process. If the skin is a little stiff this is not a problem, if you really need a flexible skin as for zonker strips or similar materials, then rubbing glycerine into the skin will soften it considerably, Nivea hand cream also gives good results. If you have difficulty obtaining industrial borax (Pharmaceutical Borax is very expensive) then a mixture of wood ash and salt works as well. The ashes from a charcoal grill, or any clean wood fire, are excellent as long as there is no fat or oil left in them.

Foxes, rats and some other animals carry dangerous diseases in many parts of Europe, and if you are not sure how to handle the carcass then leave it alone! It is impossible to give general advice here, you must inform yourself of the local regulations and conditions.

If you are at all squeamish it is best not to try this at all, and you should on no account carry out such operations in your kitchen or anywhere similar, not if you want to stay married for long, or have no particular desire to become homeless at short notice, quite apart from the hygiene problems which may arise. Do it in an outhouse or garage or on a table in the garden, and dispose of the remains carefully. Burying them is usually the best solution.

If you do bury things like this, do not do it at dead of night by torchlight, this will get you talked about if anybody sees you, and make sure you bury the stuff deep enough so that the neighbours dog can't dig it up and transport it proudly into your best friends house for supper This sort of thing is liable to strain even the most abiding friendship!

Game animals are subject to stringent laws as well in some countries. Taking a dead deer or wild pig found at the side of the road for instance may well be considered poaching, and may get your car confiscated and result in fines or even worse. Protesting that you were not the person who hit it in the first place will avail you nothing.

Simply possessing some animal skins is also illegal, irrespective of how the material was obtained. Use your common sense here. It is unlikely that anyone will complain if you find a dead mole and use its skin, but do not go trafficking in mole skins and the like, or shouting about your collection at an animal rights meeting. Some of these people think even dead animals have rights, and may unfortunately even be correct in this respect in some places.

Before approaching some animals be absolutely certain that the animal is dead. Even comparatively harmless animals may bite or kick you if they have been seriously injured and are in pain, and the results may not be to your liking. If you do find animals injured but alive at the roadside, call the appropriate authorities, do not attempt first aid or putting the animal "out of its misery", this may well be misconstrued by other road users, and is unlikely to help anyway.

Make sure you have current anti-tetanus jabs etc. before you do anything like this as well.

After a while you will develop an 'eye' for road kills, and will notice them almost automatically without it even distracting you from your driving, with experience you can tell sometimes at a glance whether or not your sighting is worth retrieving.

Common sense is also very important here, even if you see a whole flock of dead and comparatively undamaged Jungle cock all with perfect nails ( the “nails” are the beautiful enamelled eye feathers used a lot on salmon flies ), lying at the side of a three lane motorway, consider carefully before attempting to retrieve them, and if this should appear in any way dangerous DON'T DO IT!

The same applies to other roads, slamming on the brakes, and doing a racing U-turn in order to inspect a likely sighting is not a good idea, far better to carry on to the next turnoff, turn around and check carefully for traffic, before attempting retrieval.

Try not to make a song and dance about it either, grab your polythene sack and your shears, get the stuff into the sack and disappear as unobtrusively as you hopefully arrived. You will not believe the amount of curiosity your apparently eccentric behaviour may engender in some people should you be observed even on minor country roads, and this could be dangerous as well. Some people get very incensed indeed at people "who go around mutilating harmless animals for fun," whether legal or not, it is best to avoid confrontations of this nature.

I wish to stress here that I would under no circumstances advocate the killing of any animal in order to obtain material for fly dressing purposes, protected or otherwise. It should be clear that we are talking here of dead animals found at the roadside or in similar circumstances, whose demise is a result of accident. I like to think of this as natural recycling, the remains would often only rot at the roadside, if I did not use them.

The same goes for material obtained from hunters, friends etc, the feathers or fur would invariably end in the bin, and the animals concerned were killed for other reasons, usually food. I see no good reason not to use things that would otherwise be wasted. Furthermore in all the years I have been driving I have never personally hit an animal, I even slow down or stop when frogs are crossing the road.

I am prepared to admit that this is more due to luck than absolute intent on my part as I have seen situations where the driver of a vehicle had no chance to avoid hitting an animal, I am nonetheless proud of the fact.

In our next lesson we will talk about preparing and dyeing some of our materials for use, and how to improve cheaper purchased materials making them more suitable for our purposes.


OK so we have managed to collect vast amounts of various furs and feathers either cheaply or for nothing by the various means at our disposal, how do we sort it out? How do we prepare and use it ?

One of the best and simplest ways of improving some furs and feathers for use in fly dressing, including the purchased ones, is simply washing them in warm soapy water, rinsing well to remove all traces of soap and then blow drying with a hair drier, without letting the material get too warm. Many cheap capes look very much better after this treatment, and certainly improve in value and use potential. Hair and fur also invariably benefits from this treatment. I like to wash nearly all my materials anyway purely as a matter of hygiene.

Some materials benefit considerably from a wash in hair conditioner, or fabric softener, this makes them more pliable usually and easier to handle. You will have to experiment here with small amounts of material. It is not always a good idea to do this, it depends on what you want to use the material for.

High quality capes from Hoffman and other firms have already been treated to their maximum potential before sale, and should not be given any further home treatments, this is more likely to damage them than improve them.



Fur to be used for dubbing should be washed on the skin, as described, and when it is completely dry, either stored complete, or removed using a beard trimmer or similar and blended according to taste before use. The methods for doing this were described in an earlier lesson. Putting the fur through a blender makes it slightly easier to handle and gives it a much nicer appearance. A coffee blender of the type shown here is excellent for this purpose.

The best way to store loose fur is in zip-lock bags of the appropriate size. Label the bags with a marker as to type colour etc before storing. For operational quantities on the tying bench I like to use the small airtight plastic film containers. Most photographic shops will quite happily give these away if asked. Some boxes I use are also shown below.

Dyeing is also a way of improving our materials or making them more suitable to our requirements. Most feathers and furs will take dye well, the results may however be somewhat surprising if you use coloured base material to start with.



The absolutely iron rule for obtaining pure bright solid colours is to use perfectly pure white material to start with. However, I don't often dye pure white colours, I prefer to use materials like natural hare fur and similar as these then give a range of effects colours and shades when dyed.The material must be thoroughly degreased, free from soap or other substances , and completely and thoroughly wet when it goes into the previously prepared dye bath. I have used many dyes over the years, even some complicated and exotic recipes from older books on fly dressing.



For a long time I used Veniard´s special fly dressing dyes almost exclusively. I could obtain nearly all the colours and shades I wanted with relatively little expenditure of time effort and money, the results are excellent, and may be reproduced at will if a little discipline and method is adhered to when dyeing. These dyes are for hot dyeing in a water bath. In the meantime, although I still use these dyes, because I still have a large selection of them, I have moved on to other dyes and methods for many materials.

There are other methods of dyeing but these are sometimes quite complicated and expensive, photo dyeing is an excellent way of dyeing expensive capes as they are less likely to be damaged than by hot dyeing. In this process the material to be dyed is soaked through with photographic solution, and then developed just like a film. This process is complicated and the chemicals used are very poisonous. Mainly silver salts.

As far as washing goes I usually wash my material in the bathtub, and then rinse it thoroughly in clean water. A solution of ordinary washing up liquid works perfectly, the material, especially feathers on the skin, and bushy fur or hair should be soaked for a while, ten minutes is usually enough, and then gently swayed back and forth in the solution to ensure complete penetration of the detergent, avoid bending or squeezing capes and other feathers, it may cause feathers to fall out or be otherwise damaged. Do not leave materials in water too long, the hair or fur will start to fall out ( known as slip ).

Heavily soiled or extremely oily raw material such as bucktail or similar hair and fur may need degreasing with something a bit stronger than washing up liquid. For this I use a solution of so called "biological" detergent as used in a household washing machine for soiled clothing.

I have never found the need to use anything else, although some special products are offered for this purpose, notably Veniards "Venpol". A thorough rinse off is essential here. Tanned skins just need a quick wash in a light solution of washing up liquid, and then thorough rinsing, mainly to wet them thoroughly before placing them in the dye bath.

Do not start your dyeing experiments using 100 dollar capes. In fact it is better to start dyeing fur and cheap hen capes etc, until you get the hang of it. It really is very simple indeed and the results can be magnificent. One can achieve remarkable effects with even very cheap materials, some very rare combination dun colours can be achieved, using certain necks as a base, and insect colours matched very closely indeed. For dyeing small amounts of fur and feathers you will need the following equipment;



A large enamel pan. Do not use aluminium saucepans or other naked metal equipment. It can affect the dye bath, and the acid used in the process will attack aluminium and some other metals. Stainless steel is OK.

A metal sieve or collander, preferably stainless steel, but chromed steel will do, which fits the pan fairly well. An excellent piece of equipment is an old chip pan! (Mine is shown on the right) Some plastic or stainless steel tongs for handling material, rubber gloves, a measuring jug, and plenty of old newspaper.

The dye in the colours you wish to dye, and a bottle of vinegar. Either malt vinegar or wine vinegar is ok. This is a relatively mild acetic acid necessary to the dyeing process. It helps the dye to "bite" and fixes the colour as well. For some processes other acids are used, but vinegar works well for most things.

Your tools and equipment should be plastic or stainless steel. Wooden tongs and spoons must not be used they will soak up dye and are impossible to clean properly, and may contaminate your bath. A few small plastic spoons for measuring the dye powder will also be required.

I use a camping stove with a gas cartridge for heating my dye bath. An electric heating ring may also be used, but I prefer the gas as it gives more immediate control. If you wish you may use a cooking thermometer to control the temperature of your dye bath.

The procedure is quite simple, a measured quantity of water ( I invariably use exactly one litre or multiples thereof ), is poured into the pan, brought to the boil and the measured amount of dye is added ( this depends on the colour you are dyeing and the results you wish to obtain, instructions are included with Veniard dyes), and well stirred.

The vinegar is then added (one or two teaspoonfulls is usually sufficient, for dark colours and deep shades you may use more) and also well stirred , the bath left to cool for a moment (it must not be boiling!) check the temperature, and the clean thoroughly wet material is then added to the bath, results can be checked by using a small piece of the same material as a monitor, removing this from the bath from time to time and rinsing it under cold running water will show you exactly how things are progressing, and when your desired shade has been reached.

Some shades are achieved almost immediately, others require quite some time. If the shade is not deep enough even after a while in the bath, then you may add more dye and vinegar, but only after first removing the material from the bath.

Do not add dye to the bath while material is in it. The results can be disastrous as far as the final colour is concerned, and streaking or spotting may also occur. Do not be tempted to put more dye than necessary in the bath, this is wasteful, and unnecessary.

A set of instructions comes with each pot of Veniards dyes. Mr. Veniard also produced a very good pamphlet on dyeing some years ago, and most Veniards stockists should have it or be able to obtain it.

You should do your dyeing in the garage or an outhouse if possible. These special powder dyes are extremely powerful and will colour anything with which they come into contact. Your family harmony may be severely strained if you colour your new fitted kitchen work surfaces in all the colours of the rainbow, in fact one colour will usually more than suffice! A spilled dye bath or a few coloured patches in the garage is a nuisance, but if it happens in the kitchen it is a major catastrophe! Basically the same applies to the bathroom.

When dyeing feathers and other delicate materials you must not boil the dye bath. The material will be damaged. It is also best to prevent the material touching the sides of the bath if possible, in a very hot bath this will cause feathers to curl or singe, which makes them useless for tying purposes.



These dyes are combination dyes, this means several dye colours are combined to produce a certain colour, just as an artist mixes primary colours to achieve various tones and shades, dyes are also blended to achieve the desired effect. The principle is the same, but with one slight but very important difference, different dye colours penetrate at different rates, if you remove your material from the bath too soon it may well be a completely different colour than the one you were trying to obtain, the material must remain in the bath long enough to absorb all the colours present.

Dark colours are much easier to dye than light colours. You can dye practically anything darker than it already is, but you cannot dye a dark colour lighter. Deep shades of light colours are difficult to achieve as well, especially fluorescent dyes sometimes produce only light pastel shades of the required colour, although the material may fluoresce like a firework display when viewed under the correct light.



Theoretically you can dye anything black, in practice this is really quite difficult as a large amount of dye is needed, and the material has to stay in the bath a long time at the hottest possible temperature, without actually boiling, to achieve a really deep black.

This is not such a problem as at first might appear. We are attempting to colour materials so that we can more closely match insects with the result, most insects are translucent and made up of several colours as well, so a light black, really a dark grey with a bit of brown or blue shining through may not be a bad thing at all. Depends what you are trying to achieve.

If you want to experiment with mixing dyes then I would suggest buying a "colour wheel" at an artists supply store, this helps a lot when wanting to know what colours to mix to achieve a certain shade or colour. Try the single colours first though. Most of my pupils start with "Blue dun" dye and a couple of hen capes just to get the hang of things.

After dyeing the materials should be thoroughly rinsed under cold running water until no more dye comes out, and then laid out skin side down on a few old newspapers until almost dry, and then blown dry to fluff them up.

Remember that wet materials will also look a lot darker than when they are dry. Take this into account when dyeing materials for either wet or dry flies.

Some materials can not be dyed, very many synthetics for instance, if you want to dye things like this try a small amount first to see if it works.

With a little experience you may easily mix dyes to achieve he effects you require, but be careful here. It is easy to overdo things, and more or less impossible to remedy the mistake. A s long as the material is not too dark it is possible to overdye to the correct shade. Or even overdye it a completely different colour. This will only work to a certain degree however, when the basic colour is already dark then this is no longer a viable option.

I like to dye natural hare body fur in a few shades of olive, and claret and one or two other colours, I use this fur by itself and for blending with other dubbing and achieve some excellent results with it. A Blue dun dye on rabbit or hare fur also gives excellent results, for imitating some insects accurately.

The natural colour variations in the fur are complemented and enhanced by the dyed colour, and the result does not look quite so artificial as a solid dyed colour in my opinion. I have also had excellent results dying goat hair which is readily and cheaply available as whole skins. I have dyed a complete range of this hair as it is so useful for all sorts of things. Especially as hair wings for small streamers and tube flies of which I use a lot for sea-trout fishing, and some perch and pike flies.

A cheap source of excellent dubbing material is to buy mohair wool ( it must be mohair, not sheeps wool ) at a wool shop in white, and dye it to the shades you require, it takes dye extremely well, you can of course use ordinary wool as well but this is nowhere near as good. This can be used for blending or on its own.

One decided disadvantage of the hot dyeing method described is the fact that the skin of these materials becomes brittle and stiff as a result of it. There are one or two tricks to alleviate this problem. Rubbing glycerine or a good hand cream into the skin of dyed capes will make them a little more supple and easier to handle, and will prevent them cracking up.

Hair on the skin should be cut into fairly thin strips before dyeing it, this makes it easier to select the hair later when tying. The skin may be cut by using a scalpel or very sharp craft knife from the skin side and holding the material taut. There is very slight wastage sometimes as one or two hairs may be cut, but this is negligible. You need someone to hold the skin for you while cutting.

Thick bushy tails from arctic fox or similar animals should be pulled into pieces before dyeing. This is quite easy to do usually, just grip the tail firmly where you want to divide it and pull hard. This also aids the dying process as the dye can penetrate small pieces better than large bushy ones.

It is better to dye small amounts at first, and try to gauge how much material of a certain type or colour you will use in the course of the next few months or years. I remember a pupil from one of my classes coming in with a whole Icelandic sheepskin which he had dyed a lovely bright shade of hot orange. He was very proud of it as it was one of his first attempts, and the whole class was very impressed, I remember how crestfallen he was when I asked him during the coffee break what he was going to use it for, he had become so fascinated and carried away with the successful dyeing that he had somehow lost touch with the purpose of it.

Remember you can dye half capes or even a few dozen selected feathers if you wish, or small patches of fur, it is not necessary to dye whole animals, even if your chip pan is big enough!

I have tried on several occasions to bleach materials using various methods, but have now ceased experimenting in this direction as the results were all fairly lousy , and I would not like to ruin good material. I will leave this to the commercial suppliers in future. There is some literature available on bleaching, if you want to try it however. I found it too much of a mess about.

Be careful when you find apparently cheap sources of ready dyed feathers and furs. It is by no means certain that these will be colour fast, one of my pupils came to a class with a large quantity of feathers in all the colours of the rainbow, which he had bought at a shop selling red indian headdresses for children, these feathers looked great, but the dye was not fast, and actually came off on your fingers when tying. Soaking the feathers for a while in water reduced the colour to almost zero! not much use for fly dressing.

TL
MC

[willowhead]

Great stuff Mike..........when these humongus articles you post show up.......i find it almost impossible to read them word for word. i usually do a quick scan, and try to get back later, when and where i can. Eventually i usually succed.
i have a medium sized collection of old chinese dry fly necks and you are DEAD right. The hackle makes GREAT fishin' flies. i also have a lotta hackle from home grown birds (mine & other's), that also works great. Fish just don't seem to care if it says Whiting on the package. Btw, i LOVE bi/tri visables.
And have collected a LOT of furs from antigues shops, yard and garage sales, & flee markets.....not to mention i use to go to the garmet district (Manhattan) and hit on the furriers for scraps........ Price was always right.....FREE! They throw away more fur than you can possibly imagine.
Far as road kill goes.....i've taken some Bucktails and birds......use to actually keep bags of salt in the ride.......pretty much past that stage now.......
But if your gonna do it, i always went by the, "if it's still warm rule."