source or substitute for pearsall's ash

[gmwhipple]

Please, does anyone have a source or know of a good substitue for Pearsall's Gossamer #10 ash silk ?

I don't have any so it is difficult for me to figure out what color is close?

thanks

gary

[JohnP]

You could try here:
http://www.flyhookfiller.se/flugbindnin ... ullar.html

I purchased some Pearsall's on wooden spools from him a few years back. If you email him, he is pretty good about replying, and his English is much better than my Swedish. The ash is more brown than I would have expected.

[narcodog]

Give Great Feathers a call they carry Langley's which is just as good and nearly the same. The only difference is the name.

[letumgo]

Here is a link showing a substitute for a couple of the harder to find colors. They are not silk, but still should work okay.

http://www.flymphforum.com/viewtopic.ph ... Ash#p32765

[gmwhipple]

when I followed the suggestions offerred up, I stumbled upon http://www.flytyingshop.co.uk/default.asp

I corresponded with folks and found they have a langley silk that is a match for the pearsall's #10. Here is their comment :

"Yes the Pearsall's 10 ash/smoke and our silk no 10 are as perfect match as possible in colour. We dye original 'white' Pearsall's silk purchased directly from them. The dyers have used a spectrometer to match the colours almost exactly.

As you probably know with the original Pearsall's silks there is quite a colour variation within a stated colour. This is because as they dyed the silk the colour became less strong the more silk was dyed. So silk dyed at the beginning of the batch are the 'original' colour whereas silk at the end of the batch is usually much lighter. We have used original spools of silk from the beginning of the batch to match the colour of our new silk.

Also just to let you know that Pearsall's have stopped production (discontinued) of their Gossamer silk so when we run out we cannot get anymore."

[Rolfj]

This should help with the color..... Good luck!

http://flytierspage.com/temp_pix/pearsa ... _chart.pdf

[Mataura mayfly]

http://www.britexfabrics.com/notions/th ... hread.html

Not the "best" colour chart, but "Grey 108" may not be too far away. Would be nicer in 100 weight like the YLI silks come in, but it is a three ply thread that is easily separated if needed.
Britex have a good online ordering/shipping system in place and hold good stocks of the 4th floor of their premises in San Francisco if you are able to pay them a visit.