Swap Fly

[tie2fish]

A photo posted previously of the Leisenring Pale Watery Dun Wingless pattern I chose for the upcoming 10th Anniversary Swap was tied using synthetic cream Swiss Straw for the body. Since then, friend Lance Hidy has shared with me some of the natural raffia grass that William sent to him, so I am re-doing my swap hatch to conform more closely to the original specs:

Hook: Vintage Edgar Sealey dry fly, Size #14 (thanks to daringduffer for ebay tip )
Thread: Pearsall's Gossamer #3, primrose
Hackle: Light honey dun hen
Tail: Light honey dun rooster hackle whisks
Tag/rib: Fine gold wire
Body: Natural raffia grass

Pale Watery Dun Wingless ~ Raffia Body II.jpg (160.17 KiB) Viewed 7417 times

[swellcat]

It can eat crackers in our beds, anytime.

[letumgo]

It can eat crackers in our beds, anytime.

Best compliment ever!

Bill - That's remarkable. Thank you for putting so much effort into the swap. Every time you do one of these you somehow keep raising the bar. The best part is, I get to see them in person and keep one for myself! Can't wait...

[zen leecher]

two thumbs up!!

[Old Hat]

Can't wait to see that beauty Bill. Fine job!

[fly_fischa]

Stunning tie Bill, you're a master at this fly tying biz and a true inspiration my friend. Can't wait to see this one up close, what a treat...
Karsten

[tie2fish]

Thanks for the positive feedback, guys.

[DOUGSDEN]

Oh my gosh Bill,
Drop dead gorgeous I say! And you have mastered the raffia, the brittle grass! You are the man!
May we see more?
Doug

[William Anderson]

Bill, you've really nailed this one. I tried a dozen times to get an appearance I admired with all the required materials and never really liked the flies, but this looks awesome. Beautiful proportions and the body on this is exceptional. I knew you'd master this grass if anyone could. I'm sure you should have a card of this stuff as everyone seemed to get a card of it a couple years ago when I was fooling with it. The basket weave grade of raffia came on a skein that never seems to change sizes no matter how much I send around.

So, did you take a single strand and split it down the middle to decrease the overall amount? How did you get such a nice taper with this stuff. The book says to either treat the raffia with varnish, or not. On your finished fly it looks fantastic dry, but when wet it's really going to take on a deeper, juicier look. This is fantastic.

This is my attempt at understanding the pattern. It's really nice to have your example of the fly for a reference. Carl tied one that is at the bottom of my thread. Now I'm thinking I need to revisit this.

http://www.flymphforum.com/viewtopic.ph ... ing#p68187

[tie2fish]

So, did you take a single strand and split it down the middle to decrease the overall amount? How did you get such a nice taper with this stuff?

The batch of raffia that Lance sent to me contained a bunch of pieces, ranging in width from a bit over 1/4" down to less than 1 mm. I took one of the wide pieces and cut off two lengths of about 2" each, which I put to soak in a small dish of water. After about an hour they became totally limp and pliable. After some trial and error, the following is how I ended up proceeding:

After wiping the excess moisture from one of these pieces, I use my straight tying scissors to make a cut in one end about 1/8" wide and 3/8" long parallel to one side. Then, while holding the end of the larger piece with one hand, I grasp the small loose end with the other hand and pull straight up, causing the thin strip to split/tear away in a straight line. When tying this piece in on a fly, I fold/roll the end to make it even smaller.

The body taper is built up with thread wraps after the raffia is tied in. The damp raffia is surprisingly strong and pliable, so you can tug on it pretty good while making the forward wraps. It doesn't take long to learn how hard you can pull (I broke a couple during the learning process ) and how much forward tension is required to get the stuff to lie flat.