Pearsalls Color Chart

[daringduffer]

Some of the silk sold lately comes from a project in recreating the correct shades by Langley and it is my opinion that the result is a bit off, compared to the silk sold on wooden spools. I seem to remember that Phil Holding from Fly Tying Boutique was involved in this project. Disclaimer; I haven't compared spools in hand. I just wonder if the number 5 Lemon yellow in PhilA's photo could come from that dye lot. I seem to remember that they changed the name of number 5 from Yellow to 'Lemon Yellow'. I'm old, and my memory has bad days. Use salt liberally.

dd

[tie2fish]

The following link will take you to a post in the Reference Material section of this forum, which in turn will allow you to download a pdf document showing a Pearsall 's silk reference presentation put together several years ago by a couple of our currently active members (Ray "Letumgo" Tucker and Stefan "daringduffer" Thorsen) and the originator of the forum Mark Libertone. Hopefully this will shed some additional light on the topic.

viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1863

[PhilA]

Yes, No.4 and No.5 could be switched, but it would have been a clerical error of at least three different vendors. That is possible. Like all Gossamer spools, The suspect spools did not have numbers on them, only the vendor’s assurances.

The spool I have the highest confidence in is No.4-H, because I received it directly from Langley’s.

I’m away from home for the next few days, but will compare my spools with online photos upon returning home. I would like to sort this out. If needed, I would gladly mail spools to someone for comparison to a reliable reference collection. Many thanks, Phil

[joaniebo]

Here's another Pearsall color chart. I don't remember if I had scanned it or if someone sent the pic to me a bunch of years ago.

[daringduffer]

Phil, you are quite right, somebody in the chain may have mixed up the spools, even my spools, but those in my reference collection that Bill linked to match my Pearsall Reference Chart with actual silk, just like the one John scanned and showed in the first post in this very topic. On my screen the scanned colours are somewhat off but that might be due to me using an old laptop (Thinkpad X200). Modern calibrated screens will probably do a much better job, if the input is good. Me, I just check my chart .

dd

[William Anderson]

such a fantastic thread. (no pun). I'm not sure why, but the subject of Pearsall's silk is one of my favorites. Thanks, John, for scanning your card. I'm not sure where I got mine, obviously the extraordinarily generous offering of a friend and when I recall who gave it to me, I'll feel like a heel for not having that someone like that as part of my nightly prayers and blessings.

As far as the yellows go, they give me a headache as well, but the colors on the cards are quite clear, the #5 being much darker than #4. Count me in as one who wishes these spools were marked as well. As tough as the yellows are, I have a terrible time with #6, #11 and #20. between these three colors on the cards and the number of spools I have of each, both wooden and plastic, I think I have 7-8 shades in a range. Seems kind of arbitrary to put some of these in one group or the other.

What a cool and seemingly definitive conversation on these threads.

BTW, if you ever get the chance to hear Rob Smith go on and on about the silk industry in the North Country over the centuries, it's very compelling. As John said, it makes the nuances of silk shades irrelevant and highly important at the same time.

[bearbutt]

The packaging changed too, first small cardboard boxes of several different types, then plastic covered boxes. Plastic tubes were used for a while also in the 1990's.

This is a terrific thread--and it's about time I started sharing some stuff with everyone here.

John's right, the packaging changed--these green boxes were used for a while, though I dont have the years for them:





Happy to join you guys,
bb

[daringduffer]

bb, many of my late aquisitions from EMTE/Flyhookfiller came in those plastic tubes that were marked with number on an oval 'sticker' that had a tendency to fall off. No big deal since there were differently coloured spools in the tube .

William,

BTW, if you ever get the chance to hear Rob Smith go on and on about the silk industry in the North Country over the centuries, it's very compelling. As John said, it makes the nuances of silk shades irrelevant and highly important at the same time.

This was very well put. Since fly fishing isn't about catching fish but about wisely spending time until we end up six feet under, making the time worthwile, no detail is too small to ponder. Whether irrelevant or important, you just take your pick. You can even make it important today and irrelevant next week, when you have run out of number 8, purple. (Do you remember that Otter tied his Black Spiders with purple silk late in his forum carreer and thought it was an improvement. Blasphemy?).

dd

[Greenwell]

DSC00924.JPG (274.6 KiB) Viewed 120485 times

Yellow Pearsalls Box. Notice the lift tab to make it easier to remove the spools from the box. (Yes, it's a full box of 6b.......)

[Theroe]

The packaging changed too, first small cardboard boxes of several different types, then plastic covered boxes. Plastic tubes were used for a while also in the 1990's.

This is a terrific thread--and it's about time I started sharing some stuff with everyone here.

John's right, the packaging changed--these green boxes were used for a while, though I dont have the years for them:





Happy to join you guys,
bb

Joe - welcome! Great to hear from you, and have you with us!
Dana