Mad Scientist
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Posts posted by Mad Scientist
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I've been experimenting on making my own tube bodies for stoneflies and I've been satisfied with some of whatI've created but I'm wondering if any of you have ideas on making your own. Materials, Methods, if you have a link
that would be great!!
Thanks in advance!
Pat
Pat,
Get some sewing, darning needles in various thicknesses, then secure the bottom end into a dowel rod for easy twisting/use. I use Clear silicone to dip the needle in then take dubbing, yarn, any body material and add to the base of the needle (or whatever length body to want) then twist the dowel rod/needle while guiding the dubbing up the needle. A light coat of silicone on the fly body may or may not be needed. Push off needle, put on papertowel and let dry. The silicone keeps the fly together, very durable body that can flex easily. Add tails before the body. You can make bodies as fast as 10 to 12 seconds. Hope this helps!
Mad Scientist
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HiToday for Christmas my dad got me some different kinds of dubbing but I dont know what I would use them for.
They are:
Skeeter Fuzz
Monster Dry
Frawg
Peacock
Halo
Hares Web
Coarse and Wet
Antron
What kind of flies would I use them for and in what situations.
THey came from
www.flytyersdungeon.com
Thanks for any help you might be able to provide.
Charlie
Charlie.
Skeeter Fuzz - Ultra fine dry fly dubbing for smaller dry flies, from #14 to #30.
Monster Dry - Larger fiber dry fly dubbing, #14 and up size dry flies, hoppers, big mayflies, stoneflies etc.
Frawg - A finer diameter dry fly dubbing inbetween Skeeter Fuzz and Monser Dry. Small to large dry flies. #20 and up.
Peacock - A peacock base dubbing for nymphs, use in place of peacock herl. Nymph sizes #14 and up. A coarser dubbing with many colors mixed in for a "Peacock" look. Great for bodies on Wooly Buggers, replaces chenille.
Halo - a fine different type of antron or bright nylon dubbing. A silky feel & look for nymphs and wet flies giving the fly a "halo" effect with a sheen not a brilliance type look. Mix with other nymph dubbing.
Hares Web - Classic rabbit with a touch of antron, nymphs and wet flies all sizes.
Coarse and Wet - A very coarse dubbing for the larger nymphs, dragon flies, stoneflies and larger caddis...more "buggy" look.
Antron - A fine trilobal dubbing for very flashy flies. Best used as an enhancer with other dubbings, mix with rabbit, Frawg etc. giving the dubbing a sparkle effect.
My favorites: Frawg, Skeeter Fuzz and the Mr. Peacock dubbing.
I hope this helps.
Sincerely,
Mad Scientist
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From deep in The Dungeon a very Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah and Happy New Year from Igor, Fronk and myself, the Mad Scientist.
May your thread never break, your dry flies float, streamers run true and the fish always bite. Good health and have a wonderful holiday season and may 2009 be the best ever!
Sincerely,
Mad Scientist
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From deep in The Dungeon a very Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah and Happy New Year from Igor, Fronk and myself, the Mad Scientist.
May your thread never break, your dry flies float, streamers run true and the fish always bite. Good health and have a wonderful holiday season and may 2009 be the best ever!
Sincerely,
Mad Scientist
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Thank you everyone for your kind words and I hope you enjoy the Christmas Boxes. I will make a few more up to fill out requests within this next week, then I most likely will be finished until Fall of 2009 (starting a little earlier in 2009). I will make a few extras, if anyone else is interested, then by mid-week I will remove the Christmas Box page until next year. I try to make a "Universal" box, something for everybody with good colors in the various materials.
Again, thank you and enjoy!
Happy Thanksgiving from deep in The Dungeon.
Sincerely,
Mad Scientist
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Yes,
I am doing some marketing research. It's interesting, on a separate email question that I sent out, replies came in that about 67% use the holes and 33% don't. The after question comments are interesting as well. Honestly, I have never used a dubbing box and some insight would be very helpful as well as any comments. The majority of my tying friends, don't use boxes and if so, they open the lid....it's interesting!
Mad Scientist
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I am interested in your input. Do you use a dubbing box? If so, do you use the holes in the bottom to get dubbing from the box or do you just open the lid and use the dubbing that way or both? Also, the reason why you do it the way you do?
Thanks & I appreciate your input.
Sincerely,
Mad Scientist
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Thanks for your comments. I have addressed the shipping issue so everything will go out the first of November for all pre-orders, plenty of time for Christmas. All products will be labeled. Last year I lost over 20 Christmas Boxes in the mail and scrambled to fill them again before Christmas. I am limiting the number of these boxes at this price to 100 this year. Again thanks for your comments. I have also made FTD a full time endeavor, instead of a part time hobby business.
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I have odd lots of materials, test materials, old stock and experimental colors and products. I save these and give them away to groups. I am keeping a list of places that would like products for their flyfishing/tying clubs and from time to time, send a parcel to them. If interested, please let me know.Sincerely,Mad Scientist -
The easiest way to dye an olive color is to dye the feather a lemon yellow using yellow Rit. Then dip the feather in a black Rit bath(separate bath) and watch closely. This can make a beautiful olive. If you want a slight green, dip the feather then into a Kelly Green bath.
One thing about Rit Dyes...the colors come and go...Gold is no longer available, a mixture of Golden Yellow and Tan can make Gold, Pink is gone, Avocado is gone, Charcoal Gray is Gone, Neon colors gone etc.
Use any yellow dye and dye yellow and any black dye and dip in black..yellow and black make olive! Try this on a neck. Dye a neck deep lemon yellow and dip into black...you can get various shades of a beautiful olive. I make sure the black bath is not strong, so a little time is needed to get the color.
Hope this helps!
Mad Scientist
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I appreciate everyone who has supported FTD. At times my shipping time is slower than I wish and mainly it is due to two things; I am not in The Dungeon all the time as this is a "Fun" business at this point and secondly, since every product is our own line of goods, I have inventory gaps, meaning I have to Make, Dye, Dry and Package all items from the raw product. I blame everything on Igor!
I am getting better this last month or so, and everyone who has ordered toward the latter part of this past week and weekend, your order/s have been sent or are going out via Priority Mail on Monday AM.
If you have any questions, The Dungeon door is always open and feel absolutely free to email me at anytime or if you are in the neighborhood, feel free to stop by, there is always new materials lying around as we are always experimenting with new "Stuff". The Bubbling Cauldrons are bubbling, Dubbing Mixers are whirling and Wrapping Machines are churning. As for Igor and myself, well...two chickens, heads cut off, running around, typical Dungeon days.
Thanks for everything!
Sincerely,
Mad Scientist
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Bleach some of it out and dye it up in various colors. Somewhat similar to Polar Bear after bleaching. Be careful with heat on the hair and on the hide if it has been tanned. Save the underfur when tying with the hair itself and use in blending with other materials. The easiest way to bleach is take some Lady Clairol blonde or similar and work it into the piece of hair as it only takes a short time to bleach out, pheasant skins, grizzly necks/saddles it works on many items. It's fun to play.
Mad Scientist
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If you want black, there isn't any reason to bleach it out as any color/shade can be dyed to black. Bleaching it out defeats the purpose of getting the material dark, black.
Rit dye will work, but an addition of Dark Brown will offset the purple hue that will appear and then it is still frustrating at times. A True Black is a hard "color" to achieve, that's why an acid base dye is preferred, one for protein fibers for hair and hackles. Most spinning and wool shops have various dyes that should work. Personally I use other dyes.
Rit is a salt base dye and is made from 4 different dyes, which why it is pretty universal in dyeing many types of materials. You won't get bright and brilliant colors however with Rit, but they are readily available. Earthtone colors (Black is an exception) can be had using Rit. Even most dyes at spinning shops are not for dyeing Hot and brilliant colors.
Dyeing materials is a lot of fun, frustrating at times, but it gives you the options of dyeing colors you want and in taking "Bad" colors and making them into something you need. It may be the only option you have if time is against you.
For instance, you may want a brown Hoffman saddle and you find a beautiful cream saddle that has hackle in the exact sizes you want, but can not find a brown one. Take the cream one and dye it a beautiful "natural" brown or split it and dye 1/2 brown and 1/2 medium dun. Dyeing gives you options and it's fun.
Mad Scientist
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Rit Black is poor to fair at best when trying to achieve a true black. A dark purple shade or hue seems to be the outcome even after multiple dyeing attempts. Add some Dark Brown even some Dark Green to a Rit black bath and this at times will offset the purple. The best way is to use an acid base dye, many spinning/fabric shops usually have something like this available.
If not, let me know as I use an excellent dye that penetrates protein materials and others into a deep true black quickly. Also try to dye materials from dark items, never use white (waste) if possible. I like to dye items either an orange or chartreuse color if I am using white or cream before dyeing it black. I get a real midnight black when doing this. Add a tablespoon of white vinegar or a few drops of glacial acetic acid into the bath for dye penetration.
If the feathers are strung you can actually boil them in the dye bath making sure the feathers don't cling to the sides...this can be done with marabou as well for any color. I let the strung feathers boil for a few minutes, turn heat off and then cover and let sit for a while letting the feathers absorb the dye. Many times I let the bath sit overnight, if I am not in a hurry.
If you have any questions, let me know and I hope this helps.
Mad Scientist
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Go to: Doug Swisher Madam X. Doug has photo step by step sequence tying instructions and material list to use in the original Madam X. The Hair is Cow Elk, which is far superior in floating than Bull Elk (blonde) and "thicker" than normal whitetail or mule deer and I think is more durable. Cow Elk has basically the same colorations as whitetail deer. I hope this helps.
Mad Scientist
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Go to: Doug Swisher Madam X. You can email Doug directly at [email protected]. Cow Elk works extremely well when doing bulletheads as the hair is stronger than regular whitetail deer, but whitetail deer will work well also. The images look like cow elk on the pattern. Cow elk is darker in color very similar to deer hair. Bull elk is blonde and make nice patterns for a lighter look, just like on Blonde Humpies and Standard Humpies...Bull Elk and Cow Elk.
Deer hair halfway up the side of the hide toward the back is less "Hollow" and will take a beating a little better than toward the belly and has a nice color.
Mad Scientist
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The Fish Guy sells beads in 4 colors and from sizes 2.0mm to 6.0mm in .5mm increments and in lots of 25, 50, 100, 250, 500 and 1000. Prices and quality are excellent and he has coneheads, "Tiemco" style hooks at below wholesale prices.
Hope this helps.
Mad Scientist
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Antron yarn could be a blend (mix) of Antron and any other material made into a yarn form. Antron is a "Tri-Lobal" or 3 sided nylon made by Dupont which is still available. The name Antron is a trademark name used only by Dupont and their distributors.
The same material is made by other manufacturers and it is called "Bright Nylon" and comes in many brightnesses, textures, deniers and etc. I have many types of "Bright Nylon" from various makers as well as from Dupont; extremely fine, coarse, dull appearance, silk like, nice sheen and what most tyers think of Antron...very bright. Take your pick of Bright Nylon. Most shops and wholesalers offer the one type... fine and bright. Some will blend well others do not. Nylon dyes fast and easy. This is a quick overview of Antron (Bright Nylon).
If you want an air bubble...use some clear hot glue and pull any yarn over and under. It's worked before.
Try some shiner and coarser poly yarn as these can have a nice sheen and holds its shape very well as compared to pure nylon yarns. Hope this helps.
Mad Scientist
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I am getting the materials sets for various tying groups together and will be shipping them out throughout next week. These are a buffet of various tying materials, but if you have a preference for certain materials to be used for some species over others just let me know and I will try to gear these sets that way. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Mad Scientist
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River Road Creations (riverroadcreations.com) has some excellent foam and wing cutters for trout, bass, saltwater, etc. The photo below shows one of patterns made from the STP Frog Cutter. The beetle cutters are nice for small to large beetle bodies. They have a tie in tag.
Here is few beetles using the Beetle Cutter...Chunky Beetles
Sincerely,
Mad Scientist
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mrjim,
Email me directly at [email protected] where you want materials mailed to and I will ship some out after the first of the year. Thanks.
I will keep in mind materials for warmwater fish.
Mad Scientist
www.flytyersdungeon.com
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Charlie,
I will make up another set for Alberto and his organization. Just email me directly with shipping information at [email protected] and I will have one ready to ship after the first of the year. It looks as though steelhead is the main area of tying and if this is so, I will concentrate more on these types of materials. Thanks!
Mad Scientist
www.flytyersdungeon.com
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swinks1966,
I will put one aside.
I still may be able to do a few smaller sets of materials as well for some more groups.
Email me your shipping addresses directly and I will send them out in a week or so. Thanks
Mad Scientist
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Wayne SW/MO,
I will put a set aside. Thanks.
Mad Scientist
Blending Dubbing
in The Fly Tying Bench
Posted · Report reply
Get some spray "Static Guard". Just "spit" a little in with the dubbing. Does the exact same as a dryer sheet, but much faster especially when your doing quite a bit of dubbing blending at one time.
Mad Scientist