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Brian Brown75

What is the wierdest material you've ever used?

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:D I currently use several dozen exotic fingernail polish colors for some baitfish patterns.My wife is a cosmatoligist so I have acess to alot of interesting materials at a reduced cost. :rolleyes:

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Bald eagle cape, almost as good as whooping crane, but the best is California condor............

 

 

 

I really did use the eagle feathers, found it dead where I duck hunt.

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Not exactly weird, but good and cheap one; a site recipe recomended organza for a spent wing trico. I asked the wife to pick some up at the craft store and she came home with square yard. I haven't done the math but I could probably make near 7.6MM tricos with the square yard. Want some?

 

It works well and is real cheap. Little touchy to tie but easy nuf with an X crossover. You can tie in various wings with it.

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ive got some llama hair a friend brought in for me that was in a baggie.

 

i was pleasantly surprised..............musta been a clean llama because it didnt smell at all. certainly better than the suspect dubbing that comes from the family dogs.

 

so..............i got the market cornered on llama dubbing.

 

anyone got a pattern that calls for that? light creme/tan color.

 

happy holidays all.

 

camoham

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Pantyhose, spandex jogging pants, sequined evening gown, shoe brush, puka shell necklace, woven jute belt, braided leather belt, assorted items of clothing from the thrift store, make-up bag, bootlaces, green stretchy cloth for which I have no name, skipping rope, twist-ties, the list goes on.

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Dorito packet cut into strips (I'm not happy about the new orange packs...wrong shade!!). Brown balloons for nymph backs. Christmas tinsel, I found some really narrow mother of pearl a few years ago which is perfect for ribbing.

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i jacked some tinsel off a dollar store display once :hyst: :shifty:

 

probably the weirdest material i've ever used is white chihuahua tail hair (i used it as a calf-tail substitute)

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the streamers off the handlebars of a kids bike for flashback nymphs found them on the ground in yellowstone they are just the right width and they work.

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Central/Eastern European tiers just got used to observing their surroundings and consuming any material to tie new patterns, some of them killing.

I gues you've heard about the pig's bladder and the famous Polish Nymph based on it? Catgut (natural surgery thread) is just as good, and much easier in use...

Other nymph 'cult materials' are smoked mackerell skin, eelskin etc. (I use the smoked lavaret skin :) and, on the other hand, synthetic and protein 'skins' from some kind of sausages etc.

It's a long story.

There's a bunch of materials in any haberdashery: myriads of beadheads of different colours and sizes, sparkling ribbons for streamer bodies and ribbings, synthetic lines suitable for synth/mixed dubbing and even some great hairwing/pike flies (after unbraiding, combing out and trimming/shaping), organza ribbon (you can yield a pseudo-hackle and a nice 'base thread' out of a single piece), sequins for baitfish patterns (eyes), clear and coloured vinyl/lycra ribs for a penny and so on, so on...

And that was only about haberdashery - and only a fragment in that branch. The world offers new, and sometimes fantastic materials everywhere you look. It's the whole science :)

My favorite "flyshop" ever is called 'Costa' and it is a "Christmass articles" wholesales" in Wrocław, Poland (they also rend greeeeat lymuzines for special occassions :)

 

And what about MY weirdest material ever used? Well, it is definitely NOT the 'cat dubbing' because this is my regular dubbing! Just as eelskin, foamed packing materials etc.

Among the weirdest, I could mention the Lithuanian bison dubbing (dyed in wood stains - great for bigger salmon patterns) and the onion skin, suitable for dying (nice yellow/amber/apricot color) but also for scud's shellback, as they say...

(I've used it only for dying so far).

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