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Dry fly dubbing with flash?

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I am looking for a dry fly dubbing that has a little flash like mylar that will dub down to 20, any suggestions? I was considering the Alpaca that Sybia has. Does not need to be a true dry as long as it floats with floatant. Let me know if you have any suggestions?

 

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Spirit River Fine & Dry is a superfine dubbing with 5% antron for "added highlights and sparkle" (their words). It's my primary stock of superfine dub. They also offer it in a UV version.

 

Hareline Hare-tron and Hare's Ear Plus each have antron as well. Spirit River has their own version of the latter called Dazl-Hare's Ear.

 

Hareline used to make a beaver dubbing blended with a bit of antron. I haven't noticed it in a while, though.

 

Blue Ribbon Flies markets their Zelon dubbing which is rabbit and zelon.

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I was thinking of taking the Hareline hare-tron and mixing in about 10% of their

pearl ice dub which is mylar for some good float and sparkle

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Indeed my instant reaction was mix your own.

 

If you are using mostly natural materials a coffee grinder is great. If mostly synthetic then the compressed air method is the way to go. Both these methods will produce you a lot of dubbing. You need to mix up quite a bit because you will find it difficult to repeat.

 

I have so far failed to come up with a way to measure small quantities of dubbing to create recipes for various mixes. It's easy if the quantities are large, but not so with small quantities. The best I can do is "add a little at the time until you match this colour".

 

Cheers,

C.

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I am with Crackaig on this. Mix your own dubbing. I have been mixing in a flashy material (SLF is my favorite) with other materials for some time. I suggest that you learn the qualities and characteristics of the various dubbing materials in order to acheive the results that you desire. I have found that SLF mixed in various percentages is a good material to mix with just about any other dubbing medium. You will get a great deal of satisfaction in blending your own dubbing mixes. One word to the wise...Label your mixes along with the recipes for making them so that you can reproduce them if needed. For example: 50% natural rabbit, 40% light brown worsted wool, 10% pearl SLF.

 

Mix coarse spikey furs with fine. Natural hair/fur with synthetic materials. Bright colors with drab. Make highly contrasting mixtures or subtle mixtures. Experiment and most of all...have fun.

 

One word of caution. Don't go too crazy with the flash. A little goes a long way.

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I second Whitlock's SLF and Spirit River Fine and dry dubbing I use a few different types of both. They are both excellent products.

Edit: Whitlock's SLF is based on natural fibers which absorb water. If you use it for dry flies make sure to use floatant on the dubbing when you tie it up.

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Considering that one can float almost anything with the right pattern, you can choose pretty much anything, but I am unaware of a specific dry fly dubbing with flash in it. If you are adverse to making your own mix, and would be willing to settle for hare's ear, there is a Hareline "Hare'e Ice" Dubbing out that is a premix of hare's ear and ice dub. If you are thinking of something more along the lines of Superfine, then you might be able to get away with mixing a bit with something very fine like chopped Angel Hair, although I've not tried this myself. Keep in mind that when mixing in flash materials, a little goes a long ways so add incrementally until you get the right blend.

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Beaver, otter, muskrat and fox are great dry fly dubbings. Mole, mink and weasel are finer. Next be nice to your wife and go to a Joanne's or Hancock's or other specialty yarn shop. They have types of stuff that will blow your mind. Angelina (http://www.winghamwoolwork.co.uk/64-angelina-fibre?orderby=price&orderway=desc) is one type. I love making my own dubbing. I have a pink/grayish fox that has a translucent luminescence to it for Hendrickson's.

 

They make a very fine variegated wool that I steal from my wife often. It will start out a light almost white green and get darker to black then go through the grays to white and then do the same with yellow back to green. Think tie dye in a natural earth tone or even bright colors.

 

I have never bought from that website. I usually steal from wife, but that looks like what she gets from stores.

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I never tried a size 20 on SLF. It is too course for me. I blend by hand if I want a small amount of dubbing, say to tie 6 or so flies. It is very fast and easy. Just lay the dubbing together in tour fingers and keep pulling them apart and restacking, over and over. I got a coffee blender for Christmas that was nicer than the one I had so used it to make dubbing from various materials. I haven't used it in 15+ years. It is more trouble with small amounts than using fingers. But if you want enough to keep on hand, Or make your own with dryer lint, animal fur, yarn, etc., it works great.

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Is there a thread on mixing dubbing on here? Say if I get a squirrel or possum, do I cut all of the hair off of it to mix? Use all of the hair off of the skin? Sounds like a lot of fun mixing and matching.

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I'm sure if you Google mixing dubbing you will get what you want. Dubbing is the underfur, not guard hairs. You can dub a fly with only the underfur and no need to mix. You should get a dubbing rake for most fur. You will want a coffee blender to make dubbing from Yarn. If blending with yarn, such as Antron, you can use a blender if making a lot but it is easier to use your fingers for only a few flies. A little dubbing goes a long way if using it properly.

 

Opossum in the US doesn't have much underfur but the Austrailian Opossum is loaded with underfur. Squirrel is not a popular dubbing but you can make dubbing from any animal. I have dubbing from grizzly and polar bear all the way to chipmonks and moles. I think colorful synthetic dubbling is fun to make but I seldom ever actually use it.

 

Oh... You can also try chopping up some holographic materials, such as tinsel, and blend small amounts into dubbing for some interesting results. Crystal flash is used in some commercial dubbing. Check out a craft store for unusual yarn and stuff. The sky is the limit with creativity.

 

Ed.

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