Custom Mayfly - A bit of trouble.

[Flytyer14 0]

Someone at my church ordered 4 dozen mayflies from me, but he wants me to use stripped quills as the tail and legs. Aswell as the WALLE wing. I'm struggling to strip the quills on my own, and it's too late to buy them as I need to finish the flies in 3 days.

 

On a side note, I'm sorry for disappearing like I did, I don't know if any of the old timers from 2010 are still here, but Hello to any who still lurk. Welcome to all other new tiers!

 

-Mark

[Stippled Popper 0]

Some of us are still here.

 

Welcome back.

[utyer 0]

Well at least two of us. Stripped quills for tails and legs, ok what kind of quills? Stripped hackle quills will work very well as tails and legs, and are easy to do. Don't really see how stripped Peacock eye quills would work. What the heck is "WALLE?"

[Flytyer14 0]

Here's the WALLY wing. http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/fotw2/061702fotw.php

 

And stripped hackle quills.. only I'm stripping them myself. And I can't get all the fibers off.

[riffleriversteelheadslayer 0]

Mark just hold the tip with a pair of tweezers then pull off al the fibers when you get to where the tweezers are just clip it off with sissors

[utyer 0]

Paul has it right, no need to strip it all the way to the tip. Wally Wing, ok now I get it. You should be able to strip all you need pretty quickly. I would use the cheapest hackle I could in the right color.

[Bruce Derington 0]

Yo, did customer give a sample fly, what mayfly are you tying? when I tied commercially (only for shops/guides) I was given a sample fly. tying custom orders can be challenging and is in part why I passed the torch and hung my commercial hat, good luck and happy tying

[Flytyer14 0]

I hate tying for orders I have no sample. But I will strip with tweezers and make the most of this. thanks to all of you. Its really nice to see some familiar "faces".

[mikechell 0]

Someone at my church ordered 4 dozen mayflies from me, but he wants me to use stripped quills as the tail and legs. Aswell as the WALLE wing.

If he knows this much about the materials ... does he tie himself? Is he using you to tie something too hard for him to tie himself? I only ask because I don't tournament fish, or tie flies for money ... both of which turn a hobby into a job. I hope you are getting well paid to do custom flies.

[Flytyer14 0]

I'm sure he'll pay me generously. He already gave me a Nor-vise. But he doesn't tie anymore, no.

[pike man 0]

This link should help with making the wing.http://www.flytyer.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2576&Itemid=85 I unfortunately couldn't find a how-to on making; but I have read the article that it came from. All you need to do is tie the stem down before making the thorax, then pull the fibers of the hackle to the head of the fly and tie them down. I don't know if this is useful to you or not, but the walle wings reminded me of the wings on the secret weapon dun.

[shoebop 0]

Try soaking the quills (hackles) in bleach until the fibers just fall off or are stripped off easily. It usually take 10 to 15 min. Swish them about frequently to test them for readiness. When done, rinse them well and give them a quick bath in vinegar and rinse again.

 

Wally wings are fun to do but I don't think I would want to do them for production work as they are time consuming. Are you doing the split quill variety?

[mybadhabit 0]

Welcome back to the forum, it's been a long time.

 

Blane

[Crackaig 0]

Pike Man, thats not a Wally Wing. Wally wings are made from duck flank feathers. This is a Walley (or pealed) Wing.

 

They are not that difficult to do. If you like I will put up an SbS for them.

 

Cheers,

C.

[flytire 0]

sorry created new topic so this one doesnt get hijacked