Shiny black dubbing

[Alc609 0]

I’m trying to find a shiny black dubbing for dry flies, I’ve used Superfine, Fly Rite, and others, but all seems dull. I’m not looking for sparkling like ice dub, just a shiny finish body. Any suggestions?

[flytire 0]

shiny black dubbing fly tying - Google Search

[niveker 0]

Good question, just checked what I have and as you said, it's all a bit dull.

[FIN-ITE 34 0]

Antron Sparkle Dub or Polar Dub.

[hopperfisher 0]

11 hours ago, Alc609 said:

I’m trying to find a shiny black dubbing for dry flies, I’ve used Superfine, Fly Rite, and others, but all seems dull. I’m not looking for sparkling like ice dub, just a shiny finish body. Any suggestions?

Lite Brite...

https://hareline.com/items?line=Lite+Brite&category=Dubbing

remember though, your eyes don't see things the same as a fish and everything changes when the fly gets wet...also, fish can see parts of the light spectrum that we can't (i.e. UV and IR)...products like Superfine and others seek to capitalize on this fact by adding things to their  blends that enhance reflectivity that we can't see while sitting at the vise, take your flies outside on a sunny day and inspect them closely, I think you'll find an amount of shimmer you couldn't see in artificial light...all that said, if you're are happy with the fly you will fish it longer and with more intent, but the fish really don't care near as much as we do...tie what you like, fish it hard, and repeat...another thought, for some patterns I use cheap poly yarn blended in a blade style coffee grinder, it has a surprising amount of shimmer when out in the sun, there are also yarns at the craft store that are very shimmery...show us some of your flies and we can let you know some more targeted suggestions

2 rules for fly tying

1. Your hook, your rules

2. HAVE FUN! 

Cheers!

[Alc609 0]

41 minutes ago, hopperfisher said:

Lite Brite...

https://hareline.com/items?line=Lite+Brite&category=Dubbing

remember though, your eyes don't see things the same as a fish and everything changes when the fly gets wet...also, fish can see parts of the light spectrum that we can't (i.e. UV and IR)...products like Superfine and others seek to capitalize on this fact by adding things to their  blends that enhance reflectivity that we can't see while sitting at the vise, take your flies outside on a sunny day and inspect them closely, I think you'll find an amount of shimmer you couldn't see in artificial light...all that said, if you're are happy with the fly you will fish it longer and with more intent, but the fish really don't care near as much as we do...tie what you like, fish it hard, and repeat...another thought, for some patterns I use cheap poly yarn blended in a blade style coffee grinder, it has a surprising amount of shimmer when out in the sun, there are also yarns at the craft store that are very shimmery...show us some of your flies and we can let you know some more targeted suggestions

2 rules for fly tying

1. Your hook, your rules

2. HAVE FUN! 

Cheers!

What got me to looking at this was a fly that landed on my chair outside the other day, the fly was black and shiny. I’ve mix several dubbing’s in my coffee grinder but just can’t get that dubbing ease with it. How long do you cut your yarn piece’s ?

[Alc609 0]

4 hours ago, niveker said:

Good question, just checked what I have and as you said, it's all a bit dull.

[Alc609 0]

All the blacks I’ve found are dull looking, and if you add something to make it sparkle, you get bulky and leggy. 

[chugbug27 0]

Shine without sparkle is a tough one. I would think any shiny dubbing is going to sparkle more than it shines. Mylar-based dubbing and trilobal-based dubbings both shine / sparkle, maybe a combo. You can wind both tight; they have long, thin fibers.

Maybe instead just do a black thread or black flashabou body and coat it with shhn or uv? If the coating is too heavy for your dry fly purposes maybe do a black uni floss body or black flashabou (or black holographic mylar), with no protective coat.

Veevus also makes a black body quill you might try, and semper fli makes a black perdigon body material.

[WWKimba 0]

It's not really dubbing and it's a bit old school but have you tried acetate floss?

Kim

[Alc609 0]

1 hour ago, WWKimba said:

It's not really dubbing and it's a bit old school but have you tried acetate floss?

Kim

No but that is a thought 

[Alc609 0]

1 hour ago, chugbug27 said:

Shine without sparkle is a tough one. I would think any shiny dubbing is going to sparkle more than it shines. Mylar-based dubbing and trilobal-based dubbings both shine / sparkle, maybe a combo. You can wind both tight; they have long, thin fibers.

Maybe instead just do a black thread or black flashabou body and coat it with shhn or uv? If the coating is too heavy for your dry fly purposes maybe do a black uni floss body or black flashabou (or black holographic mylar), with no protective coat.

Veevus also makes a black body quill you might try, and semper fli makes a black perdigon body material.

Guess I should say smooth and shiny, or smooth like superfine. The Mylar added dubbings are harder for me to get to lay down

[hopperfisher 0]

2 hours ago, Alc609 said:

What got me to looking at this was a fly that landed on my chair outside the other day, the fly was black and shiny. I’ve mix several dubbing’s in my coffee grinder but just can’t get that dubbing ease with it. How long do you cut your yarn piece’s ?

I actually use latch hook yarn, it's just poly yarn pre-cut and in smaller packages, I find it at thrift stores and craft stores...it starts out about 2" long and I cut it into 3rds and fray it out...now you can make a decision, keep it long for more of a wound wool look, you can tear it, rip it and blend it by hand or blend it in your grinder using only a couple of pulses...too much and you'll cut so small it won't dub onto your thread, you just want to blend it and fray some of the individual fibers so they will sorta "velcro" together to make a nice tight noodle, when you dub it on remember, LESS IS MORE! Additionally, you can grind up a bit of flashabou, midge flash, etc. or any sort of thin, clear, pearl material you can find then add your poly yarn and tap it...then pull it out and pull it apart and lay one piece on top of the other, pull it, lay it, continue...

Earlier I mentioned Lite Brite...I think that will be your best bet if you need it quick with not too much experimentation, it's taken me some time to figure it out

[hopperfisher 0]

Right when I hit submit, I remembered I got this kit sometime ago from the other side of the Pacific on the super cheap site, it's a rough equivalent to what your wanting, I've used for a couple of stoneflies some months ago...if you want something shipped from the USA, get the Lite Brite to tie with it for now and keep experimenting with blending!

[SBPatt 0]

I cut cheap, craft store acrylic yarn into 3/4” pieces and run them through the coffee grinder.  Works great as dubbing on dries down to #14’s; anything smaller and I usually use rabbit.

Regards,
Scott