Fabric Cement and the Streaker Variant
 

....or is it the Streaker Deviant? It's fly tying season anyway.

http://montana-riverboats.com/streaker.php

Fabric Cement and the Streaker Variant
 

wrote:
...or is it the Streaker Deviant? It's fly tying season anyway.

http://montana-riverboats.com/streaker.php



Do you use the netting on the flies just for more durability?

From your discussions of foam, I've been experimenting with more
buoyant foams. I agree with you that the craft foams most used don't
float well. However, it's hard to find lighter foams and even harder to
find them in colors. The only source I've found is in packing material
that I get when things I buy online are shipped to me. Here's a photo of
the best I've found, however, I've only found it in clear and bright
pink and I'm unable to color it with permanent markers.

http://www.crystalglen.net/Fishing/foam2.jpg

Do you have suggestions?

Willi

Fabric Cement and the Streaker Variant
 

Lightweight closed-cell foam (for dry flies) is an exasperating
problem. The stuff exists, in multiple colors, but you have to
buy huge quantities at wholesale prices to get it.
I bought $300 worth of ultra-lightweight EVA foam for
boat seat cusions 15 years ago. I don't build boats commercially
anymore. But I do still use the foam for grasshoppers and
stonefly adults, ants, beatles, crickets, etc.

Open-cell foam is good for nymphs and streamers.
Opencell polyurethane foam is mostly used for padding
electronic components in shipping boxes. The best foam
for that purpose is relatively dense. I holds air bubbles
(even though it is open-cell) so it's hard to sink.

The best open cell foam, for making wet flies of any kind,
is the cheapest low-quality mattress foam. It is pretty
close to white when it first gets made, but it yellows quickly
after exposure to sunlight. It can be dyed with Rit dye.

I use cheap mattress foam for stonefly nymphs and
soft streamers (fish tend to chew...to hold on to they fly).

On many of those flies I add a spawn sack cover, for
durability. But it's a pain the vise. So I've been experimenting
with not adding netting.

Fabric cement is good for attaching things, because it
remains soft and flexible (unlike super glue or epoxy).

Soft flies only make sense for big flies.
They don't add much for small wet flies.
I use open cell foam only for big stonefly nymphs
and lure-like streamers.

Fabric Cement and the Streaker Variant
 

ah. I forgot to try to answer your original question.
You posted a link to a photo, of some foam.
If that's a (floating) closed-cell foam it looks
like a dense foam (too relatively heavy for the best dry flies).
I say that because the bubbles are big.
Big bubbles in the foam means more space between
the bubbles, where those spaces get filled by resin.
And the resin in the heavy part. The best floating
closed-cell foam has millions of tiny bubbles.
Bird shot in mason jar is heavier than buck shot
in a mason jar, because (in that case) the spaces
are the light part. But with foam it's the opposite:
the spaces between the spheres are the heavy part.

If that's a (sinking) open-cell foam, well it's hard
to tell from a photo. Softness (if soft to the touch,
and easily compressed) then it tends to be the kind
that most easily (and quickly) soaks up water and sinks
well.
Stiff open-cell foam does not soak up water well,
so it ends up floating too well for wet flies, and not
well enough for dry flies.

Fabric Cement and the Streaker Variant
 

Fabric Cement and the Streaker Variant
 

Yes, you're absolutely right. coloring is a problem.
Open-cell mattress foam is easy to color, with markers
and/or Rit dye.

But I have had *no luck at all* trying to color closed
cell foams. I've tried markers, but the colors just
wash off after a few casts. Rit dye doesn't work
at all.

The real solution would be for the distributors to
finally get smart and distribute the right stuff.
Lightweight closed cell foam *is* available,
in multiple colors, but only in wholesale quantities.

It's a problem I wish would get solved.
It's mind boggling to me, that I bought a bunch of
this stuff 15 years ago........and you STILL can't buy it
retail. I've sent samples to several distributors.
But never even got a response.

Fabric Cement and the Streaker Variant
 

schrieb im Newsbeitrag
oups.com...
Yes, you're absolutely right. coloring is a problem.
Open-cell mattress foam is easy to color, with markers
and/or Rit dye.

But I have had *no luck at all* trying to color closed
cell foams. I've tried markers, but the colors just
wash off after a few casts. Rit dye doesn't work
at all.

The real solution would be for the distributors to
finally get smart and distribute the right stuff.
Lightweight closed cell foam *is* available,
in multiple colors, but only in wholesale quantities.

It's a problem I wish would get solved.
It's mind boggling to me, that I bought a bunch of
this stuff 15 years ago........and you STILL can't buy it
retail. I've sent samples to several distributors.
But never even got a response.


You can spray paint it, with an airbrush and some model paints. This does
not wash off. I use this for some poppers. Have not yet used it for flies,
but no reason why it should not work for them as well.

TL
MC

Fabric Cement and the Streaker Variant
 

Well ok for some popper like things.

But if you want to take advantage
of the soft nature of foam, and, for instance,
wind some hackle onto the foam body, then that
won't work so well, not over a hard painted surface,
that won't dimple as you wind the hackle.

Fabric Cement and the Streaker Variant
 

schrieb im Newsbeitrag
ups.com...
Well ok for some popper like things.

But if you want to take advantage
of the soft nature of foam, and, for instance,
wind some hackle onto the foam body, then that
won't work so well, not over a hard painted surface,
that won't dimple as you wind the hackle.


It stays soft with the right paint.

TL
MC