Silly tying with floss (dental) question

Mike wrote:

If you want to use this to colour with markers etc, then use unwaxed,
as it will not take the colour properly otherwise. The same applies to
dyeing it. I have used it a lot in the past for forming under-bodies
on some flies, but I don't use it much any more now.

I liked the color effect I got using waxed, as some of the ink
rubbed off right away, but it retained enough to give a nice muted
color. But I'll try it with unwaxed to see how it looks.

Does waxed versus unwaxed have any effect on flotation? In
general, does it tend to float when used for mayfly bodies?

How you manipulate it is important. Keep it flat for "forming" shapes,
and twist it tight for segmentation etc.

Yeah, I was playing around with different effects. I was thinking
it would be a cheap alternative to some other body materials used to
give segmenation such as biots.


Chuck Vance (OK, so it's not about money as much as I just like
playing around with different ways of tying)

On Jan 16, 2:23 pm, wrote:
Mike wrote:
If you want to use this to colour with markers etc, then use unwaxed,
as it will not take the colour properly otherwise. The same applies to
dyeing it. I have used it a lot in the past for forming under-bodies
on some flies, but I don't use it much any more now.

I liked the color effect I got using waxed, as some of the ink
rubbed off right away, but it retained enough to give a nice muted
color. But I'll try it with unwaxed to see how it looks.

Does waxed versus unwaxed have any effect on flotation? In
general, does it tend to float when used for mayfly bodies?

How you manipulate it is important. Keep it flat for "forming" shapes,
and twist it tight for segmentation etc.

Yeah, I was playing around with different effects. I was thinking
it would be a cheap alternative to some other body materials used to
give segmenation such as biots.

Chuck Vance (OK, so it's not about money as much as I just like
playing around with different ways of tying)

If the flies are treated with a decent floatant, and have decent
hackles etc,then they float well enough. I can´t say I noticed any
difference between waxed and unwaxed in this regard. Latterly I always
used unwaxed anyway. I have not tested it, but I would expect the
waxed stuff to float better initially at least, as it is simply more
waterproof.

The main problem with colouring the waxed stuff is that quite a few
floatants just dissolve the colour off it. If you use liquid "dip"
type floatants, this can cause other problems as well, When you dip
other flies in it, they get coloured by it! The colour does not
actually soak in to the waxed stuff, as you have noticed, it just
colours the wax on the surface.

TL
MC

Mike wrote:

If the flies are treated with a decent floatant, and have decent
hackles etc,then they float well enough. I can't say I noticed any
difference between waxed and unwaxed in this regard. Latterly I always
used unwaxed anyway. I have not tested it, but I would expect the
waxed stuff to float better initially at least, as it is simply more
waterproof.

That was my expectation as well.

The main problem with colouring the waxed stuff is that quite a few
floatants just dissolve the colour off it. If you use liquid "dip"
type floatants, this can cause other problems as well, When you dip
other flies in it, they get coloured by it! The colour does not
actually soak in to the waxed stuff, as you have noticed, it just
colours the wax on the surface.

Got it. I pre-treat my flies with Watershed, and while it didn't
seem to dissolve any of the color, it did alter it a bit. (In a good
way, as it turned out, as it made the yellow look more like a
"sulphur" yellow, which is what I was after.)

I'll test them on the water as soon as I get a chance to see how
they float, and how they react to Frog's Fanny, which is the only
onstream "floatant" I use.

Thanks for all the links you provided as well. I've been searching
some myself, but that made it a lot easier for me.


Chuck Vance

On Jan 17, 3:02 pm, Conan The Librarian wrote:


Although I used to dye a large number and amount of materials, I no
longer do much dyeing, as I have found that the majority of materials
can be coloured very well indeed using various marker pens.

Even though the really good pens ( Like these ; http://www.dickblick.com/zz213/42/
http://www.tradeprintsupplies.co.uk/...ne_markers.php )

are quite expensive, they still cost a lot less time and money than
dyeing stuff in the conventional manner. One may also easily dye small
amounts of material easily and quickly, and this means that one can
produce a large range of hackles for instance, with a single grizzly
cape and the pens. Or a partridge skin, etc etc.

This is far less wasteful than dyeing capes and skins, or even a hand
full of feathers etc. Also means you need far fewer materials in
total. Often, an amateur dresser only need a dozen or so feathers of a
particular colour, or a couple of yards of coloured thread etc etc. It
is easy to make this as required using the pens.

For optimal dyeing of materials with the pens, you should still wash
and dry the materials to be dyed, as the results are a lot better.
Varios pens also give different results with regard to colour,
permanence, fastness, etc.

For anybody starting out for instance, I would definitely recommend
this method over buying loads of different coloured materials, or
dyeing stuff oneself in the conventional manner.

TL
MC