Silly tying with floss (dental) question

I tie a sunken spinner pattern using floss for the wings. I used a type
of dental floss called glide. It is very easy to tie with and allows
the fly to sink like a stone.


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Howdy,

I was finishing up my flies for the GFS, and got to playing around
tinting some dental floss to wrap as a mayfly body. I remembered
reading about it somewhere in the distant past (here?), but couldn't
recall the particulars. (I'm pretty sure Mike C. mentioned it somewhere
in one of his discussions of tying tricks.)

It makes a nice segmented body, but I haven't had a chance to test
any flies made with it. I tinted it using waterproof markers, but might
want to play around with coffee or tea for darker colors. I used waxed
because that's what I had.

So has anyone here played around with it? Did you use waxed or
unwaxed and why? What did you use to color it? (Arabica? Cold drip?
Decaf?)

:-)


Chuck Vance

On Jan 15, 7:24 pm, Conan The Librarian wrote:
Howdy,

I was finishing up my flies for the GFS, and got to playing around
tinting some dental floss to wrap as a mayfly body. I remembered
reading about it somewhere in the distant past (here?), but couldn't
recall the particulars. (I'm pretty sure Mike C. mentioned it somewhere
in one of his discussions of tying tricks.)

It makes a nice segmented body, but I haven't had a chance to test
any flies made with it. I tinted it using waterproof markers, but might
want to play around with coffee or tea for darker colors. I used waxed
because that's what I had.

So has anyone here played around with it? Did you use waxed or
unwaxed and why? What did you use to color it? (Arabica? Cold drip?
Decaf?)

:-)

Chuck Vance

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.

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

TL
MC

As it may also be of interest, here is some info on dyeing with coffee
and tea;

http://www.twincubs.com/tutorial2.html

You can also use white spirit vinegar to help fix the dye and make it
more permanent.

TL
MC

On Jan 15, 3:58 pm, Mike wrote:
As it may also be of interest, here is some info on dyeing with coffee
and tea;

http://www.twincubs.com/tutorial2.html

You can also use white spirit vinegar to help fix the dye and make it
more permanent.

TL
MC

I have never used dental floss (for fly tying), so dyeing it is beyond
my ken, but I have used Kool-Ade as a dye for many things over the
years. Who knows.......trout might like the smell of cherry KA on a
nymph.

cheers

oz

On Jan 16, 2:33 am, MajorOz wrote:
On Jan 15, 3:58 pm, Mike wrote:

As it may also be of interest, here is some info on dyeing with coffee
and tea;

http://www.twincubs.com/tutorial2.html

You can also use white spirit vinegar to help fix the dye and make it
more permanent.

TL
MC

I have never used dental floss (for fly tying), so dyeing it is beyond
my ken, but I have used Kool-Ade as a dye for many things over the
years. Who knows.......trout might like the smell of cherry KA on a
nymph.

cheers

oz

Possibly, but then again, they may prefer the taste of French roasted
Sumatran espresso? Of course, you would have to dye the flies fresh
on stream.

TL
MC

Using such might also be grounds for a citation!

TL
MC

Might be really good for educated and selective trout though?

TL
MC

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