custom dubbing blending

[blueheron]

Clapped erasers, nice , the nuns were the worst, kick your *** then when you got home, you'd get it again. ..Today it would be child abuse

 

[SBecker]

gaeronf wrote:

SBecker wrote:
Yea, but I can actually tell your mom, and she could literally ground you. Ha

"Mrs. Friedrichs, your son told me I fish with green weenies."

...she'd probably just file for a restraining order.

Yeaaaaaa.....you have thought this out better then I.

 

[mutzinbaugh]

ok, the coffee grinder workds great with the natural animail fur but i am trying to find the right synthetic/yarn to use...one guy earlier said antron dubbing.

what other synthetic material are you guys finding mix well with natural fur?

 

[JeffK]

Any synthetic can work. Commonly use something with microflash to get a flashier blend. If a dubbing has too much coarse hair I blend a little soft fur to make it dub easier. Conversely, can add some guard hairs or coarse sythetic yarn to make dubbing spikier.

Multi color blends always work better than single color blends.

Chop up a nylon or any other synthetic yarn to add a little translucency. Can chop up any yarn you find for some sort of effect or color. Lots of options

 

[lv2nymph]

blueheron wrote:
Clapped erasers, nice , the nuns were the worst, kick your *** then when you got home, you'd get it again. ..Today it would be child abuse

How bout it, back in the day it was just bringing up a child responsibly. Any synthetic should work, you can cut it up to different sizes depending on how and what you want to use it for. You'll have to play with it to find what works for you and what your tying, custom blending is working from scratch you're creating a material you either can't get or can't find. You're gonna break some eggs along the way. If you start out with relatively small batches then once you find the ratio of materials then make a bunch. Hand blending works fine tyers have been doing it that way for years, as have I. I feel you get a much more even blend of colors and materials with this method which is why I stopped doing it by hand many years ago.

 

[blueheron]

As a cross thread reference, fly tyers dungeon sells cheap synthetics that are suitable for blending. Vary the size of the snippets for the look you want. Blend less or by hand for a variegated look, my preference for most nymphs.

 

[DGC]

I am a heavy user of the coffee grinder for dubbing blends, particularly for synthetic yarns, as I am quite particular about color for certain patterns.

Unfortunately, nowadays most hobby stores sell yarns in large skeins for a few dollars and up, whereas I bought 10 yd micro skeins for 33 cents each (just checked price sticker) 10+ years ago (J & P Coats Plastic Canvas).

For dubbing, I find you do not need to separate the yarn plys before blending using the coffee grinder, which makes it very fast and convenient. If you cut each piece so that it is at least 1/2 inch, preferably 2/3 inch, and at most 3/4 inch, you will have optimized the result for dubbing. An on for a second, then off pulse to the grinder to get them started, followed by some longer pulses gets it thoroughly blended.

As to tying with these yarn blends, thread choice is very helpful here. A flat, slippery thread such as Danville or UTC is not as grippy as UNI.

Much like dubbing with ice dub, it is important to twist the dubbing on the thread for every wrap with your hand held close to the hook. It is not like twisting some rabbit on the thread a few inches and then wrapping. Not easy to explain. It can be like tying with African goat or seal fur.

For blending yarn with natural fur, you would want to do some blending of the yarn first, then throw in the fur to finish. I have to say I am not a fan of these yarn/fur blends even though quite a few companies sell them and tyers like them. On the other hand I blend natural furs all the time, usually by blender but sometimes by hand along the lines Blueheron mentions and for the same reason.

Lastly, though most of what I use is 100% acrylic yarn, there are considerable differences among them as to amount of softness and translucence or sparkle. If you see someone at the craft store strangely holding a six-inch strand of yarn to the lights to examine it for specks of brightness or sparkle, or fondling it in his fingers to evaluate texture, it's probably me and I am not a nutjob.

 

[Rolf]

I tried this last week for the first time and it worked pretty well....
http://hatchesmagazine.com/blogs/Hatches/2011/11/21/mixing-your-own-dubbing-by-juan-ramirez/

 

[just_jon]

I've been using two wire dog brushes like these.

 

[mutzinbaugh]

thanks again everyone...

this morning while the little one was sleeping i started a batch of fox with light and dark pink, yellow, and orange. the result was exactly what i was looking for. just used old cheap yarn that has been in my junk material box for 20 years.

now i am going to try mink next and if trapping season is not over i will get me a muskrat.

do you guys think that muskrat fur is good for nymphs?

 

[Heritage-Angler]

mutzinbaugh wrote:
do you guys think that muskrat fur is good for nymphs?

Oh yeah. The muskrat nymph is a Central PA classic. If you pick out the sides, it also makes a good cressbug immitation.

http://www.flyfishersparadiseonline.com/product_p/wn07.htm

Blend 75% muskrat with 25% gray squirrel.

 

[JeffK]

I'll agree - muskrat has been one of my favorite dubbing furs for years. Just muskrat fur dubbed on a hook - no tail, no shell, no rib - is a very effective fly. I like 25% gray to cream synthetic to make it a little more translucent. the squirrel makes it spikier. It is also easy to find free trimmings from trappers or furriers.

I'll show my age. Back in the 60's there really weren't any fly shops around and many materials had to be obtained locally - usually from a hunter or trapper. Muskrat was a prime dubbing back then, with bleached muskrat used for lighter flies. Bucktails and pheasant tails were also popular and grizzly hen capes came more from a retired layer than Metz, etc.

Of course muskrat is the original head dubbing for the Al's Rat - a PA fly and a hard to beat midge pattern. A pinch of synthetic will make the head glow a little more IMHO. The Al's Rat works best with a touch dubbed head that you hardly know is there. A very light touch dub on a silk thread also makes a great body for a soft hackle or emerger. Less is more - you just want to create a translucent look with the color of the thread showing through.

 

[mutzinbaugh]

ok now i need to find me a muskrat. al's rat, sow bug, etc...i need to get a bigger box.

actually i have been working on a sow bug pattern for a while now and still am not happy with the results, maybe i ought to dumb it down like the one in the video, kiss is what they say.

 

[lv2nymph]

Where in central Pa. you at Mutz?

 

[JeffK]

Another dumb "sow bug" pattern - a gray Honey Bug on a 12 or 14 hook. KISS

 

[mutzinbaugh]

i meant no disrespect about dumbing it down, i just tend to put too much into my flies and the simple ties seem to work just as well...

do you have a pic of the grey honey bug jeff?

 

[mutzinbaugh]

lv2nymph, pm sent... basically upper dauphin county

 

[FrequentTyer]

I really like muskrat and use it in a lot of patterns. But while we are on the topic of dubbing, I just picked up a beaver skin and can't believe how great this stuff is for dubbing. The hide is packed with dense underfur and it spins into a beautiful dry fly body. I haven't tried dying it yet, but I would bet it takes color well. It is probably too smooth to be useful alone on nymph patterns, but would likely make a great base for building a spikey blend. The skin wasa slightly damaged item (not good for furs, great for flys) circular and almost 3 feet in diamater, so for $8 I have a lifetime supply.
Mike.

 

[mutzinbaugh]

FrequentTyer wrote:
I really like muskrat and use it in a lot of patterns. But while we are on the topic of dubbing, I just picked up a beaver skin and can't believe how great this stuff is for dubbing. The hide is packed with dense underfur and it spins into a beautiful dry fly body. I haven't tried dying it yet, but I would bet it takes color well. It is probably too smooth to be useful alone on nymph patterns, but would likely make a great base for building a spikey blend. The skin wasa slightly damaged item (not good for furs, great for flys) circular and almost 3 feet in diamater, so for $8 I have a lifetime supply.
Mike.

frequent tyer, do you have a recipe for olive dye? i was thinking about how to make olive dubbing...shoot a mink, mix the right rit dye, and there you go...

 

[FrequentTyer]

mutzinbaugh wrote:
frequent tyer, do you have a recipe for olive dye? i was thinking about how to make olive dubbing...shoot a mink, mix the right rit dye, and there you go...

You have to do some small batches and adjust to get the olive you want. My starting point for a small batch with Rit is the following:
4 parts yellow
1 part kelly green
2 parts dark brown
1/2 cup water
about 1 tablespoon white vinegar

A "part" is about 1/8 teaspoon. I have a little scoop that is about that size. everything but the vinegar gets microwaved in a glass jar for 1 minute, then stirred to get everything dissolved. I then microwave til it just begins to look like it will boil. Add vinegar, add material and move it around every few minutes. Pull out after maybe 10 minutes and rinse in cold water. If you want darker then put back in for another 5 min. You can reheat if needed, but I will usually only do that once.
Make sure the material is clean to start. If it is "raw" I will hand wash it with Dawn or Tide and rinse well. Also be sure to pre-wet the material in hot water first to help avoid blotching and to keep the dye from cooling too quickly.
Obviously the approach here is more art than science. I'll usually dye a small hide patch or a bundle of feathers and play around with time and amount of the different colors till I get what I want before scaling up to a large batch.
Mike.