touch dubbing

[ickypimp]

Hello all

I have been focusing on tying north country spiders of late i am happy with the overall profile i can achieve now, the proportions of my flies look good, they are neat and tidy ( though the jackdaw nape feathers for the dark watchet are murder to work with)

i am having problems with the touch dubbing, i seem to end up over egging the pudding or with nothing at all.. where am i going wrong

Taalking of the dark watchet, how do you tie yours ... i have bed laying down a bed of purple pearalls then ribbing with the hot orange, but i read the other day about twisting the two threads together...

[chris68]

For the touch dubbing, use wax, although if you are using pearsalls silks then you will already be using wax to protect the silk? then what I do is to get whatever dubbing you need and touch it onto the silk, then twist slightly between your finger and thumb, wind on the dubbed silk and at this point, strip out any excess dubbing between your fingers. this should leave a dusting of the dubbing with the silk showing through.

Fot the 2 coloured silk bodies, I have always twisted the silks together and wrapped them, you can rib it but I always though the twisted bodies looked better

Chris

[BRUCE1]

icky..

http://www.btinternet.com/~thejimsmith/Pritt.html

have a look down the list to small dark watchet...

[ickypimp]

I dont tend to wax the thread, i find the flies dont last long enough to justify it... i think i just need to practice more...i have no problem applying dubbing it is achieving that transluscent buggy effect on a spider i seem to be having issues with...

[chris68]

The silk in all the dressings need wax, whether the fly doesn't last shouldn't matter, the wax helps and it protects the silk which is the purpose of waxing the thread.

Also, you wax primrose silk to get the Greenwell spider body, it alters the colour a little

It is worth doing

Chris

[ickypimp]

Originally Posted by barbusbruce

icky..

http://www.btinternet.com/~thejimsmith/Pritt.html

have a look down the list to small dark watchet...

thanks for that, there are different dressings in edmonds and lee,

[chris68]

Icky,

They have different dressings for the partridge and orange as well, one with gold wire and one without

Chris

[ickypimp]

yes i know chris... and i tend to dress both.. dependant on how lazy i am feeling

It was more a casual enquiry there is nothing wrong with my watchets just wondered how others dressed them

[chris68]

Yep, I dress them both ways, some people want the rib and some don't, picky!!

[ickypimp]

well i spent an hour at the vice and the touch dubbing isnt as bad as i remembered, i dubbed then picked out....

i also tied some little dark watchets, some ribbed some twisted... i like ribbed and alternative dressings suggested waterhen/coot undercovet, i prefer the jackdaw neck inspite of the softness of the feathers