Prototype no. 1

[stevekale]

First attempt with a new technique. A lot of work to go...

[maharg]

Do tell how its done.

[stuartpengs]

That . .is a cracker Steve!

[oakham orange]

Brilliant Steve Absolutely fantastic.

Interested in the way you do the wings

[hobble]

Wow,.

Some ones gone up a few gears!!!

Fantastic

[stevekale]

Cheers guys. The back end should be reasonably obvious. Synthetic mayfly tails (pale yellow) split with the primrose tying thread (Unithread 8/0). Pale yellow Superfine dubbing, ribbed with (poorly wound) brown Unithread 8/0. Hackle is Whiting "medium ginger" saddle. All on a Tiemco 100 #12.

The wings are what I am experimenting with for the first time. It's Realistic Wing Material shaped with Realistic Wing Burners from J:Son and Co. (They were at BFFI.) You colour the patterned piece of RWM to taste (I needed a grey wing with a pale yellow leading edge - I used too strong a yellow), cover it with blank RWM, trim the edges and then burn. The burn fuses the two edges together and you get a very buoyant wing with hued transparency.

I made the mistake of fusing the two wings together too close to the wing base. I need to leave a greater 'stork' so that when I tie them in they sit a bit higher and make it easier to hackle.

J:son&Co - Home

[A. Fluker]

I also interested in the wing material and the method.

Wing burners?

[urbanflyman]

now thats got that something special to it,,,cheers for sharing it .

[A. Fluker]

Ahhhhh

These are the wacky wing burners from Sweden displayed at the BIFFI.

The effect is very good.

I received a set of the common all garden burners for Christmas but have yet to have a play around. Your result is fabulous.

[benlikestofish]

Your pattern looks great Steve,

However, I've tried this winging method and although they looked great they fished awfully. I tried them on some of my Mayfly prototypes and they made a lot of noise when casting and didn't present well.

I tried a number of materials and found VN waterwing the best as it was the most flexible and thin and didn't burr up so much on the edge (although this can be controlled by pre-shaping the wings first before burning), but I have taken them out of my box and put them down to experience.

The much better use I found for the burners was to shape CDC feathers, with careful placement you can get very realistic looking wings with all the veining that cast and float a treat

Loopy, I have loads of different shaped burners and I'll lend you a few next time I see you.

Cheers
Ben