Hmm, Hard as Nails and Magic Glass

[iamasmith]

Whilst tying a few flies today to try out my new vice I decided to do a simple blood worm using Veniard Magic glass. Nothing elaborate, just a length lashed to a hook in three places.. then I decided to bind the Magic Glass to the wrapping with some Hard as Nails. It came to hand because I don't have brushes in my other varnishes and I use this a lot when layering coatings.

Immediately I noticed that there was some pink coloration on the brush so I wiped that off quickly to avoid it blooming in the bottle but I then took a look at the Magic Glass and of course the solvent in the Hard as Nails had started to melt the Magic Glass a little making a nice contour on the hook.

This seems logical since Hard as Nails (IIRC) is a Nylon based strengthener so it should have a solvent base that keeps Nylon in suspension. So, I'm now wondering if anybody has exploited this feature to any interesting effect?

Makes me wonder if it would be useful for...

* Softening or making the lines more fluid of a synthetic material.

* Leaching the pigment or completely dissolving Magic Glass to make a pigment flare in the lacquer coating.

Thoughts folks?

-Andy

[hobble]

Try it on a plain hook for buzzers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[iamasmith]

Originally Posted by hobble

Try it on a plain hook for buzzers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The thought had occured to me I'll try a few concoctions to see what comes out.

I need to think about the best way of keeping the colour off the brush first. I don't want to have to keep labelled bottles of contaminated Hard as Nails for specific purposes.

[iamasmith]

BTW: In the name of research don't be shy to post any pics of results on this thread folks ^^

[shuck raider]

It's a technique that's ringing a bell from a long time ago - I think it was Richard Walker who played around with acetone and some sort of synthetic body - Poly Yarn, perhaps - and produced moulded bodies. Maybe someone else can remember more about this, my memory's shot

[paul taylor]

i always use "hard as nails" when tying buzzers or varnished nymphs and dont have any problems with things melting

[iamasmith]

Nah, it needs to be something stronger I think to achieve what I was thinking of.

It does soften the Magic Glass nicely though and because of the general fluidity of the Hard as Nails it makes a nice interesting effect. Here's a test with some lumpy wrappings of thread. Looks a little like a worm's digestive tract.



I think the technique may have it's place somewhere yet though.