First principles, Clarice.

[CreationBear]

I thought these starling skins looked neat, especially since yellow dyed starling is the "secret ingredient" of a local favorite fly, Hugh Hartsell's Smoky Mountain Blackbird. (Aaron Ostoj is a great guy to do business with as well.)

http://www.aaronmostojfeathers.com/cust ... thers.html

[Ron Eagle Elk]

Starling is my favorite hackle. I'll be placing an order for some of the dyed stuff just to play with it.

Looks like he does an excellent job of dying the materials, nice vibrant colors.

[CreationBear]

Ray, if I remember correctly, was tying from a bleached and a claret starling skin--some nifty looking patterns, as you might expect. FWIW, the "Blackbird" pattern I mentioned is tied with dyed starling primaries (or tail feathers) split and wrapped, much as the traditional "Yellowhammer" made use of the now (very) illegal Northern Flicker feathers.

I'm still waiting for one of y'all to break out some picric plover, though.

[Mataura mayfly]

Lawrence Finney had one of the best selections of dyed Starling (self gathered and dyed!) that I have seen in a long while and would be willing to ship to the States.

CB, he also has picric dyed...... everything!

[CreationBear]

It's been a while since I visited Mr. Finney's site: the picric polar bear is just about the ultimate "forbidden fruit" for an American, I think.

[Mataura mayfly]

I am pretty sure Mr Finney also has that other no-no in the States........ Heron. Judging by his materials store and tying room I am guessing everything this guy is capable of offering materials wise does not show up on his website....... there was a LOT of stuff in there when I was lucky enough to visit.

[letumgo]

CB - I'll be putting in an order, for some of the dyed starling skins, shortly... Thanks for the link!

[Kelly L.]

I did NOT need to see those feathers...lol. They looked REAL good. I love starling as well. I just wish it wasn't so "fragile".