Silk & Wax

[Mataura mayfly]

Just me playing with the scanner settings, but all three of these flies are tied with the same silk.
Top left the silk was drawn over a white candle to give a light coat of wax, top right is a paste wax used for leather dressing and bottom was drawn through the same white candle as number 1, but with enough force to cut into the wax and then burnished with the shaft of my rotary hackle pliers.



Light wax leaves the silk near it's original gold colour, paste wax a near tan and the heavy wax burnished is a real olive hue...... not unlike a Greenwells Glory effect. I know the scan isn't great and I should have tied three identical flies, but it does kind of show the effect.

[Roadkill]

MM,
Nice flies! What about adding a 4th unwaxed silk and then giving them all a dunk to see how they change?

[Ron Eagle Elk]

Jeff,

Do you have any dark wax like a Cobbler's wax? I agree on doing one without wax and giving them a test dunk for color changes.

REE

[Mataura mayfly]

I do not have any "proper" cobblers wax, but do have some coloured waxes that I have made up, most of which I am not happy with and I am yet to find a reliable source of cobblers here.

Might start again, tie 4 flies- 3 as above, one a virgin that has not seen wax and all the same shape and size. Then use the camera and not the scanner.

[Boris]

What hackle feather did you use Jeff?

How do you get the silk to sit so flat? Do you unwind it a bit so the strands partly seperate?

[Mataura mayfly]

What hackle feather did you use Jeff?

How do you get the silk to sit so flat? Do you unwind it a bit so the strands partly seperate?

Hackle is Oyster Catcher roadkill breast.
Maybe the scan does not show the silk wraps so well, the only one really flat is the burnished one. I imagine the paste waxed on, the wax filled the voids and gives the appearance of flat wraps. Wasn't planned that way! Silk was just wrapped how it came off the bobbin, no twisting or untwisting involved.

[Mataura mayfly]

Not quite the same results as yesterday, but 4 on the same hook, same materials and pattern. All that changes is the amount/type of wax.



Top to bottom, virgin gold silk, light white candle wax, heavy white candle wax-burnished and paste wax.

The heavy wax/burnished fly went more of a clear sheen over yellow than yesterdays olive, might have been something to do with the colour of hook shank beneath the silk, or the temperature (few degrees cooler today).

[Mataura mayfly]

Same flies, same order...... just wet this time.

[letumgo]

Jeff - Marvelous flies! I love seeing the affect of the wax and then seeing the flies wet. Very cool. I love the look of the Krystal flash, as a tailing material. Just the "right" amount of sparkle. I'll be borrowing that idea...Thanks!

[Mataura mayfly]

Jeff - Marvelous flies! I love seeing the affect of the wax and then seeing the flies wet. Very cool. I love the look of the Krystal flash, as a tailing material. Just the "right" amount of sparkle. I'll be borrowing that idea...Thanks!

Cheers Ray. *note the Mk2 flies do not have the flash.