Darbee Red Dun: when held up to the sun, this hackle glows like a ruby...

Darbee Red Dun: when held up to the sun, this hackle glows like a ruby...

upstatetrout wrote: ↑Wed Oct 31, 2018 7:06 am 1124170952a.jpg


Part of my collection of Darbee paraphonelia.

Tom.

Tom - those are very VERY nice, especially the top center one.........Ive never seen that color! Ivan told me Harry had a lot of "one off" birds, and that may very well be one.

Dana

Darbee light bronze - those long bottom feathers make the best #8-10 Branchie.

and here is a close in view of the small feathers - the color, hue and sheen are as depicted in this photo. And this was BEFORE the hair dye trick so many growers use !

Here is a complete cape (neck & saddle) of Harrys - translucent, with tiny, light flecks....

I like that-unlike other bird else, there appeared to be many usable feathers!
Thanks the post,
Dana

Darbee hackle has two qualities which make it stand out from all others. First, the barbs are limber - plenty stiff enough to float a dry fly, yet supple enough to imitate life when used for a wet. Second is translucence: not all of his hackle has this property, but the ones that do, absolutely glow...

The only three I have used are:
Mullein - yellow.
Beets - scarlet/red.
Black walnuts(now is the time) - browns.

I would like to try this pattern with mullein dyed hackle, to see how well it would stack up - all flies pictured have a very nice hue....

Dana

wsbailey wrote: ↑Wed Oct 10, 2018 3:42 pm Several years ago I grew a natural dye garden. It even attracted a pair of praying mantis which kept the garden bug free. I wouldn't grow any plant that can be readily gathered from wild.

Dye garden- phenomenal! What a great new thread that would be .....