Bill, I don't mind at all the combination of discussing wax properties along with the dubbings and body materials. It makes for a more integrated discussion and I'm really glad you brought it up. I wish I had taken the time to respond sooner. Better later than never. I have blended mostly natural materials, a few with either antron or wool blends and tried literally dozens of combinations (literally a couple hundred loaded cards) to achieve different body effects, some for the purposes of understanding the materials and results better and some for the specific purpose of creating hatch specific bodies that create an effect that imitates the action, overall texture and color/undercolor results.
One of the reasons for pursuing this tying construction is I'll admit a way of finding a close connection to the history and association with the men who originated the techniques. Aside from the highly effective results fishing the flies, there is something in the way of understanding the men by following their steps. Spinning the bodies, and blending the dubbings has become a very rewarding pursuit in itself. (yada yada) This post could get long, feel free to skip through to the highlights.
I'll post several here. I wish I had a better scanner or camera to get more refined images, but this is what I have. For these cards I have corresponding bodies, but not necessarily photographed each one. And there are dozens of body combinations yet to be scanned. It's all on a long list of things to do. I'll start with a few.
Hare's mask on primrose, a classic blend of mixed textures taken from the pole, ear and touch of cheek to achieve the best texture. It's my attempt to match the Leisenring Spider described by Pete Hidy. More importantly it's the blend that I use most for caddis imitations. 4-5 different shades of hare can be achieved from a single mask to gain the desired effect. this one falls somewhere in the middle.
Hare's Cheek on #3 Primrose. This is a spiky version for tan caddis or a generally attractive lighter flymph.
Hare's Masks 5 (3 dyed masks and 2 tones from a natural mast) blended for a spectral body. For the past 6-7 years this was the blend I used on my most successful flymphs, in a dropped loop before I started spinning so many on the block.
This is the Hare's Mask 5 on Claret on the block. This body with a grouse or woodcock hackle has been one of the most reliable flies I've carried.
Old Blue Dun muskrat on #3 Primrose. Such a classic for Olives.
Iron Blue Nymph, Simply mole on claret. I wish the scan showed the materials more clearly, this seems a misrepresentation of the body, but it's a decent visual.
Tan mole and natural mole on #3 Primrose. Most of my blends combine differing dubbings with shades of hairs that contrast or staple lengths that create longer or shorter "halos" or texture blends. This example simple achieves a consistently soft and lighter multi-use body with a denser body construction.
Mole Blend on #3 Primrose of several dyed mole skins, again a spectral result for versatile flymphs.
This is where the more interesting bodies begin. Blends of ......
.(I have to pick this up in a few minutes...emergency in the kitchen. I love summer!)
Mole/Beaver 50/50. A longer staple to the beaver, a bit more transparency and a slightly lighter shade. It's a very subtle difference from the Old Blue Dun with Muskrat, but it's one of my favorites to use for spinning bodies and tying.
Some of these scans are old and I've come a long way in refining my body construction (density, texture, taper) especially for specific imitations. I've been obsessed with several shades of red fox dubbings, alone or more often blended with other tones and textures. I'll have to scan many of the bodies that I have carded and get some shots of the flies that result.
Largely, I've been using #2 Straw as the silk, or I've taken to white as well for many of the brighter colored (yellows and greens) blends. The effect is really nice when soaked. The results on the stream have been very rewarding. I'll try to follow up on this, if you want, to try to offer some of the different blends. This post is sorely incomplete.
As a side note, I mentioned elsewhere that in Pete Hidy's tying chest, the waxes he was using personally were a three part blend, a block of bees wax and a cobbler's wax. This is his personal tin.
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