DonO: Maybe you can put the "wet rope dubbing" in our second video, Chuck
----- Original Message ----- From: Don Ordes To: [email protected] Sent: Thursday, December 31, 2009 1:47 AM Subject: Re: [VFB] blending dubbing Joyce, LOL, no rain on my parade. I just don't pre-blend a lot of dubbings- this was a special case. I make 'quick-blends' for the rope-dub for color variations, mottling, and graduations from light to dark, and I do those right on the core-material when I start the rope. On this occasion, the water blend was quick and easy and not messy at all, and I didn't have to find any brushes, so it took only about 5 minutes. The damp natural fur dubbing was something I wanted to try to rope with, so I got that in the bargain. Wet chinchilla is next on the list, then wet syn-seal. I'm thinking the chinchilla will make the perfect sowbug if I can get the segments tight enough, and the dampness may be the key. (Like some tiers steam their deer-hair before they pack it.) So, maybe for some things, the brush method is great- especially larger quantities for matching flies. But I'm always slow to discard something before I check out all of the possibilities. (I've learned that through 35 years of engineering.) I like the water-blend method and have some ideas and experimentation to do with damp dubbing. I'll even try the conditioner idea, but I don't think the rope-dub will care once the dubbing is damp, or even wet. hmmmm.... more ideas coming in. One thing I'm thinking of is that the wet-blend method will also tell me what natural furs I have that are naturally waterproof, and I'll make dry-fly blends with those. What about some natural oil, like preen-gland oil, added to the mix to make a dry-fly dubbing (instead of the conditioner)? We do have some doggie brushes upstairs, and a Shitzu and a calico cat. Next brushing will yeild some dubbings and I'll also try it your way with the brushes. I don't know what the old-fashioned wool cards are, though. So I'm not discarding your suggestion, as it's a good one. That's why you didn't rain on my parade. You just added another float to it. And so my parade got longer, and only my dubbing got wet. ;o) Don ----- Original Message ----- From: Joyce Westphal To: [email protected] Sent: Wednesday, December 30, 2009 7:40 PM Subject: Re: [VFB] blending dubbing forgot to mention that you go to Wal mart or wherever and get two of those wire bristled kitty or doggie brushes. On Wed, Dec 30, 2009 at 7:39 PM, Joyce Westphal <[email protected]> wrote: That is a lot of work..there's a much simpler way and no waiting for it to dry. Take your yarn, synthetics and put that with pinches of the flash, hair, whatever you want to mix on one brush. Rub the other brush against it, like old fashioned wool cards. It takes a few minutes of rubbing the dubbing makings back and forth between the brushes, and voila! perfect dubbing ready to use. Surely beats the water method and the mess that brings. I'd never go back to the messy, sloppy water method. Don't mean to rain on your parade, but this way is SO much easier and simpler. Joyce On Wed, Dec 30, 2009 at 3:59 PM, Don Ordes <[email protected]> wrote: I just tried something that worked well. Has anyone else done this? Beats getting dubbing in my espresso via my coffee grinder. I found one hit on the internnet so it is not novel, but I also don't think it is as common as the coffee grinder method. I needed to blend some rabbit-dubbing with some ice-dub, flash dub, & quick descent. I needed a good blend and no lumps in the blend. So I filled up a tupperware dish about the size of a coffee-cup with hot tap-water. I added the rabbit dubbing and then chopped up the other 3 dubbings over the container. I stirred until everything broke up and was a well blended soup, than I drained almost all of the water out, leaving the dubbing. I stirred it one more time to make sure the quick-descent was mixed in, then I poured it all out through a paper towel to strain it and then used the paper towel to soak up all of the extra water. The result was a damp glob of well-blended hilited part-natural dubbing. Working with it damp gave me a very tight well-defined segment. But I'm letting the rest dry so I can fluff it a bit and tie some fuzzy hares ears that have cool colors mixed in with the rabbit. These colors will accentuate the segments more and give the fly some flash in place of the gold rib, which always get bitten loose. DonO -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the "VFB Mail" group. 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