Although there are a rainbow of colors available in almost every material, I often find myself searching for a specific shade or a slightly different hue in a certain material that just doesn’t exist on the shelves of my local fly shop or even online.Dying the materials at home is cheap and easy and allows me to continuously modify a material’s color, taking custom creations one step further.
This is the eleventh installment of Feather Brain by Drew Chicone. To read more about Dying Materials with Kool-Aid and other beverages, Visit my website Salty Fly Tying to order your signed copy of Feather Brain today! $24.95 + Shipping
I have not found a brand of drink mix that this technique will not work on, but stay away from the ones that are sweetened, and never add sugar when making the dying solution. (Sticky is not good.) The mix you add the darker more vibrant the color will come out. Don’t be afraid to experiment, Coffee and Tea work really well, and produce a perfect color for stained back bay water!
Over the next few months I will give you the basics on designing your own patterns, tying with saltwater materials, and fixing typical problems. I will also discuss my process for Developing, Testing, and Improving Saltwater Fly Patterns . As always, you can stay tuned to this blog each week as I share pieces from my book, but for the complete 176 page paperback copy of Feather Brain with step-by-step tying instructions and explanations of how I designed my 14 winning saltwater flies, and insights from nine top saltwater fly tiers, including Bob Clouser, Jonny King, Bob Popovics, and Chris Helm and many more.
Click on the book below to order your signed copy today!
