TopStriperAngler Posted April 28, 2022 Report Share Posted April 28, 2022 Dude when you're in the beauty supply stores buying this stuff it's an interesting experience. Probably the first time you will visit such a place. But I didn't feel remotely self-conscious. Just exited at the prospect of the $5 massive bag of synthetic hair. Colors not amazing but got some olive, white, gold, pink and so on. Haven't trying curling it tho but can striaghten just by hand. Some styles come curly and are good for large flies. Others are straight and are good bucktail substitutes. Does not flare when tying which can be plus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HillTop Posted May 11, 2022 Report Share Posted May 11, 2022 (edited) Recently a friend and I had a PM regarding synthetic material and making up different samples for blending material with multiple colors. There are so many ways of doing these types of material and I love watching videos by Gunnar Brammer though to be honest I have a lot of different ideas for creating flies and I don't use his specifics designs but I just love to watch all his YouTubes. Made up a simple sample for showing how wig synthetics are done by me. You may like doing this or not but for me it works just fine. 1) Three types of wig samples. For these I leave smooth and do not crimp the wig like some I did from the previous post. 2) Based on what I want to end up with I try to preset the each amount based on the colors. 3) When pulling out hair I try to pull as little hair as I can. I put down a piece of wax kitchen paper or a piece of parchment paper on my table. 4) I make a length of about 12" of hair and don't worry about trying to keep all the same lengths. The pieces you cut off overall end up being a very nice piece of hair with a length that looks quite natural. I've found that pushing down on my sheet of hair and paper tightly against the edge of Plastering Knife works quite well. I cut down at the middle of the hair (~6" long) 5) With the plaster knife held in place I then use adhesive liquid (Tear Mender) down a small amount along the knife edge. Wait about a minute, push done another lot of hair to keep from pulling up when I remove the knife and then move the knife over just a little further on the middle and do the same thing a second time. (first application) 6) Tear Mender is a great use as it is easy to pull off with your hands when still partly wet and not get it stick all over you skin. Estimate about 10 minutes. Once it starts to harden up you can start trying to roll your sheet of with your fingers. Roll it up and you can feel when it starts to setup. Paper doesn't stick to wax paper. Push them with rolling your fingers until you get them as tight as you can and then leave it set overnight. 7) After that you can cut it in half for two finished wig hairs ready for flying. 8) Finished result. HT Edited May 11, 2022 by HillTop Bait Tailer, JRT, theshadow and 3 others 1 5 Currently have aphasia. Aphasia is a result of my head stroke causing a bleed. Happened in my Maine vacation in July (2021). Lucky me less than 1% of people get stroke aphasia. I'm making project but have been told this is easily 5 months to 1 year for this to improve. Until then hope you don't mind making sense with what I text. HT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HillTop Posted September 12, 2023 Report Share Posted September 12, 2023 Over a year ago I was playing around with synthetic hair and coloring blending. Had only done small amounts and have just started making a new batch of blends. Curious if anyone has a better and easier way to make blending to be as quick as possible ? I know the Squimpish hair is blended with 3 to 4 different colors and they mention that it is all done by hand and that makes the cost of Squimpish expensive. Just curious to improve my techniques, any thoughts ? Recent sample with 3 new colors to experment. To get a nice color overall you have to blend over and over many times. Found it to be easy enought but a lot of work. HT Latest samples: Currently have aphasia. Aphasia is a result of my head stroke causing a bleed. Happened in my Maine vacation in July (2021). Lucky me less than 1% of people get stroke aphasia. I'm making project but have been told this is easily 5 months to 1 year for this to improve. Until then hope you don't mind making sense with what I text. HT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TopStriperAngler Posted September 12, 2023 Report Share Posted September 12, 2023 Hilltop I have faced same problem when trying to blend very fine polypropylene made from combing out webbing from Joann's. I tried combining the two shades, then combing them together, folding and twisting, then combing. Frankly, didn't really come out so great. I note that the Flyty'er's dungeon sells some blends and they are not particularly well blended often more of a vertical marbling where you see the different colors grouped together. So I don't know if they have even figured out a way to do it economically or even at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HillTop Posted September 12, 2023 Report Share Posted September 12, 2023 Top, The best blends i've seen are from the Squimpish folks. I bought one piece to see how they package them up. My photo above was done at night with a flash and it's not a true color. Now done during the day makes them show in a more realistic photo. I'm happy with the results (2 new greens, 1 black), blended better than my sample last year. Will now attempt to copy Squimpish as close to what it should look like , (in Blue color), to see how close I come to it and then calculate how long it takes me to blend them up. Just curious more than anything I guess. This is last nights blend but now done in a natural light. ...... Also surprised that Squimpish Hair doesn't sell a color that includes a Green related color ? You would think that green would be popular. Sample of Squimpish Blend HT saltyh2ofly 1 Currently have aphasia. Aphasia is a result of my head stroke causing a bleed. Happened in my Maine vacation in July (2021). Lucky me less than 1% of people get stroke aphasia. I'm making project but have been told this is easily 5 months to 1 year for this to improve. Until then hope you don't mind making sense with what I text. HT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TopStriperAngler Posted September 12, 2023 Report Share Posted September 12, 2023 Hill your blend looks to be the most fully mixed as to what I've seen even better than that squimpish. One interesting thing I find making the dubbing brushes tend to get a pretty decent color blending effect on the finished brush. The brushes read as a blended color rather than just a couple different colors sitting next to each other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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