Pearsall Silk Colours & Alternatives
I have, recently noticed on various Bulletin Boards quite
a bit of confusion about the colours of Pearsall tying silk.
I then received a query from Mark Vendon about
the silk used on a fly called McCaskie's Green Cat.
It became obvious that there is confusion about the
colour Orange and its various Pearsall manifestations.
Most fly recipes refer to Orange and Hot Orange,
and/or the appropriate number. I decided to have a look
at various sources, i.e. look up some books.
The first was Veniards "Fly Dressing Materials" 1977.
His list was as follows -
1 White, 6a Light Orange, 10 Ash, 15 Maroon,
2 Straw, 6b Sherry Spinner, 11 Golden Olive, 16 Olive,
3 Primrose, 7 Blue, 11a Scarlet, 17 Brown,
4 Light Yellow, 8 Purple, 12 Cardinal, 18 Green,
5 Yellow, 9 Black, 13 Crimson, 19 Hot Orange,
6 Amber, 9a Grey, 14 Claret, 20 Light Olive.
I then looked at Edmonds & Lee, whose list was -
1,2,3,4,5,6,6a,6b,7,8,9,9a,10,11,11a,12,13,14,15,1 6,17,18.
No colour names but included a colour chart.
As can be seen from the above authors, #6a is always
refered to as Light Orange, also by Skues.
Many others just call it Orange.
Also some colours have not been available for many
years. I have found a new source of silks with a huge
range of shades in Seta Reale marketed in the U.K. by Coats.
Their colour charts and Pearsall can be found
on my front page at -
http://www.dtnicolson.dial.pipex.com/
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