Varnishing wraps - oh what did I do wrong?

[Midwest Custom Fly Rods]

I thought varnish would make the threads more "translucent" than darken with varnish or is that only with silk?

You're right about the testing - I've got a scrap piece of bamboo and will apply some wraps to it and play around with the varnish both on nylon and silk threads using CP and not using CP.

It does make them more translucent, but it also has a bit of a darkening affect as well when the thread soaks up the varnish. I did the same thing the first time I used Classic twist without CP and wondered what happened to the "twist" colors. It was still slightly there, but turned very dark. So now Classic twist is one of the only thread I make sure to use CP with.