Fly Tying Materials Tip

[James Smith]

This is more about a tip about using different fly-tying materials. I am always on the hunt for materials that I can use in my fly-tying. many years ago, I found that the synthetic hair made from Kanekalon found in inexpensive woman's wigs and many Halloween costumes can be used to make some very nice-looking streamer patterns. I get these cheaply (usually $1-2) at local thrift shops and they are brand new. It has the added advantage of being waterproof, so it doesn't absorb water, making it much easier to cast. One problem I encountered in using Kanekelon from woman's wigs is that some of the colors I was looking for I could only find in rather curly styles which do not lend themselves to getting the smoothly tapered look I like in my streamers. I picked up a hair flat iron at a thrift shop for $2 to see if that will allow me to straighten the hair out a bit. It works fantastic. On the high setting, it takes me about 5-6 seconds to straighten out the Kanekalon material to where it makes very nice streamers. I just thought I'd share this tip here for others that may use this material in their tying. https://gifyu.com/image/Sn85o

[jcampbell]

Now that is interesting. Where did that idea come from?