I found a pattern that calls for an opal tinsel. I have found all kinds of mylar including pearl, flash back, halographic, gold, silver but can’t seem to locate any OPAL. Can someone shove me in the right direction. It was on a Dennis Potter fly tying pattern and he said it was new, but I can’t even locate the stuff on line.
I edited this to add this on line video of the pattern that uses this material: http://www.riverhouseflyco.com/store/dvd1/example.html I own one of his DVDs and really like him as a presenter. He’s a very talented tier.
I think that I kept looking for an Opal tinsel in my searches and I probably should have been searching under Mirage tinsel and Opal is the color. I knew one of our fellow tiers would shove me in the right direction. Thanks, have to have some of that.
If you watched the video, you will notice that he is quite the salesman and you now MUST HAVE the new color Normand. :lol:
He kept refering to it as Opal so that is why I kept looking for Opal and not mirage tinsel. Yes, most people would have caught on right away but not me. :oops:
I just did a google search for “opal tinsel” then clicked on images and that link was the first one shown. The main difference between opal and pearl is that opal has more irresdessnece in it, but in such a small sliver of material, I doubt it’s noticable anyway.
‘Colored’ and ‘opalescent’ tinsel is becoming a big thing for tree decorating around the holidays…I’ve bought pearl, opal (which I see as pearlized white), plus some other colors like blue and green (plus, of course, gold and silver) at the ‘after holidays’ markdown sales…enough to tie several thousand flies for around a buck (if you can wait that long to ‘have’ it ).
My wife threw away a box of stuff from her classrom today. I “rescued” some Christmas packing tinsel that could be called opal or pearl. It’s now on my desk waiting for a nook or cranny to be stuffed into.
I wanted to recap this thread and update it some. I went into Orvis recently and was looking for this material still on a local level. Check out the enclosed package and how they labeled the material and then guess which material was actually in that bag.
Look closely at how UTC labels both of their actual spools and then how Orvis labeled the product. No wonder there is confusion on fly tying materials.
The Orvis bag is labeled Flashback and UTC does have flashback and I have put a spool of Flashback Ice Blue Pearl in the photo but that is not what was in that bag. The bag contained the UTC Mirage Opal product. So now I have one spool in size small. Still looking for the same stuff in Medium without ordering it. $2 for a spool and $17.95 to ship - so I exagerate a little.
Tie soom of the pattern in whatever tinsel you have and try it next trip. I like to take the word of experienced people myself , but if you are not fishing the same river stretches as they are you may have the pattern that works instead.
The Opalescent Mirage TInsel has some amazeing UV effects in the water !!! I now use it on many new patterns I have designed as well as Copper Johns (Two Toned) !!! I love the Strike Triggers it creates !!! NIce to mess with the fish’s psyche !!!
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