Kapok

[salmo]

I bought a bunch of “natural” kapok. It’s a cream color. The stuff dubs like a dream. It’s much better than Superfine when it comes to disappearing on the thread. After I tie it on I color it with permanent markers. I bought about 36 markers in various colors. The kapok takes the color fairly well. I find that I get much better control with the kapok. I recommend it for dry fly dubbing. I might even give it a try as wing material.

 

[salmo]

BTW. I'm willing to send some to anybody who wants to pay the postage. I'll send enough to fill a personal letter sized envelope. PM if interested. Also have lots of yarn of various material and color which is great for DF dubbing.

 

[gadabout]

I agree, it’s great dubbing. Been using it for a year or so.

I first started using it to tie The Carrot from Ray Bergman’s Trout.

 

[WV waver]

Purchased some purple Kapok dubbing last year for tying dries. I usually soak my dries in Rain-X and it bleached most of the dye from it. Have not had that problem with other dubbing so coloring kapok after tied may be way to go and avoid the Rain-X treatment with that material.

 

[Bamboozle]

Many moons ago when Chartpack markers were all the rage, I soon discovered the solvent based floatant I used stripped the color. I also had a problem with the color coming off on my finger if they were sweaty.

I abandoned markers shortly afterwards and stuck with Rit or Veinard dyes set with acetic acid.

An alternative dubbing you may want to try is Kreinik Silk Dubbing. It is super fine, comes in a bunch of colors, dubs like a dream and silk is naturally hydrophobic.

It's my dubbing of choice for the super tiny stuff but suitable for anything.

 

[salmo]

I use markers for coloring a lot. I did notice that if I used markers on polypropylene wing or post material that it did not take. When I dried it on my chamois patch that it bled color. Can’t say that the kapok did the same. Does Rain-X work? What kind?

 

[WV waver]

I just use the liquid RainX & I tried it on the kapok you sent after I colored them w Sharpie. I was more cautious and it didn’t bleach out. I blotted previous ones with paper towel to speed up drying which contributed to removing color. Learned RainX trick from Troutbitten guys. Waterproof pretreatment.