Making Wool Dubbing from Yarn

Amanda, Charlie, and I went to Retake Remake, a local art supply thift shop, to look for some project materials. I picked up a $4 grab bag of different colors of wool yarn to turn into dubbing!

I am good on greys and browns from making dubbing from fur a couple weeks ago, but I wanted a couple more colors: Ginger, olive, green, and black. I had planned to dye some fur in these colors, but when I saw the variety packs of wool yarn, I thought I’d give that a shot. Wool is nice for wet flies because it holds water nicely, and the added weight makes it easier to cast.

Like before, I blended the wool (cut into 1/2in pieces) in a coffee grinder.

For the ginger, I used 1/2 orange, 1/4 brown, and 1/4 tan.

For the black, I used 2/3 black and 1/3 the Oxford color, which is black with a bit of grey mixed in.

For the green, I used some unpictured light green and dark green yarns.

For the olive, (better in the below photo), I used the green from above and added more brown and a bit of grey.

I couldn’t help but tie a couple of Steve Culton’s Squirrel and Ginger Caddis Emergers to try it out.

The original uses Ginger Angora Goat, but I think this wool makes a decent substitute. I’m pleased with the color compared to the original.

I am also pleased because, even though I didn’t have any green flash, coloring regular pearl flash with a green permanent marker seemed to do the trick, and it held up under the faucet. ‬

More of these Squirrel and Gingers to come! I like the look of squirrel fur as hackle. I might made a couple sakasa versions for fun, too.