Hey guys. I just got a blue 8'6 4 wt blank. What color thread and trim would you run on this blank?
Sincerely,
Dan Colville

Someone recently asked a similar question - though he wanted to stay mostly blue. There were some good answers. Click on [www.rodbuilding.org]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/23/2005 03:56PM by Tom Doyle.

I've onle done one blue rod. I used Royal Blue with silver trim bands.

I have a Batson RX6 blank on the way and am planning to do it with Metallic Royal Blue and silver trim bands.

B;ue and silver go well as will black as a neutral color. However the shade of blude should drive your decision on the complimentary or contrasting colors. I am build a rod now - its a gray blank but the colors might be similar;

The butt wrap design;
A variant of Number 38 (Custom Rod Thread Art); Inner boxes metallic royal blue and silver; outer box black surrounded by a metallic silver box
The to close the wrap using a diamond wrap pattern - I used bright yellow center band with outer bands of red surrounded by metallic royal blue and closed by black. The yellow/red combo (which is a split complimentary) looks orange which is a complementary color to blue.

The lower butt is finish in black and royal blue with one wrap of yellow / red surrounded by metallic blue with thin trim bands of silver.

When turned in the light -- the wrap at tims looks silver and then turns to blue.

I had orginally finished the upper and lower wraps in a silver/blue trimar which gave the wrap a wintery look. I decided uding so much trimar might not be a good thing so opted for the Blue on black. If finished mostly in silver -- it gave the rod a cool winter look -- in blue/black gives it a cool/bright classic style. So colors really have an impact.

One tool I have that I never thought I would use is the Dial-A-Color I purchased from Mudhole. It provides hints on Complementary, monochromatic, analogous, traidic color schemes. It provides "hints" as it really lacks all the colors that you may want to use. But it was realy helpful in assisting me in final color selection.

I has tried to dump in a cobolt blue -- but it was just to much to work it in -- sometimes simple -- is best.

On the blue rod -- I'd go with something that is complementary or contrast to the blank so the colors will stand out and bring the rod alive. Note it took me a couple of weeks of off an on working the colors to work something I though would be unique but look great. The Blue/Silver and black is always a safe choice.



Mark