Took some nice suggestions from this board to create a black and orange wrapped rod. Used Gudebrod nylon size A and marked side to side across the spool with permanent black magic marker. The dry wrap on my black fly rod blank just jumped off the rod; it looked so good! I did two practice wraps on an old blank. One I coated with Flex Coat CP and one with just straight epoxy finish. The outcomes were essentially identical. The black permanent marker did not fade or run. But the brilliance of the orange thread turned noticably darker. It is significantly less stunning/bright as the dry wrap. I went ahead and wrapped the entire fly rod and put a coat of CP on the wraps. It darkened just like the practice blank. It still looks alright. I also did two feather inlays with Golden Pheasant tips to match the orange-black theme. I am debating whether to order some Classic Twist (Orange/Black) Gudebrod (another suggestion from the board) and unwrap what I have done and try again and see if I get a more bright wrap with that thread. Lots of work! Live and learn. Any more suggestions. I'm open for thoughts. Thanks Steve

My, my, my! Read the post above mine on this day's forum also about color preserver. (perhaps my Flex Coat has gotten tainted?) Anyway, suggested other preserver. I found some old Gudebrod alcohol based CP that a friend had given me. I just put a coat of it on my orange with black permanent marker nylon thread. It has been an hour and the orange has remained bright and the black marker did not fade or run. That's good and bad. Bad that I now have to unwrap and clean an 8'6 rod. Good that I should get a much sharper product in the finished rod. Thanks Steve