Hi All,

I want to try something I saw on the photo board. I was to cover a fish decal with regular nylon thread, apply finish epoxy (Flex Coat) w/o CP and was wondering what would be the most transparent thread. The blank is glosss black and the decal is of a Striper.

Hank
On The Rocks Fishing
Wells, ME.

white thin silk. very thin silk. gossamer? perhaps even use something other than standard thread epoxy, something bamboo rod makers incorporate. am i right, am i right???? ;-)

eric
fresno, ca.

Pearsall's Gossamer Silk 6/0. And Flecto Varathane #900 Clear Gloss. According to the Golden Witch catalog. Ralph

If at first you don't succeed, go fishing, then try, try again.

I did that with white Pearsalls Gossamer the other day - if you use a marine varnish - thinned a little and varmed in boiling water - the silk goes completely transparent/dissapears - not what I was looking for as I wanted a faded image underneath the thread. So I'll try again with a nylon thread similar to the blank color.

Peter

Peter,

That's what I'm looking for also is that faded image underneath the thread. Someone posted a photo using brown nylon thread over a fish decal and it looked good. But I don;t think I would get the same results using brown thread with a black gloss blank.

Hank
On The Rocks Fishing
Wells, ME.

Hank, I plan on trying this with some ?pearl metallic Gudebrod. It is semi transparent and leaves a bit of the pearlescence over top. I'd like to see what it looks like, anyhow... It's the only Gudebrod metallic that I know of that is like this.

Putter
Williston, ND

I have worked with Sulky pearl metalic and it gives a really nice see through look. while adding a little sparkle. The Silk works well. I just do not like using a varnish because of the orange tint etc.

Hank , I did that decal with light brown over a black blank . I think with the striper decal , a medium , or light grey will look good seeing that the decal is light colored . I used FC light over the nylon A thread . The striper decal was to be my next one to try , let me know how it comes out . Have fun , ayahh........ JHD

Got Fish ?

Regular nylon works well. As you already mentioned do not use color presever. Most any light colored nylon thread will work. I have done a few like this in regular red nylon with good results.

Best if you wrap whatever nylon thread colors you have on a piece of scrap blank and see for yourself what color you or customer likes best, using any cheap decal from a variety store as a test decel.

I sometimes use single strands of metallic thread under nylon for this neat translucent effect.

Lou

Thanks to all that responded. John that was a very nice job you did on that decal. I think I will be into the epoxy tomorrow co I will give it a try. Again thanks All



Hank
On The Rocks Fishing
Wells, ME.

use nylon if you want translucent.

use silk if you want transparent.

all nylon has a translucent effect if no color preserver is used (of course don't use NCP thread).

i tried regular gudebrod white nylon thread in A and it of course had translucency. probably the best from the range of values available in regular nylon, although pearl might beat it. but they're not transparent as you asked for. yet the white nylon looked like masking tape, with various shades of translucency (probably because it was the very first rod i wrapped) but i cannot imagine it going completely transparent at all, regardless of how smoothly i packed the threads.

lou's right about underwraps. i really like the look of regular nylon over metallic thread. say green over metallic green, or blue over met. blue. gives it a low rider, candy type of sparkle. i've started the overwrap just inside of the outer edges, so the raw metallic acts as a nice glittery border on each end. and i've tipped that off with NCP white, maybe 3 revolutions. subtle and simple.

eric
fresno, ca.

John,

Did you put a coating of epoxy over the decal before you put the thread on? I would have emailed you direct but your email address is hidden.

Thanks

Hank
On The Rocks Fishing
Wells, ME.

I would think that if the decal shows through that well with reg nylon with no CP,that silk in the same color would show through that much more.White silk would be so transparent that the bright decal might look a bit too much like it does without any thread over it.

I am eager to try this technique as well and think I will try out some lighter colored nylons(sunburst,gold,rust,garnet,etc should all look really good),and maybe a couple of silks.I'm not sure which colors of silk,but I would expect that you could use a darker shade of color than with nylon since it will be more transparent.

It sure is a cool look.