Building epoxy heads and attaching eyes

Kinigit

Kinigit

Smolt
I'm looking for some guidance on building even symmetrical epoxy heads. I'm using UV but could switch it up if people think that would help. Also how are people attaching eyes? They don't seem to stick well to epoxy.
 
I always use superglue (gel for ease of use) for the eyes first, then build the epoxy around that.
 
I do two coats of UV. First one light to get the material to shape and evenly distributed. The eyes go on after this first coat, a touch of super glue gel like Clarkman says above helps hold them in place. Any errant fibers in the uv/epoxy area are trimmed clean with a razor blade so as not to make dimples in the final coat. Second coat of UV resin is pretty thickly applied: this lets it easily level out around the fly as the vise is rotated. Once you get into the game of many small applicattions and little touch ups the end result is usually not as nice...
 
oh, I should add, that if your fibers are long enough, it's super easy to pull them back with little hair clips & then adjust those clips in such a way that will also give a basic profile that you're after and can build upon. This will help not having to do any trimming during the process once you get the hang of it (I really hate doing that).
 
Instead of superglue, I often anchor eyes by overwrapping them with very fine mono tying thread. I do this before or after laying down a first thin layer of UV resin, depending on circumstances. This allows me to move they eyes about some for final positioning, and will hold them flat, conforming to a conical shaped head. Once wrapped, I trim the mono thread and complete the fly with one or more coats of UV resin over the top. The mono thread is completely invisible once it’s buried in UV resin.
 
I find the cheap flat “tape” eyes to be more durable than most of the “3D” eyes. The “3D” eyes will often eventually detach from whatever foil/paper stuff they are built on even when they are glued on to the fly. I’ve also started using “tab” eyes that I found on eBay. They have a little tab projection that you tie in and fold the eye back on or just tie in and glue over/around. Those are super durable and worth a look.
 
Kilchis said:
How does that allergy manifest? I'm suspecting I may have developed an allergy, but it makes me so miserable that I am gun shy of trying another exposure.
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I used Solarez for a couple of years no problem then over a very short period of time started getting super red, watery, swollen and itchy eyes along with a rash around my nostrils every time I used it. Would often last for a day or two. Absolutely miserable. I loved Solarez but had to stop using it completley


As far as eyes go, my standard approach is to stick the eyes in place before any resin goes on. I then use a little thin resin between the eyes on the top, hit it with the light to hold them in place, then repeat on the under side. At that point eyes are locked in and I start building the head over/around the eyes, usually using a slightly thicker resin and the rotary function of my vise to build/shape the head. Not perfect but it works plenty well enough for my needs.
 
in the dark ages of fly tying before uv resins i used to do the following to hold the stick-on eyes with epoxy on round heads

140-stick-on-eyes.jpg
 
Dr. Magill said:
So……
What’s a really good product other than Loon and Solarez?
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Can't stand Loon personally.

Now days I use Gulff, Raidzap, and Deer Creek. I think I like Raidzap a bit more, but I also have a large stockpile of it so I use it more often and I like their bottles better than Gulff.

A couple years ago I placed a large order directly thru Raidzap. Shipped it across the pond quite quickly, but what I really appreciated was the free G10 adjustable bobbin they threw in with my order. At the time those things were selling for around 75 bucks a pop. I was impressed they threw it in for free but even more impressed with the bobbin itself. It has become my personal favorite bobbin.

The worst part about being unable to use Solarez anymore is I've yet to find a good replacement for their Bone Dry resin. I absolutely loved that stuff. Now days I use Deer Creeks Diamond Fine or whatever they call their thinnest stuff, and while it's perfectly fine it's just not the same as Bone Dry. That stuff was so great when needing a very thin resin.
 
Nick Clayton said:
Can't stand Loon personally.

Now days I use Gulff, Raidzap, and Deer Creek. I think I like Raidzap a bit more, but I also have a large stockpile of it so I use it more often and I like their bottles better than Gulff.

A couple years ago I placed a large order directly thru Raidzap. Shipped it across the pond quite quickly, but what I really appreciated was the free G10 adjustable bobbin they threw in with my order. At the time those things were selling for around 75 bucks a pop. I was impressed they threw it in for free but even more impressed with the bobbin itself. It has become my personal favorite bobbin.

The worst part about being unable to use Solarez anymore is I've yet to find a good replacement for their Bone Dry resin. I absolutely loved that stuff. Now days I use Deer Creeks Diamond Fine or whatever they call their thinnest stuff, and while it's perfectly fine it's just not the same as Bone Dry. That stuff was so great when needing a very thin resin.
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Thank you Nick
I’m not a big loon fan
 
I have a hate/hate relationship with Loon.
 
FinLuver said:
Thick UV, followed by thin UV, followed by Sally Hansen’s Hard as Nails. Rotate, rotate, rotate… 😉
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Yep....or the dollar store special: LA Girls clear
 
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