On page 3 of Judith Dunham's book "The Atlantic Salmon Fly" two authentic Indian Crow feathers are shown as well as a Crow substitute feather which is depicted on the previous page. This sub is nothing more than a white neck feather from the ring-necked pheasant dyed yellow and then dip-dyed orange and then red.

Staying with ring-necked feathers it may not be possible to improve much on feather shape (compare the oblong shape of the ring-necked feather with the fan shape of the real thing). However if the colors shown are true colors, it is seen that the substitute can stand improvements with regard to color, for it is too bright in yellow and orange. Much of the feather in real Indian Crow is tannish-brown with a hint of orange terminating with orange red at the tip. Surely, I thought, someone has already rendered the white feathers in such colors. But because I wasn't aware of how it may have been accomplished, I set out to reinvent the wheel, so to speak.

The color of the real Indian Crow brought to mind the likelihood that a natural product colorant would be a good starting point; subdued tans and browns are typical of several natural colorants (usually referred to, though incorrectly, as natural dyes), and they are noted for their excellent wash fastness (won't wash out in hot water). I needed fastness because I planned on using dip dyeing from a hot dyebath as the final stage in my quest and I didn't want the base color to be lost in the process.

I started with cutch, a natural product that contains catechin, a flavone-like substance that gives pleasing tans to light brown on copper mordanted fibers. Furthermore, compared to synthetic brown dyes (which, by the way, are difficult to find in the desired color), cutch is dirt cheap, nontoxic and noted for its excellent resistance to fading from light and water. Using such an approach I got close to the background color I was shooting for, but I felt I should do better. Then it occurred to me that highly insoluble rust-colored japonic acid, the oxidation product of catechin, might bring me closer to my goal. So I treated the cutch dyed feathers with a very dilute solution of the oxidant, potassium dichromate. This time around, I got what I was looking for. Now all I had to do was dip dye the tips red.

Because I wanted to be able to obtain red tips quickly and not have to hold them for a long time over a steaming dyepot, I reasoned that a low molecular weight acid dye of the proper color would probably do the trick. Thus I used the red dye Amido Naphthol Red G (Acid Red 1; Kiton Red) because it would quickly penetrate the pores of the fibers; in fact a single 10 second dip from a simmering hot 0.01% dyebath made acidic with hydrochloric acid was all I needed. In this regard, Veniard's crimson or Herter's crimson will also work; however, a longer dip time will be required.

Although natural dyes are a bit more complicated to apply than conventional synthetic acid dyes, the first step in the process, mordanting, is easily accomplished. And although it is also true that certain colors are harder to duplicate than others, the course I chose had no real serious stumbling blocks in it to reproducability of results.

The procedures I used are as follows:

Cutch (Catechin) On Copper-Mordanted Feathers

Place 300 ml (10 oz) of water in the dyepot and add 1/8 tsp of copper sulfate and 1/4 tsp of cream of tartar plus a few drops of Synthrapol. Add feathers and bring the liquid to a simmer for 15 minutes. Then add 1/4 tsp cutch crystals and continue the heating. The solution will turn a muddy green color, then brown. Heat for 3-5 minutes or until the feathers take on a nice light tan color (keep in mind that wet feathers will appear darker than when dry). Cool and rinse the feathers twice in fresh water.

Oxidation of Cutch-Dyed Feathers with Potassium Dichromate

Place the wet feathers in 5 oz of water and then add 3 tsp of a solution made by dissolving 1/8 tsp of potassium dichromate in a cup of water. Now bring up the heat slowly, heating just until the feathers take on a decidedly darker color. Look for a tan color with an overtone of rust. This should take 1-2 minutes of heating but not much more. Now add a large volume of warm water to prevent over-oxidation. Cool and rinse the feathers several times in fresh water containing a few drops of Synthrapol and then dry them (or leave them in the rinse water if you intend to dip dye them right away).

Dip Dyeing with a Leveling Acid Dye

Make a 0.01% solution (1/4 tsp of dye in

10 oz of dyebath) of a leveling acid dye (Acid Red 1 or Veniard's or Herter's crimson) in water, add a few drops of Synthrapol and 1/4 tsp of hydrochloric acid (1 tsp of glacial acetic acid may be substituted; however, vinegar is inappropriate for rapid dyeing with leveling acid dyes). Bring the bath to a simmer and then dip just the very tips in the bath for about 10 seconds which is usually long enough when using Acid Red 1. If you use one of the other dyes you may want to use multiple dips because it gets uncomfortable holding feathers over a hot dyepot for the longer times needed. If you do this be sure to submerge the entire feather in clean water between dips. This will prevent the dye from creeping further up the feather with each dipping. Rinse each feather as it comes from the dipping bath and place it on paper toweling to dry. Voila! Now you have Indian Crow substitutes with good coloration.

The Beauly Snow Fly pictured here, dressed by Megan Boyd and given to Joseph Bates on his visit to her in 1973, is a preview of the new and expanded color plates from the revision of Atlantic Salmon Flies and Fishing. Written by Bates in the 1980's and currently in production, this completely new edition of the 1970 classic will feature the artwork of John Swan and the photography of Michael D. Radencich