Marvelous Micro Ice Chenille: ideas for using this fuzzy metallic for fly fishing lures

by Harrison Steeves III

If you have ever tied anything using standard size ice chenille, or one of the similar products, you may have done what I have: you looked at the fly, held it up to the light, and thought, “Boy, if I could just find something in a smaller diameter, I could tie some neat little streamers instead of these monsters.” Well, here it is. Kreinik Micro Ice Chenille is about half the diameter of regular ice chenille, which has allowed me do a lot of things I used to only dream about. 

I use the Micro Ice Chenille for many purposes:

• You can use it to wrap bodies on patterns such as Woolly Buggers, Sculpins, Zonkers, Muddler Minnows, and other assorted streamers. 
• It also makes fantastic bodies on salmon and steelhead flies, big Zug Bugs and Prince Nymphs (I use Kreinik color 850 Mallard for these), Clouser Minnows, Deceivers, and a host of other flies. 
• I have tied quite a few of the Crazy Charley patterns using Micro Ice Chenille for the body wrap, and it allows me to tie the smaller sizes (which many times seem to outfish the bigger ones) with no trouble whatsoever. As a matter of fact, one of the most well-known Christmas Island bonefish guides went ballistic over the material a few years ago at the International Fly Tackle Dealer Show in Denver. 

Other than the obvious use of this material to wrap bodies on subsurface flies of all types, what else can you do with it? Actually, it has quite a few other applications you might want to try

• I have used it to wrap the bodies of both hopper and cricket patterns. While I'm not going to make any generalizations, there have certainly been days when these have outfished their regular counterparts. One of the patterns is simply a Letort Cricket tied with a body of either Black, Mallard or Peacock Micro–Ice (which Rob Cramer, former owner of the Mossy Creek Fly Shop in Virginia, introduced to the general public as the Disco Cricket). For a number of years, I have been tying a Letort Hopper, a la Ed Shenk, with a body formed from yellow Micro Ice Chenille, and I have been very pleased with the results. I suppose this should be named the Disco Hopper?
• The material is small enough in diameter to use it for the thorax on many of the nymph patterns, as was done on Steeves' Braided Bitch and some of the other nymph patterns marketed through Umpqua. You might want to give this a try on some of your favorite nymph patterns; it does away with the mess associated with dubbing and forms a wonderful fuzzy, sparkling thorax that just seems to naturally attract fish. 
• I have been tempted to use the Micro Ice Chenille for the body wrap on some of the really large dry flies; something like a great big Humpy or Wulff pattern could be very interesting. What about using it for the body on some of the big stonefly patterns, or on the Madame X, Tarantula, Stimulator, or some of the damsel and dragon fly dry fly patterns? Any big pattern loaded with deer hair, foam, hackle, elk hair, caribou or some other highly floatable material is certainly a candidate for trial. Try these ideas and let me know what happens; I promise I won't tell anybody else. 

Helpful Hint: Try the following if you really want to produce a wrap in which the material in any of the "Ice Chenilles" is absolutely and irrevocably locked in place... Instead of tying in a strand of Micro Ice Chenille and wrapping it in the usual manner, tie it in as a loop. In other words, tie in both ends to form a loop in the same way that you would form a dubbing loop using thread. Then, using a dubbing spinner hooked in the closed end of the loop, twist the two strands together before wrapping the material forward. Using this procedure assures you that all of the little glittery pieces in the strand will never fall out. Also, it does not increase the diameter of the material and it gives a fuller and more luxuriant wrap.

Kreinik Micro Ice Chenille is the perfect metallic chenille for bodies on any size lure. Wrap once, twice, or as many times as desired. Combine it with Kreinik Braids, Ribbons and Flash for the most effective fly fishing lures you'll ever use. Experiment and have fun with this fiber.

Watch fly tyer Val Roberts using Kreinik Micro Ice Chenille (the pink) and Kreinik Flash (the red) to make a body on this scud-like fly. In addition to the metallic shimmer and fuzzy texture, the pink chenille has some UV properties.

Here Val uses Micro Ice Chenille to replicate a caterpillar:

Quick! Name five things that are fuzzy (bonus points for fuzzy metallic things). How about: garland on Christmas trees, legs on spiders, flower centers, bushy eyebrows, other, ahem, hairy things, peaches, caterpillars, lots of bugs actually, baby chicks, moldy cheese, your brain after a long weekend. How many could you list? Nature and life itself are full of texture. It makes things visually interesting and tactile.

You can recreate the fuzzy factor of true life objects with Kreinik's Micro Ice Chenille in your favorite hobby: needlepoint, cross stitch, embroidery, fly fishing, crochet, knitting, weaving. It adds whimsy, dimension, texture, and just plain visual interest to a design.

What is Micro Ice Chenille and where can you use it?

• it's a fuzzy metallic
• couch in needlepoint, cross stitch, quilting, crazy quilting for surface embroidery (couch it with a Kreinik Cord or Very Fine #4 Braid, rather than stitch in and out)
• can also use it in long stitches in needlepoint if the canvas is not densely stitched (Micro Ice Chenille just doesn't like going in and out of fabric very much)
• combine it with any other fiber for cording and trims on stockings, ornaments, etc
• crochet little accessories and appliques (wreaths, flowers)
• use it in duplicate stitch in knitting (like a spider!)

To use in weaving:

• Can be used in weft, not for warp (too much stress)
• Weight/Yardage: Kreinik metallic yarns are not measured in terms of weight like wool or cotton yarns are, so measure by yard or meter. Purchase 50-meter cones; or cones of any amount by special order.
• Sett = 5 epi
• Care: Kreinik metallics don't felt, and are inelastic compared to some other types of yarns, so for best results, we recommend testing the threads with the weaving yarns you plan to use before beginning your project.
• Tips from weaver Deb Essen of DJE Handwovens: 1. Pull the thread off the cone horizontally, not from the top, to avoid adding twist to the fiber. 2. Combine with other yarns (rather than use a metallic exclusively) as an accent yarn for best results ("It makes a great, fun fabric"). 3. Test how the textures work together before making your main project: make test swatches if using stretchy yarns with the inelastic metallics, for instance, then use a warm-water wash for the wet-finishing. 4. You may want to experiment with looser sett to vary drapability. 5. Play! Have fun! "I love how the colors pop in sunlight or lamplight and shimmer as the piece is moved." 

Content: 

Cotton core, polyester metallic