stringmaking help needed

[KOOK68]

Tried my hand at my first flemish string this weekend. I ran into a couple of problems. I used tan/green B50
1) After twisting my first loop and twisting over to close the loop, I combined the 2 strands of the same color. Started that twist, and I finished the green way before tan. (make sense?)

2) When starting my second loop, I noticed the strands weren't the same length. Seems that a little tugging solved that problem)

3) After taking strands from the jig, I waxed heavily. When I twist the green, it forms a "single" strand and holds together. When I twist the tan, it doesn't hold together very well, and the individual strands want to seperate?

Any advice is appreciated. I have watched a couple of videos, but they just give the basics.

[ChuckC]

Did you notice a difference in waxiness right off the spool ?  I have seen different spools exhibit different levels of waxiness, so one may need a lot more than the other to be even.  

Are you trying to be even in your twisting and not twisting one color more than the other (like, to make up for les wax on it).  If you started even , you should end up fairly even.

ChuckC

[macbow]

On the uneven finish could be you were twisting one color tighter than the other.

The difference between the two spools sticking together might be that one was pre-waxed and the,other not. I see this a lot.

[KOOK68]

Uneven twisting makes sense. I think I will try to place a clip at my start point to better use my hands. Now that I think about it, ChuckC is right. I think the loose strand is the culprit. That is the longer of the 2 after the loop is done.
The tan string seems to be waxed, maybe not as much as the other though.
Thanks for the tips. I'll just keep trying till I get it.

[Bud B.]

Not necessarily uneven twisting. Could be the dye in the tan might make the tan strands a little thicker. This happened to me with B55 and using brown/yellow. Yellow was thicker and ended up shorter when making strings. Yellow feels less waxy too. Again, I'm talking B55.

Before making second loop, I counter twist both bundles (roughly 11 or so times each bundle)to allow for final twist so BOTH bundles come together as one round bundle. If I do get uneven lengths in the bundles before second loop I do as you did, just pull until the shorter one gets stretched a little an they get even.

[Orion]

Yep, could be unequal string diameters.  I use red and black D-97 a lot.  The red is definitely thicker than the black.  To have the bundles come out equal in length after the first loop, I either use one strand less of red in the string bundles, or a strand or two less of red than black in the loop padding.

As Bud notes, counter twisting before starting the second loop will make for a much smoother finished string.

[A.S.]

I find this a lot with B55. Some spools have much less wax, and seem to stretch at a different rate than other spools/colors.

[KOOK68]

Thanks for the insight guys.

[LBR]

Probably a slight difference in the strand size--it happens.  Sometimes the material absorbs one dye better than the other, which makes the strand a little bigger.

It's an easy fix.  If the difference is noticeable, like it is with you, just add a strand to the smaller color or drop a strand from the larger.  Minor differences can be "cheated" out by twisting one bundle a tiny bit tighter than the other.

Chad