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Going to be subjective as what do you mean by brighter. More reflective? In my opinion the aluminum foil duct tape is by far the best option available to the average guy. Cost, ease of use and results when done correctly are far better than anything else I have observed in person or on sites. jrhopkins has posted some pics showing the foil after polishing I have several of the decofoil transfer sheet colors and they give good results but think the foil still wins. Lure prep becomes a lot more important with thin foils don't cover much in regards to improperly sanded/sealed baits and very prone to get incomplete transfer of the foil so "splotchy" results. Only way to really get much better is spend the money and send your baits out to be vacuum depositon, vacuum metalizing, or whatever the current trendy term is.

I poured wearing a tank top, shorts, no gloves, no safety glasses, no respirator, and very little ventilation..........and yet I'm still here to talk about it. Still though.......probably don't wanna go my route. LOL

Google up "stippling effect with an airbrush" lots of info out there!

Man, I’ve tried various glue-on foils including Mylar, gold leaf, etc and it ‘s just too finnacky for me to get it the way I want it. Which of the various spray adhesives to use? How smooth does the substrate surface have to be? When to apply the foil? How best to burnish it down? I defaulted to adhesive foil and think it has the right level of shine to mimic a real fish. I like Venture Tape because it has more shine than average hvac tape, is thinner, and has good adhesive.

Google: Metallic Random Mesh Rolls Metallic Silver One of the links: http://www.bbcrafts.com/tulle-fabric/metallic-random-mesh-rolls/

Just the burnishing process will increase the luster but that leaves it far short. The picture above is from jrhopkins and I believe he uses Mother's aluminum polish. I have used various polishes including some designed for plastics with good results. Here is an old jerk bait I did that was burnished with a wooden dowel (photo prior to cleaning with rubbing alcohol to remove some adhesive that squeezer out at seams and a gray residue that forms during burnishing). Definitely not as shiny/reflective if not polished. Some foil tapes are slightly better than others (but only tried a few different ones).

This is with top coat , the silver has Perl silver as a base coat, the perch I glued on to a clear blank. Oddly I like the splotchy it brings out some of the texture

I have used the Jig Skinz Pro and the foil Jig Skinz on 6-12" Slammer type baits and other big jointed baits. I have done about a dozen so far. I do apply D2T for a clear coat after the skin is put on. On jointed baits with V cut joints, I have found it best to use a skin a 1-2 inches longer than the bait. I cut the skin into sections with each skin section slightly longer than each section of the bait. I make each skin section slightly longer than the bait section in case it shifts a bit when it shrinks. You can trim any extra with a razor knife after shrinking. I do the back (tail) section first. This way you can tuck that piece of the skin inside of the V cut of the section in front of the one you are covering . This way you can get coverage right up to the joint. Then, I work forward putting on a section of the skin one at a time. If you can, install the diving lip after the skin. Cutting a hole in the skin for the lip can be tough on a large bait. I cut the lip slot in the bait before skinning. You can cut out the skin covering the lip slot with an small razor knife. Skinz don't shrink completely even around the circumference of the bait. Sometimes it can be really noticeable at the eyes which can distort. Before dipping the front section of the skin, I have been hitting the the back (top) with a heat gun. This way only the top part of the skin will shrink reducing the chances the eyes will distort. After heating the back (top), I let it cool for a minute before dipping in the water. On a real big bait, I have used a couple of inches from the end of one skin to do the tail section of the bait. Then, I finish the bait with a full skin of the same color. You can use the remainder of the first skin on a smaller bait.

I pour in my pole style garage all the time. I made a work bench 8' long & have my microwave, colorant, salt etc on it. I have my molds (over 20) in a cheap Lowes chest type tool box with pliers, parts for making a rigs & other miscellanious items in other drawers under the bench. I also have my left over sprue in coffee & creamer cans that have the colors written in permanent marker under the bench & have plenty of room. I have nails with very small heads nailed into the posts & purling boards & hang all of my plastics on them sticking the still connected sprue on them so they'll hang straight & have no problems whatsoever doing it the way i do. When i cut tube tails i just sit my press on the workbench & have at it. I've done 20 gallon of plastic in the last year & it has worked great for me. One thing i'm thinking i'm going to do is if i can find some used counter top that someone has torn out & use it to make another bench completely down another wall so i can also possibly get into rod building too. Very little room is needed for this hobby, but a man can always use more too. lol As far as a learning curve you'll get it down pretty quickly & don't hesitate to ask for help as there are some great folks here that know their stuff & will walk you through anything that comes up. Welcome aboard.

Yes, I have some silver decofoil that I use. I use a 3M contact adhesive, spray it on the lure, let it get super tacky, then place the dull side on the lure and press it down. I work the material very well to make sure as much as I can get will stick. I then pull the plastic off. The deco foil is much thinner then foil, in fact even with the plastic on still it is thinner. But, the foil is stronger. I top coat with AlumiUV so it is really tough. Epoxy or Etex would work very well also. Never had the problem yet. I am still looking for the holy grail of reflective coatings. The thing will happen, in time.

I doubt they will last. I will find you a link to another contraption.

Myself I have done the aluminum tape, epoxied plain aluminum foil and nail foil. I used both contact cement and epoxy with the nail foil and in all cases I top coat with e-tex. The only worry with the contact cement is that it will de-laminate and I could loose big chunks, but I don’t think that will happen before the pike chew the top coat up to uselessness anyways. I am only a few baits into nail foil baits but I can say I won’t do foil tape again.

Not a bad idea but you won't know if the seals in the spigot will take the plastic chemicals and not give out. My bet would be no they won't. If you buy one make sure and let us know if it works though.

And to boot if you swap the hi-lite blue for pearl white you'll have Red Shad.

I can get that I joke with my wife that I only have one hobby and that is collecting hobbies Wlure might have something worth looking at, I have had good success with some of their blanks some other were duds (the normal dangers of dealing with off shore product). Though more to do with dud shapes vs bait to bait quality .

I have been using super glue gel with good results on ABT Glide Bait fins and tails.