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try witchcraft tape in Michigan.

I have no interest in selling my cranks. I was curious because I see more and more websites charging a premium for painted cranks but don’t supply hardware. It boggled my mind

Take a look at some of the Smooth-On products. They offer a large variety of urethane rubbers for this stuff. May be a little pricier, but it is a good product.

I typically put a small piece of cheese cloth or similar material in the plastic near the hook area. Makes it much more robust.

Can't remember where I saw these but they were sold as MS scales. Allen

The sparkie head is basically the same head as the style "s" with the difference being the sparkie has a longer collar area. The Style "s" and the sparkie are more rounded and have the majority of the weight forward vs the arky which is more flat due to the weight being more evenly distributed. For what it is worth, both jigs work well for me but if I want a more stand up type presentation I use an arky jig and if I'm going to drag more or fish around grass and brush then the sparkie is my choice but they all can be used as all purpose heads.

I have painted thousands of baits with this one air compressor: http://www.tcpglobal.com/ABD-TC-20_2.html#.XBAZOWhKjIU it has never given me any trouble, and at $69.96 MSRP plus always free shipping it is a steal.

G'day guys, I did some custom artwork on one of the prototype swimbaits I've been testing. Here's the video

Canga has a good list I just started about 6 months ago. I bought most of my utensils and such at walmart. Anchor measuring cups, cheap 3 pack of cookie sheets, gloves, cheap butter knives, couple cheap pot holders, and some clamps. I bought my microwave from a used appliance store for $10 (do not use the one in your kitchen!) I started out with a handful of colors and glitter from lurecraft and also bought a couple of their open pour molds. Personally, I found out I do not like hand pouring but they didn't cost much ($8 or so a piece) so I wasn't out that much. I have since bought an injector and a few injection molds (2 artificial stone molds and 2 aluminum basstackle molds). The stone molds aren't bad but I like the basstackle molds a lot better. Basstackle.com has some very affordable molds and they are good quality, depending on what baits he uses most. I also just bought some more plastic, I started out with a quart, should have bought a gallon. My last order I bought a couple gallons plus some more color, glitter, and hi-lites. The absolute basics to get started are plasisol, some colors, some glitter, heat stabilizer/softener, worm oil and some molds (an injector if you buy injection molds). Utensils and safety equipment can be bought at a big box store, and he can add extra colors, glitters, and hi-lites/pearls over time. If he gets into it, he will want more molds and more plastic, he can just order additional colors and such then.

The Sparkie head is wider and flatter than the Arkie head. I have no experience with the "s"hed.

worlds worst fishing just made a (pretty long) video on getting started, its pretty good, gives you an idea of what you will need, as well as some instruction on how to do it. i personally started with injection, its more expensive to start but i prefer it over hand pouring. ill probably forget something but the list for hand injection includes (no particular order): 1. an injector, and some injector lubricant (worm oil, or basstackle sells injector oil). should probably order a set of replacement o-rings from the place you get the injector, just to avoid having to order them later, shipping adds up! 2. molds, you (or his) choice, something he will use alot. 3. plastisol 4. colorants/ pearls 5. glitter 6. additives (i suggest some heat stabilizer and softener to start, maybe some scent) 7. pyrex/anchor measuing cups, i use the 2 and 4 cup anchors. 8. a thermometer, either a quick read or infrared, i use some Weber grill thermometers from walmart, work great. 9. utensils. something to stir with, can use butter knives, the thermometer, i use a couple frosting knives for decorating cakes! small set of measuring spoons for pearls and glitter. also a pair of scissors to cut the scraps up, can also be used to cut the baits from the sprues (not necessary) 10. a microwave (or presto pot) something to heat the plastisol with, micro is pretty easy to start. 11. safety. gloves, a respirator, long sleeves, pants, closed shoes. 12. space to work, dont want to do this in your house, it can stink (depends on the plastic you use, some smell more than others) a 72" workbench is about the smallest i would want, mine is 60" and there isnt enough room sometimes. 13. some cheap cookie sheets, and bowls. this is what i put my injector on while im pouring so the plastic doesnt get everywhere, as well as my stirring utensil, also on a different sheet i put my baits to cure. the bowls is where i put my scrap plastic, just between pours/remelts. 14. clamps. 6" bar clamps work great for holding multiple mods together. irwin makes a good one, walmart (hyper tough) is a decent alternative and MUCH cheaper, this is what i use and have not had any problems. im sure i am forgetting something, but that will get you started. a word of warning, this hobby can get expensive. you can get started for not too much, but you will be buying molds, more colors, more glitter, more plastic, etc etc etc very soon! i started with 2 molds, bought another 2 a week later and now after 6 months i have 12 with another on the way, have probably 30+ colors, 30+ glitters, at least 10 pearls/hi-lights, 8 pyrex cups, it goes on and on!

Ok one thing to shoot a two color bait if using a twin injector the belly needs to be on one plate and the top on the other . I shoot a 14 cavity mold in baby shad and get great baits. The temp has to be around 300f when u are shooting or they will swirl or mix. If your mold has one side on one plate and the other side on the other plate i will say it will more than likely shoot one side one color and the other side the other color. the injector might can be turned to where it would shoot top and bottom but on my mold if u turn it it will shoot one side of baits one color and the other side the other color. i do not have a mold like that so i don't know for sure. The lam plates if u have a mold that the sides are in each side it will only shoot the side. i have passed up molds when the belly and top are not on each plate. U can cut the bait in half and shoot the other half if the spur will let u. But shoot as hot as possible so it will bond to the cold plastic might even want to heat the mold so both will stick together.The sand cast molds do not have a smooth finish, they catch fish but i don't like the way they look . The CNC molds spoil u LOL I like the smooth shinny baits. Cub48

I have some molds that I can inject with two injectors at the same time and they laminate I also have others that swirl when I try it. That is why I buy the aluminum flashing like shown in my pic and make laminate plates. It only takes a few minutes to make one and you won't have to do all of that bait cutting.

Nice first try! You might consider a pearl or sugar belly which is similar to bass coloration: This was taken with my old Olympus camera which did not take good close-ups. What is not visible is the gold flake or green flake. The belly color was from mixing .015 sugar flakes into clear plastic and is semitranslucent.