Mr.Stone

Thank you Chuck, I tried the book binder material to make stencils, the ones I made I did wrong, for some reason I have an overwhelming urge to paint true flames on a lure but I made these a bit big and my understanding and experience with airbrushing is still to limited to try this, plus its impractical. I painted my second ever batch of hard baits (3 of them) yesterday, the results are much better but stil can be improved a lot. I would like to upload some pictures to the gallery but it seems like I cant do that from my phone, so maybe when I can remember my password ill take some photos and upload them using a pc:)

Thank you BobP. Some good advice given here. I used some kind of plastic cutting board, about 1,5mm thick to make stencils but this is hard to cut neatly and requires multiple cuts with a exacto knife. I then got some plastic book binding covers and although they are somewhat thinner than the plastic cutting board an exacto knife has a harder time getting through that. Ill look for frisket around here and try that:)

The blue painters tape I got seems like regular tack, the only difference between this and normal masking tape is the price and colour. Out of curiosity I took a small piece of tape and applied it over a hardbait that I messed up the painting, the bait had foil on the sides. The tape took off the paint that was over the foil, but the paint that was over the wood had not been removed. So im thinking its likely that heat set paint might pull off, but we will see. Might also be that the paint has better adhesion over a sanded surface than a smooth foil surface. Chuck, that looks like an ideal method for making a stencil, especially if you're making a split body lure, as you would have two halves. I would definitely try that once I get my shapes more consistent, I shape my lures by hand, and even though I start with more or less the same initial shape they never end up the same. So I would have to make one stencil for each lure:)

I got some blue painters tape finally, had to go to a couple of hardware stores to find it. Now I just need to make time to paint some lures to see how it works:)

Is the regular tack blue tape you referring to the same blue painters tape that benton B and 21xdc is talking about? I want to paint a background (so to speak) then mask off parts of it then paint over that, so I will be placing the tape over some paint. Im off to the hardware store now to see if I can pick up some blue painters tape. I want to order some locking forceps as they look much more comfortable to work with, at the moment im using a fly tying vice, is not bad but has some issues. Thank you BobP, 21xdc and benton B your advice is appreciated

Good evening everyone. When using masking tape to mask off an area while painting with a water-based paint, do you clean off any sticky residue left behind before applying a clear coat? That is if there is something left behind. Im referring to normal cream coloured masking tape you would find in a hardware store. While on the subject, is the so called "low tack tape" worth getting? Thank you:)

Thank you all for the advice. Jonister, I was considering a tote before yes, to get one that is semi clear and big enough is around 45 dollars here, but ill look around or build something to cover the lures while they are drying. I try my best to not touch the lures before I apply expoxy, I would mount them on the drying rack and then apply the epoxy while they are on there, gloves would definitely help though. The time I leave the lures rotating was now 8 hrs per coat, but ill try to make the first coat time a bit shorter. The lures look good, they should be fully cured now, just not sure whether I should mount them on the wall or fish them There is a lot of room for improvement especially with my airbrushing skills! I just need to make some different coloured eyes for the lures I want to do next week so that would be another couple of days of waiting before I can begin painting again but its well worth it.

Thank you for the advice BobP. The epoxy in the cup is quite solid this morning, just waiting for the weather to warm up a little before I apply a second coat. Lures look good, there are some spots here and there that seem like small peaks or possibly trapped dust or something. My initial concern was that the motor im using would possibly burn out as this was the longest time it has been running for and did get warm, so I wasn't keen to leave it running overnight but also didn't want to get sag from the clear. I did switch it off after the lures had been rotating for 8 hours. I really need to make a jig or some sort of machine that would slap me on the head every time I fiddle with the clear coat while applying it. Things would look great, then I see something and fiddle with it and make it worse then I try to fix that and it just goes on and on.

Good evening everyone:) Ive just clear coated my first two lures with a pour on similar to etex, now my question to you is : How long do you leave lures rotating on a rotating drying rack? Not sure of the correct terminology used for the name of a rotating drying rack? The lures have their first coat on and I would likely apply another coat tomorrow morning. The left over clear coat has a consistency of toffee more or less.

Interesting point you bring up here McLuvin. The can was in a cupboard, which is quite cool as that part of the house would not get much sun, so I took the can and placed it on top of my car roof in direct sun until the can felt "body temperature" or not cool when you pick it up and shake it. The foiled lure was inside on a desk, so it was cool but not cold. When I sprayed the clear coat on the lure it went milky basically instantaneously. Needless to say that put me off using that type of clear. I believe the manufacturer has a msds , though the msds is not specific to the clear coat but rather to their whole range. It would actually be quite interesting to contact the manufacturer and see what they say about this, ill send them an email. I actually got around to airbrushing my first two lures yesterday and just clear coated them with a pour on about 3 hours ago and now im contemplating whether or not I should apply a second coat... is really nerve wrecking

I wont be using etex to coat the lures as it is difficult to get hold of it around here, but the product I will be using is also a pour on polymer compound. The results I got from using this product to make "3d eyes" was really good so im looking forward to use it as a clear coat. I will read that tutorial thank you BobP.

I stay near the coast, or near enough for the humidity to be high on a regular basis and the day I sprayed the humidity could have been on the high side so this could have been the cause of the clear going milky, I was also spraying outside. The paint is lacquer based yes, I was not aware that this would be a problem but at least I know now. Based on this, humidity wise,what is considered too high? I use thin foil as well, and I do burnish them as you described above. I would stick the foil over the lure, smooth out and burnish then I would polish the foil and then I would clean it up with rubbing alcohol. So now after this I will spray a white base where I want it and then continue with colours and clean up as I go. When im happy with the paint job I will glue in the eye and then apply a pour on clear similar to etex, though I would prefer to apply two coats. I read somewhere if using a pour on you should apply the second coat before the first coat fully cures? Thank you all for the informative replies.

Im also thinking about painting directly over the foil and then using a pour on similar to etex. I've just seen this is how some people on YouTube would do it. They would make the lure, lay down a primer, then base colours, then foil, then clear from a can and then final colours and over that a pour on epoxy. By local I meant a popular product here in south Africa, so its not from walmart.I've used some of their products a long time ago and it was nothing great but also nothing like this stuff. There are quite a bit of rustoleum products available here, at around 4 times the price of the local brand. But if I could get decent results from foiling then painting and applying a pour on clear there would be no real reason for buying and applying the canned clear. What was interesting, just now I took a little blow torch like lighter and applied heat to the lure in question, the cloudy colour disappeared, but it also lifted the foil, wrinkling it, applying the heat more gradually prevented the foil from lifting and cleared up the milky finish, but it likely weakens the bond the foil has to the lure.

Good afternoon everybody. Today I decided to try foiling some lures I made, the foiling went OK for my first try at it. I was excited about clear coating the foiled lures so that I could paint them. I used a local brand of rattle can clear and warmed up the can and shaked it for quite some time before spraying it, as I sprayed a coat on the lure the whole thing went milky, literally looking like I sprayed it with milk and thats pretty much how it set, looking milky. Any ideas on why it did this? I could try post a picture but I doubt would help. Is it a bad can of clear or just a bad product? I had problems with a white primer of the same brand in the sense that it wouldn't cover / make a solid white background to paint over. Thank you

Thank you for the tips Fishcandy, these are quite clever, and the table saw strips the wood real fast! Unfortunately I do not have a table saw or a band saw (really want one of these). The drill press lathe works pretty good, only limit is that I can turn a popper up to only about 20 cm/ 8 inch long, and if I had proper lathe chisels it would make life easier and a lot safer. At the moment I would use normal woodworking chisels, which get grabbed by the wood and it also takes ages to get the square stock round. I did 3 poppers this way , but it is time consuming and I cant find a rotary burr big enough (about the size of a golf ball) to make the hollow / mouth of the popper so im sticking to stickbait and subsurface lures for now.