Pogue

I got the idea of using an oven to bake it from Dick Figgins (Dick Nite) himself.

I had this same issue until I figured out the cause. I dip with DN, letting the plugs sit in a oven (100deg overnight) and dipping a second coat. This same crackling was happening to me but I noticed it was worse on the darker colored plugs. What was causing this is the darker colored plugs were absorbing more heat (I use two 100W bulbs for a heat source) from the lights. When I dipped the second coat, the DN would start to set with the heat that was emmitted from the plug body while it was flowing down the body - causing the crackling. I now let the plugs sit in the heated oven for 5-6 hours then turn off the heat for at least 3 hours before the second coat to allow the entire plug to return to room temp. I build wood plugs and have repainted plastics and since I follow this procedure I haven't had it happen again!

+1.... I don't post here much, but this is what I've found. First of all, what DN top coat are you using? Do you use heat to cure the DN and your Createx? I use the moisture cure (I think its called S-81) and have had the same issues in the past. What caused my problems was that I use a couple thermostat controlled 100w lights in a box to maintain a temp of 100deg. I was having wrinkling on lures that had been painted with darker paints (black, green, blue, etc.) What was happening was the heat from the lights (direct light not diffused) was being absorbed faster into the darker colors and after dipping and hanging in the 100deg box the DN would start to cure too fast from the excessive heat absorbed by those colors. As the DN ran down the body, It would create wrinkles anywhere the darker colors were present. I also had the lures sitting in the box (at 100deg) before they were dipped. Now I don't preheat the lures that have the dark colors on them, I place them into the box only after being dipped. I also now lower the temperature for the first 1/2 hour that they hang. I dip most lures at least twice this way and have had no further issues. I know this is a little different than what you described, but it sounds like your pearls are not fully set/cured.

Thanx Mark & HawgBone!! I'm just getting into repaints, its fun to try and match other patterns. Mostly I just repaint older warriors.

I joined a while back, but this is my first post on this site (sorry to be just a lurker!). I have painted this pattern for a friend of mine on a few lures now, mabybe three-to-four in all. It seems that he wants these same two patterns on everything? These are the first ones I did for him. In the first pic, the ones I painted are the top and bottom - the middle is what I copied. For the second pic, I painted the bottom one, I copied the top pattern. P.S. - This is a great site!!!