longhorn

Great idea! I was looking at an old Bill Dance this week and he said that bass focus on the eye when they kill/feed. Don't know if it's true but the eyes look good. Thanks for sharing.

I put the mold in the oven to melt the wax. It doesn't melt all at once so you have to pour out the wax two or three times before it all comes out. I always bake my molds for at least an hour at 325 or 350...thicker molds longer. The wax leaves no trace in the cavity and the Elmers sticks just fine.

Since I was making a production mold of my new swim bait thought I'd take a few shots of the process I use. I know this is old stuff for most of you but there are a few that are new to this stuff and a picture explains so well. Start by making as many "overpours" of your original as you need. Arrange them on a flat surface on the outline of your mold container. Fill in the gaps with plastic to hold them together. Tape down your container. Add POP and you have a new production mold and also a new master for a production mold that can be used over and over. Seal the mold with your coating of choice...mine is Elmer's Glue All. I baked the mold last night and am going to flood it with Elmer's in a minute and expect it will be ready to pour in a couple hours.

I got the idea of putting glitter on the bait before the dip from looking at Jim's Phantom Shad in Rainbow Trout. Credit where credit is due. Thanks Jim

My opinion is that the shine is for us...not the fish. Most fish in the water appear to have a completely flat non-reflective surface...we've all seen fish in an aquarium...so a dull finish bait should look more natural. But who knows how the fish sees it? Interesting subject.

Thank y'all for the kind words. Yes, I carved 99% of it with my trusty pocketknife...used a little tool for the eye recesses. These baits are dipped once in clear plastic to seal the eyes etc. I planned on making this a dipped bait so I didn't have to worry so much about the finish on the carving. Elmer's will give a high gloss also.

As shiny as you want. I think Elmer's will make an even shinier finish. I'll try to post some photos of examples.

I have had several but I still wouldn't think of getting into this conversation

Yesterday while watching football I carved some canning wax into a swim bait...made a POP/Elmers mold and this is what came out. I am pleased and it swims really well. Please excuse my wrinkled old hands...I tried to take the photos several ways but these are the best of the bait.

Elmer's Glue All works good also. You can thin it a little and brush it on or mix it 50/50 with water and pour into the cavity...let it set for a few minutes and drain. A few coats may be required to get the shine you want.

Since you want to keep your design and process I'd try softer plastic. Maybe the tube plastic for one dip and softer for the final. This designing and making baits that work and also look good is a trial and error process. I've found that swimming tubes are especially difficult and have given up. Your bait looks great! You have way more patience than me.

I have made some masters from carved wax....then put them in the wet POP from the top. When you put the mold in the oven the wax will melt so you can pour it out. It may take 2 or 3 pours because all the wax may not melt at once. When the mold is cured the wax leaves no residue and can be coated with Elmer's with no problem.

That was going to be my guess also. I bake my molds in the oven to remove the moisture. Thin molds (1" or so) at least an hour at 350....thicker about 2 hours. When they are dry you can tell...they are snowy white and dragging your fingernail over it makes a squeaking sound. I don't think the glue is doing any kind of reaction. Good luck.

My friend found this little scoop at a local scrapbooking store. It works great for glitter and powders. I'm assuming it's available at craft stores etc. Y'all probably already have these but I'd never seen one this small.

Lurecraft has some that look close.

I've only got experience with LC super highlight colors. They turn into highlighted pearl when more color is added....which makes great colors... but are there colors out there that highlight but don't turn into a highlighted pearl or am I just using too much? I make very small batches. Thanks in advance for your help.

I use Elmer's Glue All not the Elmer's School glue. It may be fine just haven't tried it. It dries rather quickly and can be poured on as soon as it's dry. If your painting a mold and don't use too much glue it will dry within 15 minutes. If you're flooding a mold the sides will dry first and some glue mix will settle to the bottom and take a little longer to dry. I usually try to catch this and remove the excess with light air pressure or a small paint brush. When I'm brushing a mold I brush some on a small area on the top and when it's dry then I assume the rest is also. If you pour too soon it's not big deal...the bait will come out with a little glue on it and the mold won't be hurt. As impatient as I am I've done this several times. Also a hair dryer speeds the drying if you're really in a hurry. Also on the shine issue..the more coats the shinier the baits. You can use the glue full strength also.

I'm sure pyrex or anchor will work under heat lamps since they are made to go in the oven but I've not tried it. My table is made for my pouring pans and a pyrex measuring cup won't go in. If you used smaller measuring cups you could probably keep two warm with one pair of lamps so you could do four colors with only two pairs of lamps. Check the specs on the pyrex site...I'll bet they're made to withstand at least 450 degrees F.

Sounds like the plastic may be too soft or too hot. I had my best results dipping with regular plastic not super soft. Either of these would cause a "thin" dip. I've read where some use tube plastic. The basstrix baits I bought (one package) are made of fairly tough plastic. Dipping baits is really a pain isn't it? I've given up on the whole idea. Good luck.

The tape works fine for me.

Haven't tried spray but Scotch permanent double-sided tape works well for me. I can usually only find 1/2" width but it's not a big deal to tape the entire mold surface and then stick down the originals wherever you like.

I've used the Mustad Power Lock hooks with good success but they only come in 1/16 and 1/8. heres link: http://www.mustad.no/catalog/product.php?id=1791

My simple setup easily keeps two colors ready to pour right in the pouring pans...additional stations could be added to do 3 or 4 colors at once. Do a search for pouring table to view my post from earlier this year. It has photo and info.

They look great...how do they swim compared the the Basstrix? Good job!

A finesse worm is a very good candidate for the process below and you should be able to make a 15 cavity mold with no problem. After the plaster goe through it's own heating process and starts to cool then it the time to remove the originals and clean up the mold with a knife. Then put it in the over at 325 for at least an hour to remove the moisture. The glue wont stick well with moisture still in the mold. See below on flooding...you will want to do this rather than painting. Not sure you've seen this post so here's some instructions I've posted before: not easy to explain in a few words...this method is for making pop molds using a plastic bait as the original. I use a plastic container with the bottom cut out....trace the outline of the container on a serving tray or other flat clean surface (your plaster will be poured on this so a tray is handy). the outline is the size of the mold so pick your containers according to what you're making the mold for. take permanent double-sided scotch tape and tape the entire area inside the outline with very little overlap. wash plastic originals in detergent to remove all oil. arrange originals on the tape to your liking...press firmly on entire length to make sure they stick to tape...then put the container you traced back over your taped originals and tape it down to the tray using masking tape....mix pop to the consistency of pancake batter...make sure you have enough for a thick mold so it wont break easily....pour pop over originals and then gently work the tray back and forth to level the plaster...then gently tap the tray on a counter or table to release any big air bubbles from around the lures...not too hard because you want the tape to hold...let it cure through the heating cycle and starts to cool...then carefully remove the container and then the mold from the tray....trim excess plaster around edges of mold and make smooth rounded edges...look at the cavities and trim excess plaster there if needed...don't trim too much...now bake in the oven for an hour at 350 to dry....after that flood the cavities with a mix of water and elmer's white glue-all...start with 1 part water and 3 parts glue...milky constistency...spread the glue over all mold surfaces to seal...let it remain in the cavities for a couple of minutes..swish it back and forth to ensure good coverage... drain excess by shaking the mold...after the glue dries it's ready for a test pour...sometimes a second coat is needed...if you have bubbles in your pours you can apply more glue in only those cavities by flooding or with an artists brush.