pizz

i am noticing a small drop off in sales (spring vs summer).. figured back to school shopping + economy is playing a big part, but the usual customers are still "crankin" out paint jobs for me plus i am new in the overall grand scheme of painting lures... just gotta get the name out there and hopefully not take too many lumps in the process. on a positive note, a lot of people all over the US have been helpful in suggesting "workable changes or constructive criticism" to some of my lures.. i am learning what colors work well in certain regions and dialing in my colors to match.

having the same issues, but it was only to request a sample. its been almost 2 months since the phone convo/email request. hope all is ok.

I order from Coast Airbrush as well. Ive been to the shop once and they have so much stuff geared towards painting!! They do have the best prices and can even downsize the amount of paint to 1 oz. Which is perfect because it makes 2 oz's or more reduced. 2 oz's goes along way for lures. Ive also ordered from TCP global and i tried their pre-reduced HOK and i personally thought it was too watery. I have to adjust my pressure to 15-20 psi where i normally shoot closer to 24-25 psi. I have heard good things about Createx Auto Air, but if im not mistaken it was the most expensive of the createx line. I have 1 brush for waterbase paints, 2 brushes for solvent and clearcoats. I want to purchase a 3rd gun for finer detail but that Iwata Micron series isnt going to make the lures sell any better

i personally did not like createx paint. i thought it was tough to clean the brush and sprayed too spotty. i called Iwata and asked if they had problems with createx paints and they said for whatever reason it didnt shoot good thru their gun. they said not to use water to thin because it would "spiderweb" a bit. they recommended the transparent base as an additive and i tried that. i noticed a small difference in all colors except the opaque paint. i painted a lot with it, but nothing beats solvent base paints. I did try the Createx Wicked Colors, which is their higher end paint and i liked that a lot better, but still had to clean the brush constantly. even with the "airbrush cleaner" it would take a lot of cleaner to clean. ive been using HOK and will never go back. i dont want to sway your opinion in any direction, its all preference and learning process, but nobody posts too many negatives about createx perhaps because they havent tried anything else.

"Liner" artists brush

Specialty Tackle made the Junior D which is my favorite crank of all time. Too bad they discontinued them. :/

i looked at some other stock Mann's lures and it looks like a mix of silver iridescent and green iridescent. i dont know how available those are, but a close match could be .008 silver and green. just a thought.

that makes more sense on scraping with the back side of the blade, i may have misread that. i will have to try that and see how it works for me. thanks for the tip!

agree, 1 coat only. 2 coats can really make areas uneven if not applied right. its all a learning process.

youd have to be pretty good with an xacto blade to not scrape in to the plastic i would be reluctant to dipping lures. the plastic can get soft from the hard chemicals in acetone or laquer thinner. maybe im just thinking of PVC types, i would just take a Qtip dipped in acetone or LT and swap the needed areas and re-sand it.

if you get the side colors right, all you would have to do is add a drop (maybe not even that) of a green or even black. it all depends on how much you have left in your mixing cup. you could even dip a toothpick or stir stick into the darker color you have and just mix the paint with that dipped stick

depends on what basecoat color i am using, but i usually use a primer. i have gone to straight black, but no matter what base coat i start with, i always sand with 500+ grit. youll find with a fine sand pre paint will smooth out any rough areas or little bumps

since those are pics of my lures i can tell you how i made the stencil. i use overhead projector sheets because they are plastic and flexible to contour of each lure, also easy to clean. i used a single hole puncher to do a half cut, then i went over those cuts with another round of half cuts to achieve the look i wanted. it takes time and practice. It was solarfall's lures that inspired me so i got to talking with him.. great guy to talk to. i use solvent paint so its easier to clean and gets less build up on the stencil good luck!