finesse1331

I've searched for dived cup on Ebay and can only find tupperware.

So would sanding the surface with something to dull the surface work ?

Won't the metal arch inside the microwave ?

Try cleaning your mold with some worm oil , make sure there is no film or dirt in it. You should get shiny baits out of your aluminum no matter what skill level you are.

No release agent used at all , it's an aluminum mold. Is yours aluminum ? You should be getting shiny baits out of it.

Here's a better picture of the Trick worm mold I have , it's a hand pour.

Here it is

I have this mold, it's the 6.25" diamond tail.

You can use worm oil,thats probably the best thing to use, you can also use olive oil or vegetable oil but those will go bad in time. Like ipt said the worm oil will stink up the house so make sure to cook it outside. I have made a home made coffee,garlic,anise scent and they come out great. I've even experimentede making my own garlic paste to smear on my jigs.

Looks like 2 colors with either some pearl powder or hi lite powder added to it.

I do 2 color pours all the time, in order to get a good bond with the 2 colors you will need to pour the darker color almost immediately after you pour the white color. If you pour it to soon the colors will just blend together and you won't get that clean top line but more of a smudged or smeared line. Now if you wait to long your colors won't bond correctly and you have cold cracks, thats where your plastic has already cooled to much and neither color has bonded to each other and you can easily seperate the 2 colors by pulling them apart.I use Lee's pots and I use measuring cups. I would do some test pours with some scrap plastic and you should get a feel of how fast you gotta pour the 2nd color. If your using a pop mold you can heat it up a bit and that will give you a little more of a window to work with. Good luck and welcome to the club.

If I'm not mistaken that is a RTV mold from Lurecraft,not 100% sure.

I have made alot of 2 piece POP and resin molds with tiny appendages (sp) that fill up fine with the proper venting. Some molds don't even have to be vented depending on the size of the segment you are trying to pour. I would make the mold,seal it, then pour some plastic and see if the cavity fills, you can see where it would need to be vented if it did. I pour my plastic at a little higher temperature than normal to get it to fill certain molds.

+1 on Nova's comment.

Did you shake the crap out of your colors before you added them to the plastic, if your colors have been sitting for awhile they do settle, kinda like plastisol and its hard packing. I would make sure you shake them up very well.

Not a problem, glad i could help. Good luck

I'm no pro at this but I did notice that it depends on the temperature your plastic is. I was told to dip it when the plastic was very hot like 330 to 340 degrees. The hotter the plastic the more it's gonna run and the thinner each layer will be. I usually dip about 5 to 6 times I believe. I've also tried dipping with cooler plastic and it tends to clump on the rod at times.

That is what I use to dip baits and it does give you a hex pattern on the inside. I coat the wrech with worm oil before I dip, after the plastic has cured for a few minutes it slides right off.

The easiest way I've found to seal a POP mold is to mix some Elmers glue with water. I like to make it to a some what thick but runny liquid almost like syrup. Once you have your glue and water mixed you can then either brush it on the mold and let it sit for a minute then remove the extra that is sitting in the cavaties, or you can pour a little bit in the cavaty and swish it around. You gotta make sure that your mold is completely dry though before you seal it. I usually put mine in a oven on really low heat for about 30 minutes and check it. Another way is using Devcon 2 ton epoxy, make sure its the 30 minute kind,that will give you more time to work with it before it starts to cure and harden up. You can thin the epoxy with denatured alcohol. I only use epoxy on molds that don't have a lot of detail,some times the epoxy can ruin really fine detail. Good luck, I would do some searches on here with the search engine,alot of good answers on here by great people.

I can say from experience that once you buy 1 mold you will be wanting more. I said the exact same thing as you did about a year ago. I now have about 30 molds,5 gallons of plastic and a ton of colors,glitters,pearl powders,hi lite powders.you can search on here for any info you might need, alot of great people on here willing to help out as much as possible.I can answer some questions if you need some answered but there are alot of guys on here who have been doing this for years who could chime in with more knowledge.

I have made about 15 or so molds out of plaster of Paris and out of resin.I can say that I am pretty strict on my mold making, I like to have nice clean molds that have straight sides so I dont get any kind of flash or crooked edges. I usually glue my plastics down to the container with either some super glue or double sided tape, I also like to mix my plaster so that it is a little more thinner than pancake batter, I feel I get better detail when the plaster is a little more on the liquid side. Once my molds are set I let them dry for about 2 days to get all the moisture out, they will seal alot better if completely dry. I like to take a exacto knife and clean up the edges before sealing. I use Devcon 2 ton epoxy,it is great for some molds,if I have a mold that has alot of grooves,appendages and what not I use Elmers glue mixed with water. If you have any questions you can send me a message,I will help out any way I can. Good luck with your new hobbie.

email sent,thanks.

As for the best place to buy stuff is a matter of opinion, I buy stuff from Bears Baits and Lurecraft. As for plastic I use Lurecraft plastic, but again everyone has there favorite brand. This is an addicting hobby to get into but I believe it will save you money if you make your own baits, and if you ever sell any to friends,co workers you can make a little extra cash. You can do a search on this site for pretty much any question you have.

I've used super glue with good results, I usually wash my masters if they are made of plastic with warm water and soap to get rid of any oily residue. Another option that I've tried is double sided tape,it stick pretty good to the master and the mold container.........good luck.

I heard your not supposed to use mineral oil on plastics because it destroys the plastic, not sure if this only applies to freshly made plastics or not. I think there are a few topics on here about it and how it affects the plastic. I used vegetable oil for my scent but I will be trying olive oil soon.