DIY 3-D Eyes

[atrophius]

Just thought I would share something I have been working on. I have been trying to get better eyes on my lures. So I got a hole punch, some hologram tape, black paint, and some "realistic water"; the stuff they use for fake water on model railroad track setups.

I just started punching out some holo tape and putting a black dot in the center. Then, i would let that dry and put a decent sized drop of the realistic water on the punch out. It took a pretty big drop, and it looks to big when ya put it on, but it shrinks a little when dry. The edge of the punch out holds the drop there to dry (surface tension?) I thought they came out decent, but I have to work on the pupil a little better. I also used some really thin plastic and painted it with a gold paint, and some pearls, and did the same thing as the holo tape.

Here they are.

Edited June 22, 2009 by atrophius

[68KingFisher]

Thats cool.....I've been wondering what kinda eye options I could use on my own baits.....Do you know yet how the "realistic water" will react to being cleared over with epoxy or uro's? Any compatability problems or have you got that far yet?

[atrophius]

I have 5 baits on the spinner right now with the eyes on. I use Etex so will update when they get done. I did not notice any immediate sagging or bleeding from them. Will post pics and update tomorrow.

It is kind of funny though, a couple baits I didn't pay to much attention where one eye was in relation to the other eye. So if you look down on the bait, the eyes are in different locations lol. Guess it doesnt matter, the fish mostly see one side at a time

Edited June 22, 2009 by atrophius

[Vodkaman]

Atrophius, those eyes look great.

I would not worry too much about the pupils, as fish rarely have perfectly round pupils anyway, but we are always striving for perfection, so I do understand.

Another way of doing the pupils is with a hole punch and some black card. Put a drop of the clear on the holo' then position the card pupil with a fine needle, then add the rest of the clear to suit.

Dave

[pizza]

Nice work! Another option for pupils is to get what is called a "revolving punch pliers". These punch holes smaller than a standard paper hole punch. I saw them at JoAnn fabrics the other day but I'm sure hardware stores also sell them. Take electrical tape and tape a piece to wax paper (or shiny thick paper that junk mail advertisements often come on, if it is shiny chances are electrical tape will not adhere superwell to it which is what you want). Then if you are using wax paper get some thick paper to put behind it, or if you are using shiny thick paper just punch away. By using just the right amount of pressure you will perforate the tape but not the backing behind the tape. Then you can just peel them off. I use exacto to start peeling. Sometimes the entire thing ends up in hole and you must fish it out, etc but you still can get your pupil.

As a side note, I've got a lure curing right now that has eyes made from holo tape (paper punch- eye backround)and electrical tape(revolving punch- electrical tape pupils). I've had the revolving punch for a while but just got a paper punch friday night. Mine are not 3-d like yours and I ended up having to babysit the pupils for over an hour because I heated my bait with a torch because my etex was not smooth bc I finally decided to wait for 15 minutes on the etex like everyone seems to say(to help remove air bubbles which I always seem to have a few). Like that last sentence? I had never done that before (wait 15 min on etex)and never will again! The pupils slid off due to the heat and every few rotations I used an exacto to repostion. I left after an hour+ of babysitting and luckily they stayed (more or less) in place. I wanted the pupils slightly forward and down to give the mean look of the McStick but they slid a little bit. The coating was still not smooth after all that so I had to sand it and ended up sanding into the paint in places,etc,etc,etc so I had to repaint which I wasn't happy with the result,etc,etc,etc. I'm sure everyone has been there....

Edited June 22, 2009 by pizza

[fish]

cool idea,do you make tear drop shaped eyes like on a grayling?

[Sonny.Barile]

Pizza.....I had one of those days recently...or I should say one of those weekends.....

I wanted to make an Original Floating Rapala. (The 5 inch model). I used oak. I put a slat of 1/2 inch thick white oak on my band saw and my blade broke. I put a new blade in and my Royobi saw is a pain to get just right. I got the blank cut out and proceded to put it in the table vice. Thats when I found out my son had been in the garage earlier and got wd40 all over my soft jaws. Needless to say that no paint is going to adhere to that lure body. It was late.....so I gave up for the night. (That was Firday evening). Saturday morning I got an early start and cleaned my soft jaws good. I then cut out another blank and filed it into shape. Well....I got a little over zealous with a rasp and removed way to much material. I started over.....and this time it came out just perfect. I went to drill out the weight holes.....and the whole side blew out. Again I started over.....and this time all went well.....even the holes...and the lip slot are just right. I read a post the night before about using Kils primer as a filler/sealer/primer. I dipped the body and hung it up to drip/dry. Sunday afternoon it looked dry but it was really stinky. That stuff gives off quite an oder. I decided to sand it off. It literally peeled off like tape. I gave it a light sanding and there is not a molecule of paint left on it but it still stinks. Here it is Monday night and it is still stinky........Now Im afraid to finish it because we all know if it stinks...the fish wont bite it........but I just dont have the mental stamina to bang out another one...........sorry for the long post....but you started it....LOL

[atrophius]

Cool, thanks for the additional ideas on the eyes. Might have to try some of those out. I Just got my first lures off the wheel using this eye. As far as compatibility with the realistic water stuff and etex, they appear to work just fine together.. The etex forms over it just fine and there is no bleeding or malformation of the shape of the eye.

I just uploaded a bunch of baits I finished using these and I am going to try to get some carving done for the eyes on my next batch.

[ROWINGADUBAY]

AWESOME WORK!!!!!! I COULD'NT BUY BETTER EYE'S I would think you could do the same using devcon it should be thick enough to make "lens" I also love the natural wood lure with the red dots looks like a brown trout . If anyone tried this using epoxy could you tell us what happened ?

Edited June 24, 2009 by paintsniffer
better word for the idea

[hazmail]

Don't use D2T you get bubbles like these, Etex of Glass Cote or similar slow set epoxy is much better. The two on left are D2T, the three on the right are 'Glass Cote'. pete

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb290/hazmail/uploads/eye2-1.jpg

Edited June 24, 2009 by hazmail

[atrophius]

Nice hazmail, Are those tacks?

[Sonny.Barile]

Hazmail

Am I seeing a reflection of the ceiling light fixture?

Those are the best I have ever seen. They look better than the eyes I get on purchased premium lures.

[fatfingers]

Those are really sharp, Pete.

[CL Rods]

Guys those are some nice examples of DIY 3D Eyes. But wow, I think I am going to let the robots make mine. I have tried in the past and used D2T and didn't think to switch to Etex, but I am still not sure I have a steady enough hand or patience to make a couple hundred come out consistent.

I salute your fortitude.

[atrophius]

Yeah, I would agree with you on that gator. I do not produce a tremendous amount of baits. so I figured make a dozen or so instead of buying 100 lol.

[surfk9]

i've experimented making my own eyes using devcon d2t 5 min. i make them in place on the lure ..first using a 3/16" forstner bit i drill a shallow hole...i then mix 2 small batches of 5 min,..

to the first i add a createx color for the iris color...in the second batch i add color for the pupil. using the iris color i "drip" the devcon into the hole, using a toothpick, until it spheres over the opening...at this point using a small amount from the pupil color , with a toothpick, gently puncture the top of the iris and mix in the pupil color shaping it to your liking. i then d2t the entire lure with 30 minute. one must work fast so that the iris sphere does'nt "set" before applying the pupil. hopefully you can follow my ramblings...unfortunately my camera is not functioning or i would include a pic. surfk9

Edited June 27, 2009 by surfk9

[hazmail]

Sorry for the delay in the reply 'atrophius ', 'Sonny.Barile', & Vince, been away to a funeral-

Sonny.Barile - yes those are the reflections of the light bulb.

It's all very fiddly making these, I (and others) posted something on this about a year back but I can't find it so I have attached a drawing from my 'Photobucket' album which might explain it a bit better - I found D2T goes off too quick and does not release the bubbles, so used an epoxy called "Flex Coat' which is 12 hour set, the same as Etex etc,

I got a pin (domed 'dressmakers pin') and blue tacked (or 'super glue') an appropriate coloured sequin (with painted pupil) and a small circle of polycarbonate which I punched out with a paper punch, onto the round pin head and spiked it into a piece of cardboard (vertical), mixed up some 'flex coat' and let it settle for a while to get some of the bubbles out, I then used a wire to place drops of the epoxy onto sequin until I had a dome of epoxy- the epoxy will not run off the sequin because of the surface tension/ meniscus of the epoxy, and it is surprising how much you can add. I then let it settle for about 1/4 hour and gently heated it with a hair dryer and gas flame for good measure to remove bubbles, let it cool for 5 minutes and then flipped the cardboard over so the eyes are on the underside of the card, the epoxy will then sag a bit (gravity) - leave it for about 12 hours to set, cut the pins off and if you are lucky you get some domed eyes.

Like I said it's all very fiddly but you get to make some weird eyes, if you put too much epoxy on you can get 'double domes'-

These are nothing like "robotic made eyes" but if you get organised you can make a heap in one session.pete

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Edited June 29, 2009 by hazmail

[atrophius]

Awesome, thanks for that info. i might try some different materials. Here I thought I stumbled onto something for eyes, and you guys got it down pat! Good to see so many variants.