shaggy1081 Posted October 12, 2011 Report Share Posted October 12, 2011 Gonna try to make this tutorial as simple as possible the tools and the material is very crucial to making this work correctly and easily First thing you will need to find is the Waterslide decal paper i purchase mine off ebay im using the inkjet decal paper comes in sheets the same same as regular printer paper most of its around $1.00 a sheet if your using inkjet you must seal the paper with clear acrylic spray but take my advice and use the treehouse studios version sold at your local craft stores like hobby lobby or micheals for those using laser printers there is no need to seal the paper the program of choice for me is microsoft publisher 2007 about the most simple program to use im sure others will work get your decals sized and paper sealed only seal the decals your planning on using otherwise the decals will become hard and hard to work with later i will speed up the drying process with a hair dryer also i use 2 pieces of foam to sandwich the lure in to force the decal to the bait Next step cut out your decals and lay them to your bait and trace around the body on the back side of the decal and remove the excess to keep the from overlapping you are only looking for the sides the top and bottoms will be faded later Now that you have this done its time to soak them in the water for about 30 seconds Simply slide your decal off the backing paper onto your lure once its on push gently and check your decal placement Now that its in the right position push down firmly until the decal is completely down Now that the decals are in place ill use a decal set solution to help the decals bond to the bait im using testors decal set but others like solvaset can be used but needs to be diluted once the decal solution has dried clean the bait with alcohol to remove any contaminates that would interfere with the topcoat and fade the tops and bottoms in to your specific needs and the finished product if you get spots on the decal that wont lay down use a hair dryer to heat up the spot and push it down with your finger just make sure you clean up the bait with alcohol after your finished handeling it i use 1 coat of bob smith 30 min. slow cure epoxy any questions feel free to ask 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sallystrothers Posted October 13, 2011 Report Share Posted October 13, 2011 Great tutorial, I developed almost the same method, although instead of foam I utilized turpentine which presented its own difficulties. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodenfeather Posted October 13, 2011 Report Share Posted October 13, 2011 Great, now I have to buy more lure making stuff. Thanks for sharing! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bogaduck Posted October 17, 2011 Report Share Posted October 17, 2011 Nice tutorial. What is the bond strength between the base coat and decal paper if you wanted to just rattle can clear it ? Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwfflipper Posted October 20, 2011 Report Share Posted October 20, 2011 WOW is that how you do it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swohio Posted December 7, 2011 Report Share Posted December 7, 2011 This is an awesome alternative for starting cheaply instead of getting an airbrush and lots of paint. I think I will do these lures and apply some pearl type finishes over the top to give it extra shine. I have an airbrush but it is single action, this would prevent me from having to buy something else and let me look at the design before applying. I found some clear decal paper at hobby lobby at the link below. Do you think this would work? You apply the decal set after the decal is in place. Does the decal glue soak through the decal? http://shop.hobbylobby.com/store/item.aspx?ItemId=174929 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Virginia Junkie Posted December 9, 2011 Report Share Posted December 9, 2011 Nice. Where do you get the bluegill decals? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaggy1081 Posted December 10, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 10, 2011 the decal paper should work i buy mine for around a dollar a sheet from ebay. apply your decal set after it is in place and somewhat dry let set for a few hours then clean the bait with alcohol to remove contamination's then do your fading. the bluegill images i found on the web you can modify any image to work for the bait your working on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffond Posted March 9, 2012 Report Share Posted March 9, 2012 Quick question.... would these decals stick to metal?? Like using them on a beatup old doctor spoon or something along those lines... could still epoxy the outside of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RayburnGuy Posted March 10, 2012 Report Share Posted March 10, 2012 Yes, they will stick to metal. It wouldn't hurt to scuff the spoon with light sandpaper or a Scotch Brite pad to both clean them and give them some "tooth" before applying the adhesive. Ben Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fatfingers Posted July 14, 2012 Report Share Posted July 14, 2012 Great job, Ben. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rwfleming Posted March 8, 2015 Report Share Posted March 8, 2015 shew......like mentioned above....more things to buy..... the water slide papa will be here tomorrow......so i will be giving it a try also.......thanks for the tutorial......you did a great job..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crab05 Posted March 30, 2015 Report Share Posted March 30, 2015 What would be the approximate cost for tools and supplies I would need. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
captainez Posted July 19, 2015 Report Share Posted July 19, 2015 Another thing to use is UV printer ink. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rwfleming Posted September 25, 2016 Report Share Posted September 25, 2016 thanks so much for the tutorial.....heres a few my wife and i have done..... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishon-son Posted October 8, 2016 Report Share Posted October 8, 2016 just seen this nice work...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bockscar Posted December 4, 2020 Report Share Posted December 4, 2020 can anyone recommend a way for me to size the images to fit onto my blank crankbaits? I dont have publisher like OP mentioned and am on a mac Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bogdan_alex Posted January 31, 2021 Report Share Posted January 31, 2021 how do you deal with crinkles resulted from warping the paper? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
