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Reply With QuoteCS....I work well with my hands in spite of their size and this is one reason I use tools I adapt to a task. The dipstick is nothing more then a bamboo skewer about 1/16" thick. I heat smaller quanities of the dipping plastic slightly hotter [about 360] and load it with stabilizer. The mold gets laid open in front of me on the bench and I wrap the bowl of plastic in a towel as soon as it comes from the microwave and put it right next to the mold. I dip the blunt end of the skewer in the plastic and quickly sweep it thry the part of the mold where I want that color. On the Small Frys I can get the color laid in each cavity without needing to reheat. If the stick gets a build-up on the end that makes things smear a little I just pull the plastic off to clean the stick. Keeping the stick free of build-up is the trick really. And as always, practice makes perfect. Got nothing to do, open a mold amke practice the technique using junk plastic until you achieve a comfort level that allows you to start with the real McCoys.
The spoons I use a just old spoons I pick up at garage sales for next to nothing. Most of them are found in "free" boxes. I heat and test-bend pouring lips along one side of the spoons so that I can pour a small quantity of plastic in a clean stream from them. Keeping the spoons HOT while working with them to pour plastic is the key there. A hot spoon is less likely to "sheet" the plastic, something that causes a lot of aggrevation while trying to get a clean pour.Working with smaller quantities also helps.....don't fill the spoon with plastic, just enough to pour one cavitiy. Again, practicing is the only way to develope a feel for it and you will develope consistancy with the practice.
Something else that I live by is that nothing in nature is perfect. I don't mind some uneveness in the dipping and hand pouring....it gives each and every bait its own unique character. Instead os striving for perfection I strive to work smoothly. Remember that the crippled minnow or the one that looks off base is the one first targeted as a food source. Allowing that line of though to guide you in the small detail work will make things a whole heck of a lot frustrating.
