I have not been tying very long, but I have been powder painting jigs for awhile.

Word of advice on eye cleaning... If you use powder paint the eyes are easy to clean before they're baked, but sometimes you'll get the eyes closing up when you cure them. The easiest way to clean them after they're baked is to heat a thin piece of metal like a bodkin or the point of a big hook and run it through the eye. The paint will re-melt, allowing you to remove it easier.

It's easy to run the chenille right up to the ball, even on a jig with a collar. I still have a bunch of jigs with collars that I use for plastic and sometimes tying. When you are getting ready to tie in your chenille and the thread is at the head of the jig, strip the fibers off about 1/4" of the end of the chenille rope. Lay the stripped string in the middle on the collar and wrap the thread up to the end of the collar. Stop when you reach the end of the lead and start wrapping your chenille around the hook shank. When it gets to the part of the shank just under the point, wrap the thread up to the end of the chenille, then wrap the chenille over itself and all the way back to the ball. Wrap your thread over the top layer of the chenille and tie off at the head. Makes for a nice even body with no funny bumps.