Paint eyes

[zoeconner]

How in the heck do paint the eyes on a small ice jig? Mine is not even close to what I see here.

[zoeconner]

I'm still have a long ways to go. I had to much powder and a lot of them had runs.

[zoeconner]

Also I I had some that I soldered remelted and the spoons moved. The new oven must run hot. I'm going have to check.

[Bronson]

I would use either regular or vinyl paint and take the round/flat end of a drill bit and touch it. I let it dry at least 24 hours. If there's room, I always like to paint the inside black (just like the eye of a fish) with a drill bit about half the size of the first one. I let this dry 24 hours as well. I then get a 2 part epoxy (buy mine from Do It Corp) and dip it and dap off excess and let hang for 24 hours.

Needless to say, I'm normally doing between 400-800 jigs at a time. Takes a lot of effort but the results will have you going back to do more. (another thing is I buy a wire racks from Walmart to hang jigs where they won't be bothered. Nothing worse than to make a mistake and have about a dozen jigs stuck to each other.

Dripping could be because you heated your jig too long and it got to hot. This makes it hold more powder paint which could result in a drippy nose. Also be sure to briefly swish it thru powder paint instead of letting it stay too long. I also use a small tupperware bowl where I can shake my powder paint, making it as fluffy as possible. Again, less paint, less drippy noses.

[crappiedoc]

Good points Bronson, another little trick I've found if you've got the dippin under control and you use a torch to heat your jigs. After the dip and shake hold the eye of the hook back over the tip of the flame "ALMOST" burning the paint, when you bake to cure the eye will not close up from the paint. No more eye busters and a more professional, gun painted look, I am very happy with the results. Another lure eye trick is to use a sharpie before you cure for a single color eye, it isn't perfect, but it doe's have good results. But the other trick is a pearl, I PROMISE!!!!

[Fatman]

A simple thing to buy to make sure your toaster oven or even your regular oven go to Walmart or Taget and for $3-4 dollars you can get a temp gauge to hang inside to check and see if your running to hot. Several guys on TU tried it and found anywhere from 15-30 degrees difference!!!

Seeing your photo, I'd clean out the eyelets before I baked them, it's tough to get that stuff out after.

[zoeconner]

What about these? I was always told that fish eyes are killer bait so here you go. I need to get them to look a little better. But they do in person. I have 3-4 coats of clear and it really looks 3D.

[crappiedoc]

The fly guys will put up to 30 coats on, for that round, buggy look. Having said this, I think you're doing an awesome job! I'm a stick-on guy myself, but for personal use I don't use eyes, but they sure sell fisherman.

[zoeconner]

The fly guys will put up to 30 coats on, for that round, buggy look. Having said this, I think you're doing an awesome job! I'm a stick-on guy myself, but for personal use I don't use eyes, but they sure sell fisherman.

I would love to stick them on but with powder I can't. I want to try UV resin.

[Bronson]

I posted some info sometime back that you might find useful. Please excuse the length but I wanted to keep it on file so I wouldn't forget it. Some of these are suggestions picked up from this forum. I hope you can find one or two things here you can use. -Bronson

Powder Painting Jigs
Equipment
Heat gun or propane torch (I use a heat gun from Lowe’s that will go up to 1,000 degrees)
One pair of needle-nosed pliers or hemostats to hold the big of the hook
One pair of hemostats that are curved on the end (long thin locking pliers)
1 container powder paint
1 bigger plastic container (what I use to put some powder paint in to shake so it will be light and fluffy
-this helps you get a thinner more consistent coat on your jighead)
1 wire rack –long straight bars are preferable
1 toaster oven –to be used only for jigs (can use heat gun if you are only going to do a few)
(use in a well ventilated area because of fumes)
Procedure
Pour some powder paint in a plastic container, close the lid and then shake till it becomes light and fluffy. (do not let the powder paint become packed as you will waste a lot and it could become lumpy)
Take the needle-nosed pliers, grab the bottom of the hook and hold the jig head a couple of inches over the heat for about 4 seconds on each side (total =8).
Take the curved hemostats and grab the jig eye making sure the eye is completely covered. This prevents powder paint from getting into eye.
Quickly, swish the jighead briefly thru the powder paint. Tap jig on side of bowl to remove excess powder paint. Remember, less is more when using powder paint. A thin layer is all you need and it will adhere quickly to a hot jighead. (usually it will start to turn the color you want in the first 4-5 seconds)
If eye should get some powder paint, now is the best time to clean it. You can heat a paper clip, bodkin or small wire and run it thru the eye until clear. (because the powder paint hasn’t been heated (cured) the hot wire will melt any excess off the jighead eye.
Option 1 –remove to a rack or bowl or somewhere where it can hang and cool. The jighead does not need to touch anything yet as it is easily scarred. When you have enough you can put them on a rack inside a toaster oven at 325 degrees or so for about 30 minutes.
Option 2 –as soon as you tap off excess powder paint, you can return it to the heat gun to cure right then. This takes about the same amount of time as it did to heat the jighead.
To put on Eyes
I buy small cans of paint from Lowes (usually red & black)
Use the flat side on the bottom of drill bits, dip in paint and press against side of jigs
Outside of eye can be yellow, red, white, silver, etc. and needs to cure for 24 hours before adding pupil.
The inside (pupil) should be painted black and is about ½ the size of the outside dot. Let cure 24 hours.
Seal coat
*There is no need for a seal coat if you don’t add painted eyes to a powder coated jigs.
*Many crappie fisherman will tell you they catch as many crappie off jigs without eyes as they do with eyes.
Those of us who use them know this but just like the way they look. It gives us a little added confidence.
If you use seal coat, each jig will need to be hung after coating for about 30 seconds. I normally do 4-5 jigs at a time and then swipe the seal coat off that collects on the nose with a paint brush. I then put them on a rack and let them hang for at least 24 hours.
Epoxy
This is my preferred method as jigs are supposed to look like new 20+ years later.
I usually mix in a baby food container (small rectangular plastic bins about 1 ½” wide and 2” or so long)
I dip these one at a time in a 2 part epoxy (50/50) that has been mixed together. I hold the jig by the bend of the hook and lower it till epoxy covers all of the lead on the jig and epoxy comes together under the eye of the hook. I remove it and hang it on the side of a rack allowing the excess to drip to the nose.
After 4-5 jigs I take a small piece of thin cardboard that has been previously cut into strips about 1” wide and 3” long and touch the bottom of each jig to absorb any extra epoxy hanging on the nose. I then place in a rack spacing them ½” apart. I let these cure for 24 hours.
When jigs have cured I put them in tackle boxes with Zerust (a rust inhibitor) and store in a warm, dry place. Otherwise, you risk wire hooks rusting with the possibility of losing the whole box of jigs.
It is not recommended to put jigs in water after heating. Do It Co. told me this makes them brittle and susceptible to breaking. Once jigs are taken out of toaster oven, they will be cool to the touch in a matter of minutes.
I do not recommend using kitchen oven during crappie spawn because this could result in loss of fishing time due to injury. (courtesy of the wife)
Much of the information gathered here was learned on Crappie.com.