Brushing hi lites

This post isn't so much for those members who have been around the site for a while, but more for those who have joined in within the last year or so.

Hi lite is as a rule something added to the plastic and cooked in to get the plastic some reflectivity at the surface. It makes for a pretty bait as long as you want all of that particular color of plastic to show the sheen that hi lites offer. What if you want to add hi lite to just a certain portion of the bait? Pick up a paint brush is the answer to that.

The 4 baits shown here have 0 hi lite in the plastic itself. The baits were made and then the eyes added, but before the cover dip was done I used a very fine, soft, pointed artist brush to apply hi lite right from the jar to the baits in specific areas. Very little of the hi lite powder is needed on the brush and 99% of the time I just use the powder found inside the cover, not from the jar proper. By adding the hi lite after the injection you can create some very nice and natural looking baits. We all have seen minnows that look one color at one angle in the light but shift the minnow a little and they change color or go dull looking. That is what is achieved by doing this.

The top bait has a green hi lite added along the lateral line of the bait on both sides from behind the eyes to where the tail section starts. I added a blue contrast powder right at the nose. The picture does a fair job of showing the green along the flank of the bait. The blue shifts color as well but it has to be viewed from the front to really see the shift happen.

The second bait is done in hot pink under purple. The hi lite used here is a deep wine red and is only on the sides of the bait as done in the first bait. This one too has a bit of blue at the nose.

The third and fourth baits have the same purple hi lite powder and a dab of rose at the front end. The third bait has the power applied like the first two along the sides. The bottom bait has the powder applied right down the back and is feathered gently down the sides a ways.

After adding the brushed on powder each bait was dipped in clear right to where the tails start to seal the eyes and to seal the powder coat. This probably is less than practical if you are selling baits in any numbers but if you have a customer who wants a truly unique bait, this is one way to deliver. Its also a great way to have in YOUR tackle a bait that simply isn't going to grace a bait shop's tackle hooks, at least not affordably.

I am using a Jacquard Pearls product here in these examples. The powder is called a "pearl" powder but its every bit as fine as the hi lites sold here. In fact it can be used and cooked in using small quantities to hi lite a plastic. Its a potent powder though and does have a staining tendency if cooked in so keeping the plastic and powder colors on the same page will help prevent any sour looking plastic. On the baits though, its a real trick component to play with. Your regular hi lites will handle the same exact way. The Jacquard just offers me more unique colors. Any flubs created with the powder can be wiped right off using a soft cloth and alcohol, then just start over. This is one of those techniques that many people look at and say " Man I wish I could do that", but the reality is that you can. Give it a try and you might just find out that there is a little Picasso in you. lol

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Great lesson for the plastics guys starting out

Looks good, Typically highlights will look white in the jar, were pearls will be colored in the jar. Good way to define the 2 of them.

The pigments, whether hi lite or pearl, are potent. This technique gives the plastic maker a way to put the hi lite or pearl in very small specific areas instead of the whole bait. As I mentioned a person can create some very realistic baits doing this. Fun stuff and cheap compared to all of the other aspects of the hobby.

Ctom can you please elaborate how and what plastisol do you use ? How do you eleminate the bubbles? I've dipped them but bubbles are an issue foe me. Thanks

Ctom can you please elaborate about your topcoat, how and what plastisol do you use ? How do you eleminate the bubbles? I've dipped them but bubbles are an issue foe me. Thanks

All of my top coating is done with Do-It's Essential plastic. Since humidity up here can be an issue all year long I have come up with an anti-bubble campaign that seems to work well for my cover dips. I make 4 ounce batches and its nothing more than clear plastic with some stabilizer and uv enhancer added. I cook this plastic to 345 degrees, take it out of the microwave and stir it well so there's no white or raw plastic left, then let the bowl sit to cool. If and bubbles decide to form I skim those off at about 320 degrees. When the batch has cooled to around 250 degrees I re-heat it using 15 second shots, stir very lightly, of heat until I get the plastic back up to about 360 degrees [remember the stabilizer I use?] where its really thin and smooth. I tip the cup up and slip a 1/4" dowel under one side so any bubbles head to the high side of the plastic and then I dip on the low, or shallow, side. I tap each baits nose end on the rim of the cup and drop the bait immediately into a cup of cold water. I have the plastic cup and the water cup side by side and on the other side of the water cup I have a paper towel laying on the work surface that the baits from the water cup go to.

For my dipping plastic I never stir it with anything but an old knitting needle made from aluminum that I have cut off to handle easier. I do not stir this plastic near as vigorously and a colored plastic. I skim bubbles from the cup even as I dip so that they will not get re-incorporated into the plastic later. After the initial cooking and first re-heat I add stabilizer and stir it in before the plastic has cooled enough to made doing so a chore. This way its in the plastic when I re-heat or re-melt. When I re-melt this clear dip I heat once for 30 secs and let it sit for 10 secs. I heat again for 20 secs and let sit for 10 secs. I heat again at 20 secs and then give the plastic a stir, or more to the point I punch down one side of the mass and allow any liquid plastic to run into the hollow created and give it another 20 secs in the heat. When there is enough liquid plastic available to dip with I dip my baits and heat for 10-12 seconds at a time to free up more plastic or to make it more liquid.

Anything added to the raw plastic will introduce air to the batch. Stirring it in puts even more air into the plastic. Pigments do the most as far as getting air in there. I use a little uv in my clear regardless and I always add stabilizer even though the Essential plastic does well without it. The stabilizer just adds an element of heat buffering I like. I don't mix these two components into the clear very much and let the heated plastic help with that as the plastic gets stirred while heating. I have everything done and ready to dip well before I make the dipping plastic so that I can pay close attention to the cooking/re-melting process. Bubbles can get nasty if they are not caught when they develop. Most bubbles will come about from hurrying the process and stirring with too much vigor. This final dip is the crowning glory for your baits and the process has to be refined to give you a clear smooth finish. Never hurry this part.

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Originally Posted by *********s

Typically highlights will look white in the jar, were pearls will be colored in the jar. Good way to define the 2 of them.

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This is a great way to identify what you have in your hand at a glance.