I like to paint, so naturally I got drawn to the idea of painting my own lures. I went ahead and bought some inexpensive lures. About .30 cents per from predatorbassbaits which he calls practice lures because they may have a very small defect like a glue fingerprint on them and can't sell them at full price. Claims they swim so that's a good start. Figured I would go real cheap on the first ones I make. 

 

I'm also going to be painting with acrylic and brushes. I know the recommended method is airbrush but I don't have a garage or place to airbrush. I actually spent more money on the treble hooks and paint than on the lures.

All of my blanks came from predator. The practice ones are almost as nice as the full price ones

And he shipped fast!

Yeah he already shipped my stuff, I was very impressed.Hopefully I will be impressed with the quality of the lures when I get them! 

Just a tip: Take a piece of masking tape, hole punch it, and use those for the kill-dots. Just some black paint and they come out perfect every time!

 

Also, what did you use for paint salenity? I have some createx wicked acrylic and am not very impressed with it. It's way too thick to spray straight out of the bottle, and is extremely grainy.....

What type of paint are you using?

Yea the "dots" kicked my but! Live and learn...

I'm using mainly Createx

I got a few of the wicked and I like them allot!

Try the wicked Aluminum $.02

Didn't know water based paint was used for lures that went in the water

Oddly enough that's what everyone uses and then uses an epoxy topcoat.

Yea^^

Question: How good does your createx stay on before epoxying it? I noticed mine comes of extremely easy. You can take a fingernail and scratch it off like a lotto ticket... Also what did you use for the eyes?

EXCELENT !!! I tried to wash some off and change colors.

Lots of scrubbing!

Got my popper jr's from predatorbassbaits so hopefully tomorrow my acrylics and brushes arrive. I'm excited about getting these painted and even if they don't look as nice as the real deal expensive lures, I can at least say I painted them. If I catch fish with them, I can say I painted them and they work lol.

 

Fail...

So I got my paint and started painting 2 of my lures. They were looking real nice. Not airbrush nice but still nice. Then I put some glitter glue on them and I think I didn't let it dry enough. When I put my gloss sealer coat and left it for an hour to dry I came back to one of them and rubbed it a little and the sealer peeled right off alone with some of my paint.

Live and learn. More drying next time, and possibly a different sealer. Perhaps I will try a topcoat nail polish.

So I painted a few of the popper jr's i got from predatorbassbait. They swim great, they make all kinds of ruckus in the water! 

So I went the cheap route. Acrylic Paint and Nail Polish.

I couldnt bring myself to buy an airbrush and compressor.  So I started with the acrylic and a polyurithane sealer for outdoor. After putting the lure in my sink and rubbing it with my finger the sealant came off and my paint did as well. So I went to walgreens and bought a top coat gloss. Yes it's slightly uncomfortable buying nail polish but whatever. It works! 

 

I painted with acrylic, then put 2 layers of top coat gloss. Sealed it right up. Used them today in the lake and they worked great. All in all, I spent about 15 on the lures, hooks, split rings, eyes and about 20 on paint, top coat and some brushes. I have enough paint to last me a bit and nail gloss as well. 

They look great but I want to see your nails, lol!

Haha!