Making eyes

[olsarge]

A while ago I made a post about the new eye mold.  Yesterday I had an idea .  I melted some old plastic and poured a small amount into a container (in this case a smokeless tobacco lid).  You have to play with the amount a little I was trying for approx a 2mm thick piece of plastic.  After it cooled I took it from the lid and used a standard paper punch to punch out 1/4 inch eyes (6MM).  Worked perfectly.  You could get different sizes by using a center punch set.  Just playin around

[ctom]

Funny thing. When this topic came up a while ago I had my punch set out and was going to give it a try by pouring a thin coat of plastic on a mold's backside. Just never got to it and put the punches away eventually.

Eyes and I have a limited association. I only use eyes or put eyes on baits or heads that I am taking pictures of. Personally none of the baits I fish with or jig heads I carry to fish with have eyes. And honestly, the Chinese have eyes for so little cost that look super its hard to not just use them for what I need.

How are you attaching these poured eyes?

[olsarge]

Tom:  As a general rule I don't put eyes on my baits either.  These will go on hand poured baits with pretty deep eye sockets.  They look a lot better with eyes.  The sockets are deep enough that I think super glue will be enough to hold them but I will also dip some so I can compare durability.

[olsarge]

Well after spending all morning working on the eyes I am happy to report that it worked.  However it was quite time consuming and not really worth the effort.  The commercial eyes are simply to cheap to go to this extreme (in my opinion).

[ctom]

I get my eyes here.....  https://lifefly.aliexpress.com/store/group/3mm-3D-Eyes/610947_254656791.html?spm=2114.12010612.0.0.1ae7aee6fHoVrO

[efishnc]

I like the novelty of that eye-dea... instead of gluing them on and then dipping, why not set them in place and hit them with a heat gun or torch to make them one with the bait (this might bring the labor down to a manageable level to justify the method).

[Cami]

An old Angler once told me: "eyes are the target for a predator". And if you think about fishes there are some of them with the "false eye" painted by Nature close to their fin to confuse the Predators.
Lastly I bought these ones https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32665241901.html?spm=a2g0s.12269583.0.0.161c60c5yCLGUr
... and if you don't want to warm up the clear plastisol to seal them, then lets try with the cold top coat: 50% PVC glue / 50% MEK, it works.
Bye

Cami

[Apdriver]

An old Angler once told me: "eyes are the target for a predator". And if you think about fishes there are some of them with the "false eye" painted by Nature close to their fin to confuse the Predators.
Lastly I bought these ones https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32665241901.html?spm=a2g0s.12269583.0.0.161c60c5yCLGUr
... and if you don't want to warm up the clear plastisol to seal them, then lets try with the cold top coat: 50% PVC glue / 50% MEK, it works.
Bye

Cami

Cami knows what he’s talking about. It’s a PVC product. PVC glue works.

[olsarge]

Well you folks are probably getting tired of this but I tried something else this morning and I like the results.  But it is time consuming as he'll.  I have a lot of aluminum flashing laying around that I no longer use so I punched  out several discs and placed them on some tape for painting.  I then mixed some Sally Hanson's hard as nails with some pearl powder and painted them.  They came out quite nicely.  Next I will dot the irises and after drying I will add a large drop of epoxy to each eye to give it that 3D look.  Apparently time is not so much a factor once you retire lol.