Color and color matching can be a real headache for some people. I went to work right out of high school in a paint shop where I learned to color match as well as develop colors of paint on a custom basis for some paint shops. I've always been drawn to color and that experience really did me well. I have a ton of lurecraft and mf colorants amassed over the years: some given to me, some I bought. I do not use these very often and when I do its seldom as a straight up bottle color. I have just about every X2 color and I know I have every color with Caney Creek's old label on them. These too are not used as a straight out of the bottle colorant as I always mix with other colors to get what I want....as a for instance I love chartreuse as a tail color but I do not use straight Do--It X2 chartreuse, I mix in a few drops of Bear's Green chartreuse and a dollop of blue hi lites to get the slightly green chartreuse I want. My hot pink uses X2 Hot pink colorant with a half dozen drops of MF Merthiolate and the blue hi lites again. The blue hi lite in Hot Pink will stall normal thinking. Try it. My pet purple is X2 Purple, a drop or so of X2 Florida Grape and a drop or three of MF Indigo, violet hi lite and lots of .015 purple Do-It glitter. All of these recipes are based on a 4 ounce batch.
When color matching nothing, is handier than the back of a cnc mold. If you have a sample bait to work with, cut it in half so you get a peek at what the center of the bait's color looks like, then slice off enough to melt and put a nice sized drop on the back of the mold and allow it to cool. Leave it right there so as you work up your color you can put a similar sized drop right next to the original color. The reflected light thru the plastics on that mold's back will lead you in the direction you need to go better than any other visual comparison. Of course you want to work up your color in a specific volume, say 4 ounces. If the sample color has flake in it, stop adding colorant to your color while its just a shade lighter as glitter, when you add it, will darken your color a shade. Hi Lites can do the same so it can become a balancing act between glitter and hi lites.
Too many people hurry the matching process then end up "settling" on something close but not really what is wanted. Take your time. Buy a color wheel to help with color usages. Nothing will be better than simply setting out to make a color match so keep very specific notes on what and how much you add and in what sequence. Little by little things will begin to get more obvious to you so give it time. AND, do not toss any of the mis-matches and small chunks of comparison plastic as you can always remelt and add purple or black or brown or dark green to the mix and make senkos or worms.
