Highlights vs pearls

[Lamar]

  I make a twin tail trailer for my blue/white spinnerbaits all the time using ES plastic and blue pearl hi lites. All it does is gives it a blueish shine. It does not change the color from clear to blue. But I also only use the Do-it products. Been a big fan of the violet for years now.

[cc1]

Well I must agree that the pearl white works well with keeping the pearl look. I was just adding colored pearls to other colors to create a desired pearl colored bait. I find that the pearl changes a colors hue when I use it at times. A red shad red or lumina black maintained its color better with slight amounts of the colored pearl. I was trying to create a small sample of a tequila sunrise for a friend and use a recipe from montess. I must say I prefer a zoom color version but this other color was asked for. I was out of blue pearl powder. Another person suggested highlight and I knew better but tried it since I have never tried it personally. Needless to say I flopped until I added some blue colorant. I think everyone has valid points and appreciate the dialogue. I did get confused by highlight blue pearl vs blue highlight per say.

[ctom]

Its been a good chat. Lively at times. lol I use very little pearl agent, colored or otherwise. Hi lites, I use a ton of.

That tequila sunrise, at least the colors I have seen, is a laminate. One side is almost a black/blue...very deep and maybe just a hint of blue hi lite while the other side is a deep, rich red/purple with red hi lite, maybe violet. The redder color could actually get just a dab of pearl added. When I staffed for Culprit I'd get packages of their 6" worms in this color and cut them off to 4" and hang them on a jig....deadly walleye color in the fall.

So, maybe I'll give Lamar a call and we can deal with world issues like global warming now that its been -20 today. 

[cc1]

Same tequila description for me as i make it in a laminate. Too bad I can't even come close to posting pictures on the forum without wanting to throw the technology out the window into a busy street.  If you reference tequila sunrise on the site you will see an example of a sheened bait using a red plastic with blue pearl mix. More of the power bait style I believe. Did create great discussion though.

[Bob]

Your picture showing the purple and the blue pearls in clear plastic are not Do-It products. I use nothing but the Do-It and will tell you right off they can be put in clear plastic at a rate to get the surface reflection without turning the plastic whitish or either color, respectively. Bear's hi lites do not change clear plastic either when used as I do. I don't load plastic with hi lite unless my intention is to try and slow down light from moving thru the plastic color. Using a ton of hi lite will cloud the bait similar to what a pearl will do.

I do not use any colored pearl other than the traditional white product or silver in rare cases. If I need to pearl a color I simply add pearl to the color after the initial cooking so I can control how much of the pearling I want. I can however add way more hi lite to, say purple, and get a color similar to what your purple pearl is. The photo I showed is transparent purple with an overload of blue hi lite and looks like a pearl to me.

I have a closet full of after-market pearl products that I do not put in the plastic but, rather, brush on after the injection and then seal with a clear dip. Buying a colored pearl is a waste of money when all a person needs to do to get a pearl color is add pearl to a color.

But to answer the original post, Do-Its hi lites are exactly that even though pearl is used in the name and in cases where a person over-loads a plastic with these hi lites they will appear almost as a pearl.

Nope they aren't DoIt products, I Make a ton of product in a year and in the process use entirely way too many materials to not buy in volume directly from the manufacturers, I have used their products in the past and the hilite powders are no different than any others (all you have to do is take a look at the store and they have pictures of the different hilite colours added to black and clear plastic and they look identical to the examples I posted). Hilites are hilites, for the most part they are all the same materials, which are entirely different than pearls, and achieve an entirely different effect regardless of how much you add. That is all I am saying. huge difference between a pearlescence and iridescence, Hilites will get you an iridescent look.

[Lamar]

So, maybe I'll give Lamar a call and we can deal with world issues like global warming now that its been -20 today.

  Don't call me on world issues. That's one thing I stay out of. I keep it real simple. I vote then I go back to my life. Talking and worrying about it just puts stress in my life and I don't have time for that.

[ctom]

You get your truck stuck in the snow and you'll have stress. lol

My current hi lites come from Do-It. I have a bottle of the pearl powder from there too. A long time ago I got some bears hi lites and for the most part they're about all the same. I also got a silver pearl but have used it once and did not care for the end result. Colored pearls I would never use so I have really not even looked at what's out there other than in the automotive paint market. I have a couple pearls from  Paint With Pearls dot com that I blend with powder paint as a top coat and those pearl colors from Jacquard I use for brushing. I've used a couple of the Jacquard colors in plastic and they have delivered unique results but I just am not a fan of pearl other than for pro blue or a belly color. And honestly for white or almost white belly colors I use fire opal micro glitter and a speck of white colorant instead.

A lot of my shunning pearls comes from loving transparent colors and how light can be twisted around in transparent colors. Pearls are just too opaque for my liking. I agree 100% that there is a difference between pearlescence and iridescence. What I am saying though is that because the two basic products are so close in make-up that if a transparent plastic is choked with enough hi lite it can result in an appearance that resembles a pearl. I am not saying that the two are interchangeable. In transparent plastic there is a real fine line between "just right" and "too much" when using hi lite. Pearl plastic colors can tolerate more product and not change the appearance of the plastic a whole lot.

Been a fun discussion. And in the end some of the newer members are rewarded with some information on  aftermarket sourcing to add some crazy unique products to their plastic making arsenal. The pearls that Bob shows and that I have mentioned are not sold at the usual sites where plastic products are sold because they have a very limited market, or interest, in the plastic world. They are still a good investment if color creation is high on your list. The brushing technique I mentioned is done after the baits come from the mold and they do require a clear dip to protect the areas where the pigments have been brushed on. The pearls with color also blend right into powder paint and can twist an ordinary color into a mind blower. I find that the candy, or transparent, powder colors show the best effects from adding pearls but black and other solid dark colors will also pop.

And Bob...all's good here. I always respect your input and comments!

[Bob]

And Bob...all's good here. I always respect your input and comments!

Nothing personal here either Tom. Great chat.

[cc1]

I must say it was great to post a simple thought and get such a great dialogue. I am fairly new to the bait making world and of course depend on the knowledge of those who have tried techniques and products available. So often you shy away from an order due to a precautionary thought. I think everyone has had that thought of I am going to make this or that and need this to succeed. When it finally arrives you find out that your hypothesis was wrong and you hope to maybe use it some other way. At a time when money may be tight or jobs maybe tough to find this dialogue not only encourages people to invest in their passion but appropriately. We all have that grand thought of that secret bait, color, or design and a desire to create it. I agree with most said in my experience of my short time of making baits. I will order some colored pearls to create that style of bait for the darker colors and continue to use the highlights appropriately to create some great baits. In the course of saying so long to this great discussion can highlights be mixed and maintain their color or would they blend and create a new color. Take a bait and add a match tip of red and blue highlight would it create a purple hue or maintain a mixture of red and blue flashing. Brushing would allow the later but to swirl highlights may create an interesting flash.

[MonteSS]

I wont bore you with my pics again

Pearl powder is like colorant and colors the plastic that color with a little metalic effect.

Hilite powder appears to color the outer skin of the bait.

[Arkansasbowhunter]

That's probably why I couldn't make the tequila is I have highlight and not Pearl powder

[MonteSS]

yup

[cc1]

Montes I am a little bored do you have any other pics of pearls changing a colorant like yellow to a green or yellow to an orange. Just wondering.

[BareKnuckleJigs]

Once upon a time I mixed up a Fluorescent Chartreuse and added a hit (I'll have to consult my book for quantity) of Red Pearl Powder.

My Trusty CCM Plastisol had gotten to where it WOULD NOT turn clear, it remained Cloudy (call it about a 40% Cloudiness) even at 350, so I left that Cloud in the Color Equation.

Mixing the Red Pearl with the Chartreuse, the thicker parts of the Bait were a mild Orange, thinner parts were still mostly Chartreuse (had a Chartreuse tail) and the entire Bait had a light Red Pearl on the Skin.

I called it "Fawnky Chicken", I think.  Not bad for a single-color "Electric Chicken".

To do it again, I think I would add some Glow to serve as a little Cloudiness.

My first "GO Shiner" recipe had X-amount of drops of CCM liquid "Pearl Purple Smoke" which definitely altered the Green Pumpkin (CCM non-X2...I still have both said bottles) base color.  That "GO Shiner" is so killer it's almost boring.  I now use Purple (Violet) Hilite here.

I have a "SandEel" color that is a Green Pumpkin base with a few drops each of Pearl White (Pearlescent) and Pearl Silver.  It's recipes like this one that show me the NEED for a Silver Hilite.  If I add more than the Scant-few drops I just listed, it turns the color into basically a Pearl Green.  I would like to intensify the Silver on the Green Pumpkin, while not altering the GP, which I can't do with Pearls.  .WWWAAAAAAAAA.  .Zero Feces.