Hand Poured/Painted Frogs

[dampeoples]

Got these done, well, just a few minutes ago I don't have the proper thinner for the paint, so all detail had to be done with nailheads!

[lizardsrule]

You're turning into quite the lure maker, very kewl indeed. Do they float, or sink?

Lizards

[dampeoples]

Thanks They float, I added some extra stuff to hopefully make them float at least a 2/0 hook, I've not tried that yet

[flbassman]

WOW, those are sweet lookin. I had a lot of trouble pourin....

[dampeoples]

I don't like pouring...I do it, well, because I can, but I spend way too much time re-melting stuff, or cutting flash to ever make it effective. I'd rather paint something anyday

[FlyRod]

Dear Dam,

Your color work beats the sox off the sloppy pouring in the ZOOM Horny Toads; that's for certain.
I do have a small reservation, however. Not to be critical, just curious...
I note that the legs are seemingly rather thick. Have you water tested these cute 'lil frawgs to see if the legs flutter freely and easily on the retrieve?

Over the years I've noticed that many of the molds offered to the home-pour crowd tend to result in curl/ribbon-type tails that are too thick to provide truly "live" action on the fall, especially with lighter weights.

A buddy of mine pours a worm similar to the Culprit/ZOOM U-Tail and when he sent me some much-appreciated freebies the tails were way too thick to perform as did the originals. Being an inveterate tinkerer, in thought, if not in practice, , I suggested a solution, as follows:

(Note that this does NOT apply to injection or "end pour" molds, only the common open-topped flat molds.)
When pouring, tilt the tail end of the mold upwards slightly. Then pour into the middle of the mold so that less plastic fills the curl portion. You should, after some experimentation, produce a worm with a thinner tail. This applies to straight worms as well, especially those with a paddle or spearpoint tail (like the venerable Jelly Worm.), so well as twister-tail grubs.
If you get it just right, the head and upper body will gain some thickness, assuring a more durable rig and a more visible profile.
Also, if you're pouring worms, especially blatant copies of the ZOOM Finesse, learn to slightly overpour, but not so much that the plastic flows over the edge to any great extent. Most plastics shrink when cooling and many of the worms come out of the mold with a sunken belly, resulting in a far less riggable/durable worm.
Just some thoughts...based on the distant past.

Gotta a favorite worm you wanna copy...heehee? Well, heres an easy way:
Buy a can of KlearKast (sp?) at your local craft shop. On your way home from there, stop at a shoe store and buy your lady an expensive pair of shoes (it's OK, you'll make it up in worm savings.)
When you get back to your little love nest, take the lid from the shoebox and lightly lube the inner surface with Vaseline(TM)...LIGHTLY! He said.
Be sure to do the inner sides and ends as well.
Select some flatbottomed (can you say Finesse, U-Tail?) worms, enough to space them at least 1/2 inch apart INSIDE the lubed lid. Choose the ones that have the flattest (NOT concave) bottoms and then line them up in the lid...FLAT side down.
Place the lid on a flat sheet of 1 inch styrofoam OR on the bottom of the shoebox itself (said box upside-down, o'course.) Then, using plain old straight pins, pin the worms all the way through. Use about 4-5 pins per worm and make sure you get 'em straight and that the curly tails (if any) are very neatly pinned and completely flat with no space underneath and the curls in their natural shape.
Now, open some windows (do it!), mix the KlearKastStuff, according to directions, and gently pour the lid full thereof.
Now, and this is critical!...Open a beer, turn on the football game, root for Oklahoma, and let the mold harden.
Once the mold has cooled completely (the stuff gets hot when mixed) carefully lift it outta the lid, or just tear the corners of the box and peel 'er off. Voila! You should have a mold. Remove whatever worms have remained in the mold, carefully remove any "flashing" on the inside edges of each cavity, and away you go.
NOTE: If you orient the original worms so that all "heads" are pointed in the same direction in the completed mold you can then prop the tail end at a couple of degrees upwards so as to make a thinner tail and a bit more robust body.

See what a picture of some cute frawgs can cause?

FR

[dampeoples]

Flyrod, thanks

I've not used them yet, it's a M-F mold, and the legs are a bit thick. I do know about the tipping trick, I'm just a little gunshy of plastic right now (I got a 2nd dgree burn two weeks ago, ouch). These are my first pour from this mold, all I really wanted to do was paint! I added some floater stuff to these, but not enough to float a hook, I'm afraid, I made some trick worms like this, but I used twice the plastic this time, and the same amount of floaty stuff, so they'll float, just not high like the floating worms, they float high like the 3X worms do

As far as the mold stuff, I've been meaning to make a few, I've read a few tutorials on making them from Plaster of Paris, Silicone Resin, and such, just not gotten around to it (rememeber the painting part, that's what I really like!) I really want to merge stuff, I think this frog with some Horny Toad legs would be killer, maybe even oversize legs for a small profile bait, but a lot of ruckus!

And the trick worm, It only took one pour to figure out to overpour! They look kind of, well, hungry, once the plastic cools!

[dampeoples]

Well, after trying these this past weekend, and catching fish on one of those inline buzzbaits instead of these, I was just primed up to make some more! I tried to get a rootbeer color, but the additives in the plastic threw the color off So... Any suggestions on how to finish these? I only have a limited # of colors, white, black, green, and red/chart on the way. Thanks

[mymomisbecky]

dampeoples. id just paint a yellow belly, fade to blade on the edges on something that color.
You could always try the mold I have from dmart. its like the big paddle tail frogs you see all over, and they churn up the water, big time.

http://www.mymomisbecky.com

[dampeoples]

Sad thing is, I'm waiting on LC to send me the yellow! I like that d-m frog, I like Bob's even better, just don't like pouring at all! It took me over an hour to make those 18 in the pic...

Maybe I'll have it by the weekend, and can get busy on these before it gets too cold