An inside look at the bait-painting process

[Fishooked]

My friend Dwain Batey from BaitWerks.com took some pictures of the lure painting process from start to finish of some Rapalas I had sent him, thought you folks might like to check this out....

The baits you see in these pics are still for sale in our RapalaMarket.com store!




Baits in the Bin plucked off the shelf to start the process...



Removing the split rings and hooks.....



Fresh Rapalas ready to transform into works of art....



The part I hate the most.... sanding



Masking the lips off....



Excel handle for holding the baits while I paint.....



Batch of baits ready to head out of the office and out to the shop....



During the painting, as you can see some have paint already, some are still only basecoated....



Closeup of a few of the baits with a little paint on them, lots of layers left to go on even the ones that are started...



After they were all painted, they get clearcoat and a ride on the ferris wheel....



Round and round we go, when we stop we'll have a perfectly smooth glass like surface .....



The final products off the wheel and sitting pretty, a little more drying time and they were on their way home....

[omigosh]

Great post! Helped me make up my mind to leave that to the experts. Really some innovative and creative work. Are those xacto knife handles that he uses to hold the baits? That rotating drying jig is neat.

[Tom]

hmmm, thats got me thinking, i might try and make a slideshow like this on building lures, although of course my lures look pants compared to those lot, nice work

[Tom]

ok, its half term for me, so i got a week off school. I have decided i will go ahead and make a slideshow like this on how to build a lure from scratch, although i gotta do a little bit of homework first. Be warned though, it will take me several days to make because you have to leave virtually every thing to dry for like half a day before you can do anything else, most lures i make take about 4-5 days. Also, my lures won't look quite as nice as those above and those made by all the other custom painters round here, because i have only just started, and i am making do with minimal equipment and skill.

[qbert]

Great photos!! I have definitely wondered about the whole custom paint process so it's nice to get a little insight into it! Especially when the finished product looks that good. Very nice work!!

[Tom]

nearly done, just gotta feather the trailer hook up, and show the way that i do it, then its just sorting the rest of the photos out and uploading the whole thing to youtube (its much easier than posting all the pictures on here). Personally i think i made a resonably good job of the lure and painting, but make your own judgement when i upload it.

Got the mesh effect sorted out now, thanks Steve

[Tom]

well, here it is fellas!!!

[Dwain - Bait Werks]

That paint booth looks awfully familiar

[90collector]

what do you use for clear coat? I've been just experimenting with different paints and colors for fishing ( they are no where near as good looking as yours lol) but i don't know what to use for a clear coat so the paint always comes off fast. Any help would be appreciated

[jaketomberlin]

That's really neat, thanks for posting that. I understand now why the prices can get so high on custom painted lures.... it's very tedious work and the patterns are very vibrant and unique. I don't think I've ever seen a factory lure with the life and depth of some of those patterns.

[jmcfish10101973]

very nice photos and great job and i love the colors

john