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I started doing poppers a few weeks ago and got tired of the solid colors quickly so i switched up and started going wild with it. Anyone have any suggestions on how to make em better. One is just a plane ol cork popper and the other is wapsi pencil style. I wanted to see the difference between cork and foam as far as painting goes. all suggestions and critiques are welcome. Mind you they arent finished yet, but i will take suggestions on that too.

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I started doing poppers a few weeks ago and got tired of the solid colors quickly so i switched up and started going wild with it. Anyone have any suggestions on how to make em better. One is just a plane ol cork popper and the other is wapsi pencil style. I wanted to see the difference between cork and foam as far as painting goes. all suggestions and critiques are welcome. Mind you they arent finished yet, but i will take suggestions on that too.

Poppers is looking good. I make from foam and from cork. I have customer that demand cork and I like them too. I have found that the first thing you do to cork is to fill in any voids you have with a good putty. I use a latex base wood filler from Wallmart. You then seal the cork. I use a sealer for acrylic paints also from WMart. Two coats of sealer and then two coats of white acrylic paint for your base coat. Then your color coats and eyes and decorations. I keep small spray cans of spray to put on some detail...like spraying a little color through a piece of screen wire or table napkin...then two coats of epoxy on the turner.....I like em done this way.

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I started doing poppers a few weeks ago and got tired of the solid colors quickly so i switched up and started going wild with it. Anyone have any suggestions on how to make em better. One is just a plane ol cork popper and the other is wapsi pencil style. I wanted to see the difference between cork and foam as far as painting goes. all suggestions and critiques are welcome. Mind you they arent finished yet, but i will take suggestions on that too.

Poppers is looking good. I make from foam and from cork. I have customer that demand cork and I like them too. I have found that the first thing you do to cork is to fill in any voids you have with a good putty. I use a latex base wood filler from Wallmart. You then seal the cork. I use a sealer for acrylic paints also from WMart. Two coats of sealer and then two coats of white acrylic paint for your base coat. Then your color coats and eyes and decorations. I keep small spray cans of spray to put on some detail...like spraying a little color through a piece of screen wire or table napkin...then two coats of epoxy on the turner.....I like em done this way.

Tee Nootsie, Thanks for the advice. I didnt fill in any of the imperfections in the cork on this first one. Im glad i only made one. I will certainly follow your plan because im pretty sure it will come out looking better. You also solved the wapsi body issue i was thinking about. After i sealed in the hook on the wapsi it still had a void in the bottom. I can just fill that in to make the body appear to be seamless. Thanks again for all your advice. I appreciate it.

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I started doing poppers a few weeks ago and got tired of the solid colors quickly so i switched up and started going wild with it. Anyone have any suggestions on how to make em better. One is just a plane ol cork popper and the other is wapsi pencil style. I wanted to see the difference between cork and foam as far as painting goes. all suggestions and critiques are welcome. Mind you they arent finished yet, but i will take suggestions on that too.

Poppers is looking good. I make from foam and from cork. I have customer that demand cork and I like them too. I have found that the first thing you do to cork is to fill in any voids you have with a good putty. I use a latex base wood filler from Wallmart. You then seal the cork. I use a sealer for acrylic paints also from WMart. Two coats of sealer and then two coats of white acrylic paint for your base coat. Then your color coats and eyes and decorations. I keep small spray cans of spray to put on some detail...like spraying a little color through a piece of screen wire or table napkin...then two coats of epoxy on the turner.....I like em done this way.

Tee Nootsie, Thanks for the advice. I didnt fill in any of the imperfections in the cork on this first one. Im glad i only made one. I will certainly follow your plan because im pretty sure it will come out looking better. You also solved the wapsi body issue i was thinking about. After i sealed in the hook on the wapsi it still had a void in the bottom. I can just fill that in to make the body appear to be seamless. Thanks again for all your advice. I appreciate it.

Glad that you make the fly. Here is a bad picture of what mine look like following the pattern I told to you. The picture is not one that is good T has camera problems...but you can see what I do.post-37584-0-00310700-1342470353_thumb.jpg

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Try to use kink shank hooks with poppers whenever possible. They are less likely to

spin around in the slot into which the hook is inserted if less than completely cemented.

Also the hook should generally be seated as low in the body as possible while keeping

the entire shank inside the slot.

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I started doing poppers a few weeks ago and got tired of the solid colors quickly so i switched up and started going wild with it. Anyone have any suggestions on how to make em better. One is just a plane ol cork popper and the other is wapsi pencil style. I wanted to see the difference between cork and foam as far as painting goes. all suggestions and critiques are welcome. Mind you they arent finished yet, but i will take suggestions on that too.

Poppers is looking good. I make from foam and from cork. I have customer that demand cork and I like them too. I have found that the first thing you do to cork is to fill in any voids you have with a good putty. I use a latex base wood filler from Wallmart. You then seal the cork. I use a sealer for acrylic paints also from WMart. Two coats of sealer and then two coats of white acrylic paint for your base coat. Then your color coats and eyes and decorations. I keep small spray cans of spray to put on some detail...like spraying a little color through a piece of screen wire or table napkin...then two coats of epoxy on the turner.....I like em done this way.

Tee Nootsie, Thanks for the advice. I didnt fill in any of the imperfections in the cork on this first one. Im glad i only made one. I will certainly follow your plan because im pretty sure it will come out looking better. You also solved the wapsi body issue i was thinking about. After i sealed in the hook on the wapsi it still had a void in the bottom. I can just fill that in to make the body appear to be seamless. Thanks again for all your advice. I appreciate it.

Glad that you make the fly. Here is a bad picture of what mine look like following the pattern I told to you. The picture is not one that is good T has camera problems...but you can see what I do.post-37584-0-00310700-1342470353_thumb.jpg

thats not a bad picture. i can see what youre talking about so its a good picture. Those look awesome. Mine a bigger than that though. Is there a reason yours are small or is it just that size of the pattern youre using? Thanks again for all your help

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Try to use kink shank hooks with poppers whenever possible. They are less likely to

spin around in the slot into which the hook is inserted if less than completely cemented.

Also the hook should generally be seated as low in the body as possible while keeping

the entire shank inside the slot.

stippled popper, i understand what youre talking about and with the wapsi bodies i have no problem with that because they have a grove on the bottom that slides right over top of the kink. as for the cork bodies, i tried using kinked hooks and ended up ruining a couple of corks tring to get them onto the hook kink. i dont have the tools available to make that groove evenly on a cork body then fill it in later. as for the hook riding as low as possible, thank you. i actually tried a few hook positions out because i have a small fishtank i test how the flies sit in the water. Youre absolutely right sir. the lower the hook, the better it sits and pops. this pic was one of the first ones ive done and since have adjusted the hooks, so the body rides higher in the water. thank you for your advice. i appreciate it.

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I started doing poppers a few weeks ago and got tired of the solid colors quickly so i switched up and started going wild with it.

 

for additional inspiration on colors just GOOGLE "bass lures"

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I started doing poppers a few weeks ago and got tired of the solid colors quickly so i switched up and started going wild with it.

 

for additional inspiration on colors just GOOGLE "bass lures"

thanks for the tip flytire. I appreciate it. Ive noticed that on here you give awesome advice and constructive critizism. I thank you for sharing your knowledge with everyone.

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I started doing poppers a few weeks ago and got tired of the solid colors quickly so i switched up and started going wild with it. Anyone have any suggestions on how to make em better. One is just a plane ol cork popper and the other is wapsi pencil style. I wanted to see the difference between cork and foam as far as painting goes. all suggestions and critiques are welcome. Mind you they arent finished yet, but i will take suggestions on that too.

Poppers is looking good. I make from foam and from cork. I have customer that demand cork and I like them too. I have found that the first thing you do to cork is to fill in any voids you have with a good putty. I use a latex base wood filler from Wallmart. You then seal the cork. I use a sealer for acrylic paints also from WMart. Two coats of sealer and then two coats of white acrylic paint for your base coat. Then your color coats and eyes and decorations. I keep small spray cans of spray to put on some detail...like spraying a little color through a piece of screen wire or table napkin...then two coats of epoxy on the turner.....I like em done this way.

Tee Nootsie, Thanks for the advice. I didnt fill in any of the imperfections in the cork on this first one. Im glad i only made one. I will certainly follow your plan because im pretty sure it will come out looking better. You also solved the wapsi body issue i was thinking about. After i sealed in the hook on the wapsi it still had a void in the bottom. I can just fill that in to make the body appear to be seamless. Thanks again for all your advice. I appreciate it.

Glad that you make the fly. Here is a bad picture of what mine look like following the pattern I told to you. The picture is not one that is good T has camera problems...but you can see what I do.post-37584-0-00310700-1342470353_thumb.jpg

thats not a bad picture. i can see what youre talking about so its a good picture. Those look awesome. Mine a bigger than that though. Is there a reason yours are small or is it just that size of the pattern youre using? Thanks again for all your help

It is tied on a No 6 Mustad hook. I tie all my panfish poppers and flies on a 6 hook. It keeps from catching little ones and a 6 will hold a 3 lb bass if you play him right. The body is about the size of a size 1 cork turned and cut to shape. I make some bigger bass popers and some saltwater poppers bigger yet. You will figure out what size works best for you as you fish your poppers............and tightlines to you.....

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I started doing poppers a few weeks ago and got tired of the solid colors quickly so i switched up and started going wild with it. Anyone have any suggestions on how to make em better. One is just a plane ol cork popper and the other is wapsi pencil style. I wanted to see the difference between cork and foam as far as painting goes. all suggestions and critiques are welcome. Mind you they arent finished yet, but i will take suggestions on that too.

 

Those look great! You have an excellent command of colors.

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All it takes to cut a nice groove in the cork, or whatever, to accept a hook is a simple hacksaw blade. Even an old used one will do the trick. I break an old one in half, and wrap a little masking tape around the broken end to produce a small 'handle', as well as prevent any cuts to my hand from the rough edge of the break (no need to file it down).

 

You can 'trick-out' your bugs by spraying the sides through the teeth of an old comb, or you can make scale patterns by spraying through any mesh 'nylon' netting, such as found in trains on wedding gowns (your local fabric shop might even have small scraps that they would give you. Just 'stretch' it across an embroidery hoop before using it.). You can cut chevrons in heavy Kraft paper to use as a template to spray through.

 

The sky is the limit!

 

Have fun!!

 

Frank

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All it takes to cut a nice groove in the cork, or whatever, to accept a hook is a simple hacksaw blade. Even an old used one will do the trick. I break an old one in half, and wrap a little masking tape around the broken end to produce a small 'handle', as well as prevent any cuts to my hand from the rough edge of the break (no need to file it down).

 

You can 'trick-out' your bugs by spraying the sides through the teeth of an old comb, or you can make scale patterns by spraying through any mesh 'nylon' netting, such as found in trains on wedding gowns (your local fabric shop might even have small scraps that they would give you. Just 'stretch' it across an embroidery hoop before using it.). You can cut chevrons in heavy Kraft paper to use as a template to spray through.

 

The sky is the limit!

 

Have fun!!

 

Frank

Frank,

thanks for the tip. I do have a few hacksaw blades laying around from the wifes taxidermy stuff. Im pretty sure she wont miss one. As far as sprays, i havent had much luck with them. The only thing I have to paint through is an old piece of screen that was salvaged from my front door after the dog wanted a new window to look through. Do you think that will work? Am i holding the screen right to the popper or what. How would you do it? I can find some other material im sure but im just getting started with poppers and dont wanna give up on them right after i started. Thanks again for the tips. I appreciate all the info you all have given thus far.

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I started doing poppers a few weeks ago and got tired of the solid colors quickly so i switched up and started going wild with it. Anyone have any suggestions on how to make em better. One is just a plane ol cork popper and the other is wapsi pencil style. I wanted to see the difference between cork and foam as far as painting goes. all suggestions and critiques are welcome. Mind you they arent finished yet, but i will take suggestions on that too.

 

Those look great! You have an excellent command of colors.

Thanks brandon. Those are my trial runs to see what needs improvement. I usually do a couple then post them on here for the experts to review and give me feedback on. That way i dont screw up a dozen or so by skipping a simple step that could be the difference between a good fly, and a great fly.

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KayT...

 

With respect to spray painting, if you are not familiar with the process, I highly recommend that you practice on some kind of scrap material. There are threekey elements to it: 1) you must keep the spray moving in a smooth uniform fashion; 2) you have to establish the appropriate distance from the subject to get the desired effect; and, 3) never spray over an area previously sprayed if you are putting patterns, such as scales, on. To paint over an area results in 'bleeding', which messes up the pattern.

 

I see absolutely no reason why the screen material you mention won't work---GO FOR IT! It might make some really interesting patterns.

 

If you want sharp crisp lines, such as for scales, you need to place the 'pattern material' against the body and spray from some distance away form the body. For a 'feathered' spray job, as it is known, simply move the 'pattern' closer to the source of the spray. For example,; if you want a very distinct scale pattern on the back and down onto the sides, but fading out as they go down the body side, simply lay the "mesh" on the back and drape it over the sides, and spray "down" onto the bug.

 

Unfortunately,it is so much easier to do than to try to describe. Just get an inexpensive can of spray paint, some scrap wood, etc., and some 'pattern material', get in a well ventilated area and HAVE FUN! Playing around like this is the best way to develop a 'feel' for the process.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Regards,

Frank

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