Owl Jones

You really don't even need to "smooth out" the lines. Once it's dry and you coat it with whatever - the lines aren't visible unless you get a magnifier or something. That didn't work? rats. maybe this?

Wow. That is a great tip!

Hey guys. Well, I'm dragging this post up from March 2012. :) WHY? Well, I'm no longer selling the poppers and I thought I'd let you guys know what worked as far as being able to use Sharpie markers and then epoxy with no run of the ink. The trick I finally settled on was coating the poppers in a very thin coat of Elmer's CLEAR glue. Let that dry and you can use two part epoxy on your poppers with no runs at all. That said, much later on ( around 2014 ) I accidentally ran across an even better solution. Time. I painted up some poppers with Sharpie's and got caught up doing other things. Came back to them a week later and started to epoxy them. I thought I'd already coated them, but then remembered that I hadn't. Letting the ink from the Sharpie's dry for a week ( might only take a day or two? ) meant that whatever was reacting with the Sharpie had evaporated (?) and there was no reaction with the epoxy. So coloring up the poppers and then letting them sit meant I no longer used the clear Elmer's glue. Took out a step, solved the problem, just took a little planning ahead. I ran across this thread while looking for something else popper related, and wanted to come back and tell you guys what worked, in case someone else stumbled onto this thread in the future. Happy Tying everyone. owl

Well, I'm back. Thanks to you guys and a little fiddling around with different techniques and materials, I finally got it all figured out. Everything is rolling right along now, and we even opened a store because I was getting so many email inquiries about the poppers. We're now making future plans for saltwater poppers and some more stuff I can't talk about yet. If you're interested in what a quicly thrown together popper website might look like, the link is www.zazzypop.com This week we're going to make an intro video and take care of the "business" end of things, including setting up credit card payments, etc. I'm more than a little hesitant about jumping in with both feet - but we have our reasons, which I won't bore you with here. Just wanted to stop by this thread again and thank you all for the help and recommendations you've given me.

They are super fun aren't they - those little bass. I got about 20 or so the other day on a little slider and a micro-popper made for panfish. I didn't get any pictures of the small fry's but I did take one of the best bass of the day. Oh, and I finally got a carp to hit a little foam bream fly I tie called a "Stinger" It's just a small piece of yellow or red foam, sectioned into 3 sections and wrapped across the thread wraps with a dry fly grizzly hackle. That's my first carp and I thought it was supposed to really pull or something - but it just did a little pull left and right and came right in. Maybe it was sick? LOL It's good to see everyone posting fish pics. Don't know about you guys but I'm glad spring is here!

It works and it's cheap - why get your feathers ruffled about how or why it started? It's the only "head cement" I've ever used (since 1989 or so)! Plus, they have really good customer service. (you can ask, but I wont' tell! LOL )

That's pretty awesome, first try or not! I really like it. very nice.

Thanks for all the continued help, guys - and the kind words about the detail on 'em. I turned to tying alot of the small pencil poppers because I didn't have the star-gazer problems with those. Day before yesterday I landed over 20 smaller bass and one nice one on a baby bass pattern pencil popper. I'm sure I'll figure out the problem on the traditional ones - for now the foam wrapped on the hook is hidden, easy to apply and makes it float like I think it should. I just don't want to sell some to an unsuspecting fisherman and have them call back to say "them poppers don't float right." ( I'm with you guys - I doubt the bass will care though...) Anyhoot, I'll check out those hooks and the other info and again, I really appreciate the help on this! OH PS - I'm not sure then what I did wrong with the poly stuff - but I tried it and it ran the perm. markers just like Hard-as-Nails did for me. Anyway, I've got a system now and a top-secret base coat that is working great so I'll stick with the epoxy I guess. I'll have some more photos soon - got another batch underway.

I tried it on one that I already had tied with the smaller hook. It did help quite a bit. Surely I can't be the only person to have had this happen with these pre-made heads...

Thanks for the help/info. I guess I'm just too used to seeing them in a vise rather that in the water. I've never seen a store-bought popper sit "face up" like that. I'll put 'em through their paces I guess and see if the tail-down posture still gets strikes. I wouldn't want to be providing worthless poppers to anyone - that's all.... I suppose I could wind sheet foam around the shank before wrapping the hackle. Hmmm....back to the drawing board I guess.

I've not tried that. If this doesn't fix it, we'll try that next. Thank Kirk~!

....and just when you think it's all figured out, problem #345.2 arises! LOL I'm water and abuse testing these things this week to make sure there's no nasty reaction. I've got one of these chipped to the foam to see if anything happens to the base coat if it gets water on it. But all I get are poppers staring at the sun - face up! Even using a hook that to me looks way too small, they look straight up. Clearly there's something I'm missing here..... Can this really be the size hook I need? It looks too small to me. (Even with this hook, the thing points straight skyward. Someone tell me where I'm being stupid here, please...

Right on the nail polish. It will run the Sharpie's. Again, what I'm trying to avoid is a paint brush here. I'm not going to be able to get the detail I want with a brush. Therefore, the marker use - however, I can't afford those high dollar $7 a pop markers. I'm learning alot as I go and over the weekend, I think we've found a solution. I'm going to be doing some durability testing this week to make sure our new base coat doesn't interfere with the epoxy's properties. They look good right now, but I'm going to bang 'em off some rocks and see what happens. Also, we'll put a few out in the sun for a few weeks to make sure there's no adverse effects in that regard. I think the problem is solved though, and all because my wife saw something in a store and said "how about this junk?" I'd tell you what we used as a base coat to keep the colors from running, but you probably wouldn't believe me anyway. Here's a pic of a few of the first ones I've created.... The photos don't really do 'em justice. Thanks for all the help again guys. You've made it much less frustrating, knowing that I'm not going this alone. I hope to create a new market for poppers as art very soon. I mean, if a guy can draw on a foam cup and sell 'em for hundreds....

3 for a dollar. dern. OK, news from the Popper front (and I hope you all are getting quite the chuckle over me going the long way around this whole thing. ) I bought a turner, tracked down some 30 min. epoxy, coated my Sharpie colored creations and the ink still ran. Not nearly as much as with the Hard-as-Nails, but it did run a bit. It also sucked (somehow)some of the white popper body color back up to the surface (or something like that) because a solid green popper is now a white and green popper. same with the yellow and orange. They don't look bad. I'll fish with 'em of course....but I guess I am going to have to give in and go with the acrylic paint after all. One last question and I'll (hopefully) be done with the Popper Inquisition! Should I coat them with something else ( now with the Hard-as-Nails???) after they're finished turning on the dryer? They still seem sticky to me and I know I used the exact same amount of part A and part B. It would be supremely ironic to have to coat them with Hard-As-Nails. LOL Thanks for all your help everyone! I really, really appreciate it. PS - looking for what to coat them with over the epoxy(if that's what you do) I'm running across tons of videos showing people using 5 min. epoxy. That stuff will yellow and get brittle fast, right? Or did I just pay $13.00 plus shipping for nuthin'?

Thanks for all the help, advice and comments everyone. I know it seems like I'm being a little silly - stuck on using a Sharpie as my tool of choice - but I have them already and really can't afford to delve into paint as well if there's any way I can create colored bodies without doing that. I've already got some 30 min. Flex coat on the way - and a turner. Let you know how that goes for me. There's a ton of info out there on poppers, but it seems that everyone eventually finds their own methods....but it also seems that almost no one is 100% happy with 'em. Those UV poppers look amazing. Unfortunately, if I spent that kind of money my wife could kill me. I'm kinda surprised she didn't raise the roof over the turner to be honest with ya. I'll be a happy guy if I can just paint these dern bugs with markers and epoxy 'em up. I'm no good with a brush, despite being an art major in college. Of course, had I graduated.......? Thanks again so much.

I doubt you'll be disappointed in that choice. ( PS - larger businesses usually employ more people. Right now, that's a plus in my book. )

Well, the adventure continued for one last day! Just to confirm it for anyone that might read this thread one day...using Sharpie Markers on Wapsi hard foam heads I bought a spray can of polyurethane high-gloss finish. You know, the stuff you seal wood tables and stuff with...here's what happened... First light coat - minor running of one color on a three-colored popper body. Waited an hour, second coat - ugly, runny colored popper body, Batman. All the colors ran all over each other, just like they did with the Hard-As-Nails the night before. RATS! So, no multi-colored poppers with that method. HOWEVER, I think if I just do single colors (green, yellow, red) with the Sharpie and then spray em with the poly sealer, they'll look OK. How will they hold up? Not sure. Sadly, my experiments have come to an end it seems. Last night I ordered a fly turner device from J. Stockard and some 30 min. epoxy from Amazon. ( Would you believe no one in a town of 40,000 people had 30 min. epoxy - not even Lowe's or Home Depot!?!?! ) So I guess I should have known from the beginning - if you could do it (paint hard foam poppers and seal 'em) another way succesfully ( without using epoxy and long drying times), that's how people would do it! Of course, I'm gonna finish and fish with that ugly one I made with the spray poly. I don't think the fish will mind.

I just uploaded a short one for you - but I don't need a fly box. Thanks though. I can upload more, if you tell me where to watch 'em ?

I've been buying supplies from J. Stockard for a year or so now. I simply can't recommend them enough. The customer service is top-notch, the shipping is fast and best of all, they have the best prices I've found anywhere. Over the years I've shopped for supplies at Cabela's, Bass Pro, Hook-n-Hackle, Feathercraft, Little River Outfitters, Unicoi Outfitters( the closest shop to me), and Orvis...and probably a few others I've long since forgotten about for one reason or another. But instead of me trying to convince you why you should buy from J. Stockard, just do this: Pull up J. Stockard's website and pick a page with prices of something you normally use. Then, in another tab (you do have tabs, right?) pull up anyone else. If there is someone out there selling fly tying materials for less, I haven't found them. They may not be the lowest on every single product, but for me they are lowest on almost everything I use - and there's no better place to get materials, tools, or great customer service. Full Discclosure: J. Stockard does, from time to time, donate a gift card for us to give away on my website. That honestly has nothing to do with my opinion of them as far as advising someone else to check them out. Just pull up a few sites and compare prices. You'll see.

People still use wax for dubbing? Hmm. I figured by now everyone had decided that the spit on your finger method was a whole lot easier and cheaper! Of course, if you're worried about spittin' on your flies or getting a little possum or squirrel juice in your mouth, you're better off using wax or water. I'd bet you dollars to donuts that the problem is getting too much dubbing to begin with. Get just enough so that if you dropped it on a carpeted floor, you'd not be able to see it very well - then half that. I use the "peck-peck-peck" method of taking a little dubbing from my left hand and adding it to the thread in stages with my right. Maybe I'll make a video myself, so you all can laugh at the redneck fly tier that licks his fingers like a nervous back-up QB at the big game!

What kind of flies are you tying with the bucktails? I think the main thing that was alluded to before, is that you learn how to control the tension on your wraps. I've found that it's also helpful to use a small drop of super glue at the base of your forward wraps. But I don't think I'm doing things the conventional way. Here's my method on streamers: Tie in two medium tension wraps and then crank it down as much as you can on top of those. Then, if the hair is flaring too much for me, I add touching wraps going toward the hook bend, making sure to lessen the tension a little bit each time. I'm not talking 20 wraps here - just 3 to 6 wraps like this will force the hair to lay down a bit. The only downside to this method is that you may find the thread being easy for the fish to "pick" and then break. That's part of the reason for the super glue! LOL YMMV!

Thanks for the advice and replies. The Sharpie markers I'm using are actually colorfast after just a few minutes. I can't rub the marker off no matter how hard I press on them once they're fully dry - and that's after multiple coats of different colors, etc. Maybe they've changed the material? Anyway, what I mainly needed to know is if the epoxy would cause the Sharpie to run like it does with Hard-as-Nails and I think I got that the answer was a tentative "no." I'll give it a whirl tomorrow and let you know for sure, I guess. I really don't want to give up the detail work I can do with the tip of a Sharpie. I doubt I could get any amount of detail on a small popper with acrylic tube paint and a brush. Then again, I've had alot of thoughts about just buying cheap, glittery nail polish and forgetting the detail work. I'm sure the fish won't care that I put 20 minutes into hand-coloring each one! LOL There are so many different ways of getting color on a popper body, it's almost like trying to figure out where to fish on a new river! Thanks again for the help, guys!

I have a saying that I try to follow: Just buy it. Sometime I listen to myself, and sometimes - if I'm feeling froggy - I abandon that sage wisdom and try to build/make/create stuff that I know I shouldn't. Take for example - foam popper bodies. After watching lots of videos and trying most of the techniques used to make poppers ( sheet foam folding, gluing, wraping, punching, flip-flops, carving balsa, etc.) I've just made a big order to J. Stockard for some Wapsi hard foam popper bodies. Now, I'm not saying that someone who's interested in making their own foam poppers should abandon the idea. I'm just saying that as the least mechanically inclined person you've ever met, it's not for me. Not even when spinning and sanding foam on a Dremel could I turn out a decent popper body! It's not foam, it's me. Then, last night I took some of the Wapsi bodies and broke out the Sharpie's. I've read about how they bleed when coated with Hard-as-Nails and I've experienced it myself, first hand. For a guy who knows he has limitations on what he can do, I sure am picky about the way my poppers look. LOL But the Sharpie coloring? That's something I can do pretty easily. But I know I can't use Hard-as-Nails on them for the sealer/top coat because it makes them look "blurry" when the Sharpie markers bleed. But what I can't find any information on, among all the info out there ( and on this forum! ) is can I use 30 min. epoxy over the Sharpie colored poppers? I don't think there should be a problem with the epoxy causing the Sharpie to bleed, but I'm not 100% sure. So this extra long post is essentially just to ask: Can I use 30 min. epoxy on Sharpie colored Wapsi hard foam poppers? Or, better yet - can I not coat them with anything and just re-Sharpie 'em when they fade? Of course, no one wants to buy poppers they have to refinish every trip and I'm hoping to one day sell a few here and there.

Ok, I have a question...you're going to twist(at the very least) the dubbing onto your thread, right? So, I don't see the harm in using the dispensers. Granted, I have seen some dispensers that come already packed with balled up "knots" of dubbing, but that's been pretty rare for me. It may take you some time to spread out the dubbing before twisting or working with it, but I usually just pinch off little whispy bits of it anyway when applying it to the thread. Just me?

Thanks for the welcome guys. There is alot of pretty water in NC and some in N. GA too if you know where to look.