Posts: 25
Location: Roseville, MN | I pressed the scale pattern into the wood using a small, dull wood carving gouge. In earlier trials, a sharp-edged gouge left such a thin cut that I had to cut deeper into the wood than I really wanted too. A dull edge cut much less and gave me the "indented" look I wanted without removing any wood at all.
To give the scales depth, I initially sprayed the entire lure with 2 light coats of Spazstix Ultimate Mirror Chrome and then built up the chrome until I had a highly reflective mirror finish through out. Then, I applied a medium coat of one part Black mixed with one part Pearlized Silver (thinned with extender) over the scaled areas. After the black/silver dried, using very fine steel wool, I removed about 90% of it from the face of the scales, leaving only the scale grooves and the basis of the darker walleye markings darkened.
From this point, I basically had a black & chrome walleye and all that was left to do was add color tinting. I did so by using very transparent mixtures of Gold/Yellow, Gold/Brown, Green/Black and Black. After those color tints were dry, I used a more concentrated mixture of the Gold/Yellow and tipped a few random scales and applied several coats of Pearlcote Pearl to the belly and lower margin of the gill plates.
This is not an original painting process of mine. It is similar to the method used by some taxidermists on fish replicas. It is super easy, doesn't require and stenciling or masks, and by color-layering using transparent paints, even the most inartistic of us can create a realistic pattern. On the down side, you can't get something like this painted in a day, nor two. Figure on a week if you take your time and do it right. |
