Tulip Fabric Paint Eyes

creekychub

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Right with you Pup! His use of fabric paint has really turned me on to spinning up some cool looking flies!

White 'congo-hair' from FTJ (tied hollow-fleye style), 3/0 Mustad saltwater hook, some sharpie highlights, and Fabric paint eyes and fabric paint as head cement.

View attachment 3

Using the pearl/crystal varieties of the fabric paint as head cement has worked great for me. You can build big heads with it or make thin-air trapping heads that help keep materials from fouling around the hook.
The eyes you can make are great and super cheap, never buy stick on or 3-d eyes again. Don't forget about glow in the dark colors as well!
 

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Pup

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Glad you liked the video LedHed. :)

CC,

White congo hair looks a lot like the FlyMasters (Wapsi) Fish Fur I tied with to create Murdich Minnows last Saturday. Your fly's a nice-looking tie. I really like those eyes. Have yet to create 3D eyes with my fabric paint, but look forward to doing so. Nice work. :cool:
 

Pup

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Thought I'd post a footnote to this process that might help.

When the eyes dry, they stick to a surface and will pull any paint or coating off when removed. This becomes a problem for "whites" of the eyes when using translucent or glitter paint that can be seen through. If you use a container lid from something like a tub of margarine, be sure to drip the paint on the inside of the lid where it isn't coated.

This is a great tool for removing Tulip Paint Eyes from a lid.

RetractableRazorScraper031214_zps6582027a.jpg

Retractable Single-Edge Razor Scraper
 

Pup

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Been working with these eyes and have a couple of things to note:
  • Dry fabric paint eyes cling firmly and form to jig heads without any adhesive. So, there is no need for any recesses in a round jig head. Be sure to apply a clear topcoat just as you would with other eyes.
  • Orange and pink eyes are somewhat translucent and will darken over black paint.

I may have some examples to show in the next few days as I'm working on jigs with a 'new-to-me' body product.
 

Pup

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A few other things to note when working with fabric paint eyes:
  • When using a lid as a surface to drip fabric paint for eyes, check the inside of it to see if it is coated. Clear cylindrical containers from fly shops often have their information applied to the inside of the container's lid.
  • Try to avoid handling the eyes directly with your finger tips. Body oil may transfer to them and cloud their appearance.
  • Tap lid sufficiently to flatten and round out the pupil. Avoid excessive tapping.
Here are a couple of recent examples. The pupil on the left jig appears sunken. This is due to excessive tapping of the lid during the process of creating this eye.

aug19jigs13_zpsa468bdbf.jpg

Jigs are 1/8 of an ounce with #2 black nickle sickle hooks. Devcon 2 Ton Epoxy was used to clear coat the jig heads.
 
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