painting lead eyes

[dudley]

I use a comb also. I hold it steady with a clothespin on each side.
For paint I like fabric paint for the base with a dot of nail polish for the pupal.

When I use up my stock of lead eyes that I have now I will no longer use them. The don't seem to hole up as well as the nickle type eyes.

There's a powder coat out for plain jig heads. You heat the lead jig head with a lighter or candle and dip it in the powder it then melts to the lead head. Nice glossy hard finish. Very tough stuff! Hmmmmm!! would it work??!!

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Cactus

[sjh]

CK: I use Model Master enamel which I got from a hobby shop. I think Testor's would work too. It produces a bright shiney finish. First paint the eye white and then use a tooth pick for the black pupil.

I just finished painting ~100 varying sized lead eyes and I used the "comb" method. I purchased a package of various sized combs (8-10 combs)from the Dollar store for $1. I spent ~15 minutes inserting the eyes into the tines of 3 combs and then I spray painted the eyes. Using a piece of string tied to the combs, I hung the combs/eyes up to dry. After drying and while still in the comb, I painted the pupils with a dowel sized to the pupil size I desired. After this dried I again spray painted the eyes with a clear protective coat and hung them up to dry.

This whole exercise took ~ 1 day considering the time allowed for drying. Actual work time was 15 minutes to insert the eyes into the comb, 5 minutes for each spray paint job and 15 minutes to paint the pupils. So the total time spent on the job was ~45 minutes.

Hope this is helpful.