I have recently been making building several Musso metal lipped swimmers and needles and making them with 2 and 3 color scallop paint patterns.

I thought I would share what I learned in the process of making stencils for my "rattle can" paint process.

First is to find a picture of the paint pattern you wish to copy... the SOL tackle Collectors section is full of great images courtesy of many collectors.

I copy the image as a JPEG using Snag-It software (or any of the screen shot software that is readiliy available).

I then paste this JPEG image file into WORD. (could also use Powerpoint) Once the image is in either WORD or PP you can size the image to the exact size of the plug that you want to paint by grapping the corner of the image with a mouse left click and pulling the image to the exact size of your plug. I use a metal ruler with millimeter increments.

After sizing the image I print the image either on Avery card stock paper or on clear acetate (old school overhead material) to make my stencil.

Next using a pair of your best small scissors I cut along the scallop edge taking care to smoothly cut the rounded corners.

Next I place the stencil on a piece of 3M 2 inch wide painters tape (BLUE) and tape it down on both sides. The painters tape has been affixed to wax paper and that is taped down as well. If you want to prep both L and R sides at once you can have a second piece of
blue tape affixed to the other side of the wax paper... i just thought of this and it will ensure that both pieces are mirror images.

I then trace the profile using a thin Sharpie onto the blue painters tape. Next I remove the stencil flip it over and tape it down to another piece of blue painters tape to make the tape stencil for the other side.

Next using the same small scissors (I use my fly tying scissors) cut the blue tape along the sharpie line.

keep the painters tape stencil affixed to the wax paper until just before you want to paint your plugs.... I make a mark with a pencil on both side of the plug front and rear to align the tape stencil to make it symetrical.

make sure you press down on each scallop finger to get good adhesion. I peel off the tape about 10 minutes after I paint with the montana spray paint that I use.

This is an easy process that works for me... not high throughput but the quality is good... I hope you find it useful ...

here are a few more pictures that show the stencil process

nice work. do you end up with a raised edge from the tape? or tape residue on the under coats?

The 3M blue tape does not leave any residue... the raised edge is very slight and goes away with the clear coat (eTex)

Nice tutorial. I use the same tape blue or green. I take a bic lighter the ones with the bottom shaped like this () and use either the full sized ones or the smaller ones. I put the bottom end of the lighter on the tape and trace :)