Cold water below the dam, bugs on the stones
A linocut tailwater scene with a rusty spinner and mayfly in a green pool, in glacial blue, snow white and pine black, for days on the Owyhee River.
A rusty spinner and a young mayfly rest in a green underwater pool while a glacial blue river winds down from a dam above them. The scene is cut in bold linocut shapes of sage green, glacial blue, snow white and pine black, with rust brown insects.
- Rusty spinner and mayfly on green cobbles
- Glacial blue river winding from a dam
- Bold linocut shapes in pine black
- Light shafts through a moss green pool
- Sage green field with contour rings
The cap
One design, four caps. The front panel is what the paint or the dye sits on, so it changes the hat.
Trucker
The house cap — structured mid profile, foam-and-mesh back, snapback.
Specs
- Profile
- Mid profile
- Build
- 6-panel · Structured — buckram behind the front
- Crown
- 3½ in (8.9 cm)
- Visor
- Pre-curved, 2¾ in (7 cm)
- Closure
- Snapback
- Adjusts to
- 21½–24 in (54.5–61 cm)
- Airbrushed on
- Natural cotton twill
- Sublimated on
- White polyester foam
Rope cap
Structured five-panel with a near-flat brim and a cord across it.
Specs
- Profile
- Mid-high profile
- Build
- 5-panel · Structured
- Crown
- 4 in (10.2 cm)
- Visor
- Near-flat, 2⅞ in (7.3 cm), contrast rope
- Closure
- Snapback
- Adjusts to
- 21½–23¾ in (54.5–60.5 cm)
- Airbrushed on
- Stone cotton twill
- Sublimated on
- White polyester twill
Dad hat
Soft, low and unstructured — washed cotton with a strap back.
Specs
- Profile
- Low profile
- Build
- 6-panel · Unstructured — soft front
- Crown
- 3¼ in (8.3 cm)
- Visor
- Curved, 2¾ in (7 cm)
- Closure
- Strap back, brass buckle
- Adjusts to
- 21–23½ in (53.5–59.5 cm)
- Airbrushed on
- Washed khaki cotton
- Sublimated on
- White polyester twill
Five-panel camp
Flat brim, low crown, packs flat in a vest pocket.
Specs
- Profile
- Low profile
- Build
- 5-panel · Unstructured
- Crown
- 3¼ in (8.3 cm)
- Visor
- Flat, 2½ in (6.4 cm)
- Closure
- Strap back, side-release clip
- Adjusts to
- 21½–23½ in (54.5–59.5 cm)
- Airbrushed on
- Field olive nylon-cotton
- Sublimated on
- White polyester
Fit
| Cap | Profile | Crown height | Visor | Adjusts to |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trucker | Mid profile | 3½ in (8.9 cm) | Pre-curved, 2¾ in (7 cm) | 21½–24 in (54.5–61 cm) |
| Rope cap | Mid-high profile | 4 in (10.2 cm) | Near-flat, 2⅞ in (7.3 cm), contrast rope | 21½–23¾ in (54.5–60.5 cm) |
| Dad hat | Low profile | 3¼ in (8.3 cm) | Curved, 2¾ in (7 cm) | 21–23½ in (53.5–59.5 cm) |
| Five-panel camp | Low profile | 3¼ in (8.3 cm) | Flat, 2½ in (6.4 cm) | 21½–23½ in (54.5–59.5 cm) |
One size per cap. Run a tape around your head just above the ears, keeping it level — anything inside the range above will close on it.
Two finishes
The same design, made two ways. Pick one in the panel; the cap and the quantity are yours to choose too.
Hand airbrushed
$85 for one hat, on a trucker
Painted to order — would ship in about 2 weeks
How it is made
- How it is made
- Sprayed by hand through this design's own stencils, one layer at a time, each left to dry before the next mask goes down.
- How it looks
- Soft gradients and hand-cut stencil edges. Every cap is a little different.
- What it sits on
- On a natural cotton twill front.
- Durability and care
- Water-based paint, heat set and sealed. It takes rain and a season on a boat; spot clean with cool water, never a washing machine.
Sublimation printed
$32 for one hat, on a trucker
Printed to order — would ship in 5–7 business days
How it is made
- How it is made
- The design is printed in dye onto transfer paper, then pressed with heat so the dye soaks into the polyester fibres.
- How it looks
- Full colour edge to edge, and identical every time.
- What it sits on
- On a white polyester foam front — sublimation only takes on white polyester.
- Durability and care
- The dye is in the fibre, not on it, so it will not crack or peel. Gentle wash, air dry.
The artwork
A river drops from a dam and cuts a glacial blue line through dark rock. Below it, the water opens into a green pool where light shafts fall on round stones. A mayfly clings to a cobble. A rusty spinner lies spent beside it, wings out flat.
Wear it on the Owyhee River in autumn, when the cottonwoods go gold and the spinners come down at evening. Folks at the pullout will see the bug before they see the river, and that usually starts a conversation about what you tied on.
Pine black keylines carry the whole linocut look. Cut them bold and keep them even, so the banks, the contour rings and the stone edges read as one clean block from across the parking lot.
What arrives
- The hat
- A care card
- On a hand airbrushed hat, a numbered tag naming the water it was painted from, when the design names one
Looking after it
Hand airbrushed
- Spot clean with cool water and a soft brush. Never a washing machine.
- Keep it out of a hot car for long stretches — heat-set paint is tough, but a dashboard in July is not a test worth running.
- Reshape the brim by hand while damp.
Sublimation printed
- Spot clean, or gently hand wash in cool water. No bleach.
- Air dry. Do not iron the print.
- Reshape the brim by hand while damp.
- The dye is in the fibre, so the print will not crack or peel.
Details
Airbrush palette
- Colours
- sage green, moss green, river-stone olive, glacial blue, snow white, pine black, rust brown
Details
- Subject
- rusty spinner mayfly
- Style
- linocut with bold shapes
Make it yourself
The palette
- Sage green
- Moss green
- River-stone olive
- Glacial blue
- Snow white
- Pine black
- Rust brown
The layers
8 layers, in this order. Each mask comes off and the paint has to dry before the next one goes down.
- Field
- Pool glow
- Streambed
- River
- Foam
- Keylines
- Insects
- Wing light
The kit's stencil set is cut from these layers; with the cutter (12 hats and up) you cut your own from this design's layer files.
How to mix each colour
Sage green
2 parts green, 1 part white, a drop of black to dull it
Moss green
2 parts yellow, 1 part green, a drop of black to deaden it
River-stone olive
2 parts yellow, 1 part black, a drop of red to warm it
Glacial blue
Primary blue, a drop of white to lighten it, a drop of black to deepen it; build it in thin coats
Snow white
Opaque white from the bottle; two thin coats cover better than one thick one
Pine black
2 parts green, 1 part black, a drop of blue to cool it
Rust brown
2 parts orange, 1 part brown, a drop of red
Setup
- Ventilation or a spray booth. Water-based paint still throws a fine mist, and you will be breathing it for hours.
- A half-mask respirator rated for paint mists. A dust mask is not one.
- A compressor with a moisture trap, set and tested on a card before you start: wet air spits water into the paint.
- Reducer and a cleaning pot within reach, so a clog is a ten-second fix instead of a ruined panel.
- Spray a test card for every colour before it touches the cap. Colour reads differently wet, dry and on twill.
Prep
- Lint-roll the front panel. Every fibre left on it prints as a speck in the paint.
- Mask the mesh, any seams you want clean and the whole visor, underside included, with low-tack tape and paper.
- Stretch the crown over the cap jig so the front panel is taut and curved the way it will be worn. Spraying a slack panel flat distorts the design when it is worn.
- Spray one light coat of transparent base so the colour sits on the fabric instead of soaking into it.
Layer by layer
1 · Field — 0.5 mm · 25–30 PSI
sage green — a flat base across the whole design
Mask None on the panel itself: the mesh and the visor are already masked from the prep.
Colour Sage green — 2 parts green, 1 part white, a drop of black to dull it
- Needle
- 0.5 mm (a 0.35 mm works, it just takes longer)
- Pressure
- 25–30 PSI
- Distance
- 6–8 in from the panel
- Passes
- 3–4 light passes, building the colour
- Dry
- 10 minutes, or 60–90 seconds with a heat gun on low, before the next mask goes down
Tip Fade wet to dry and never lay one heavy coat: twill wicks paint sideways and the edge blooms.
2 · Pool glow — 0.35 mm · 20–25 PSI
moss green — the underwater cutaway, with lighter shafts of light falling from the surface
Mask Lay this layer's mylar stencil and burnish the edges flat with your thumbnail.
Colour Moss green — 2 parts yellow, 1 part green, a drop of black to deaden it
- Needle
- 0.35 mm
- Pressure
- 20–25 PSI
- Distance
- 4–6 in from the panel
- Passes
- 2–3 passes
- Dry
- 10 minutes before lifting the stencil
Tip Spray away from the stencil edge, not into it, so the air does not push paint underneath.
3 · Streambed — 0.35 mm · 20–25 PSI
river-stone olive — rounded cobbles along the floor of the pool
Mask Lay this layer's mylar stencil and burnish the edges flat with your thumbnail.
Colour River-stone olive — 2 parts yellow, 1 part black, a drop of red to warm it
- Needle
- 0.35 mm
- Pressure
- 20–25 PSI
- Distance
- 4–6 in from the panel
- Passes
- 2–3 passes
- Dry
- 10 minutes before lifting the stencil
Tip Spray away from the stencil edge, not into it, so the air does not push paint underneath.
4 · River — 0.35 mm · 20–25 PSI
glacial blue — the winding channel, the pale hills and the sky behind the dam
Mask Lay this layer's mylar stencil and burnish the edges flat with your thumbnail.
Colour Glacial blue — Primary blue, a drop of white to lighten it, a drop of black to deepen it; build it in thin coats
- Needle
- 0.35 mm
- Pressure
- 20–25 PSI
- Distance
- 4–6 in from the panel
- Passes
- 2–3 passes
- Dry
- 10 minutes before lifting the stencil
Tip Spray away from the stencil edge, not into it, so the air does not push paint underneath.
5 · Foam — 0.35 mm · 20–25 PSI
snow white — riffle streaks down the channel, the spill below the dam and the bright edge of the sky
Mask Lay this layer's mylar stencil and burnish the edges flat with your thumbnail.
Colour Snow white — Opaque white from the bottle; two thin coats cover better than one thick one
- Needle
- 0.35 mm
- Pressure
- 20–25 PSI
- Distance
- 4–6 in from the panel
- Passes
- 2–3 passes
- Dry
- 10 minutes before lifting the stencil
Tip Spray away from the stencil edge, not into it, so the air does not push paint underneath.
6 · Keylines — 0.35 mm · 20–25 PSI
pine black — dark rock banks, the contour rings in the field, the dam's outline and the stone edges
Mask Lay this layer's mylar stencil and burnish the edges flat with your thumbnail.
Colour Pine black — 2 parts green, 1 part black, a drop of blue to cool it
- Needle
- 0.35 mm
- Pressure
- 20–25 PSI
- Distance
- 4–6 in from the panel
- Passes
- 2–3 passes
- Dry
- 10 minutes before lifting the stencil
Tip Spray away from the stencil edge, not into it, so the air does not push paint underneath.
7 · Insects — 0.3 mm · 18–22 PSI
rust brown — a segmented mayfly on the cobbles and the body of a spent spinner
Mask The hand-cut subject stencil, inner pieces first, then the outline piece.
Colour Rust brown — 2 parts orange, 1 part brown, a drop of red
- Needle
- 0.3 mm
- Pressure
- 18–22 PSI
- Distance
- 3–4 in from the panel
- Passes
- 2–3 passes per tone, light to dark
- Dry
- 10 minutes between tones
Tip Light tones first: a light colour over a dark one needs many coats, a dark one over a light one needs two.
8 · Wing light — 0.2–0.3 mm · 12–15 PSI
snow white — the spinner's clear wings and small glints on the insects
Mask None: freehand, with a shield card held against any hard edge.
Colour Snow white — Opaque white from the bottle; two thin coats cover better than one thick one
- Needle
- 0.2–0.3 mm
- Pressure
- 12–15 PSI
- Distance
- 1–2 in from the panel
- Passes
- Freehand, in short controlled strokes
- Dry
- 10 minutes, then check it before you cure
Tip Low pressure, close in and moving: stop the stroke before you release the trigger.
Step by step
Mask everything outside the design and lay the sage green field. Start around 20 PSI, a 0.5 mm needle and 15 cm distance; treat these as a starting point and adjust to your paint.
Mask the pool shape and spray moss green, fading lighter toward the surface for the light shafts. Try 18 PSI, 0.5 mm needle, 12 cm distance as a starting point.
Mask the cobbles and spray river-stone olive. Around 18 PSI, 0.4 mm needle, 10 cm is a good place to begin.
Mask the river channel, the pale hills and the sky, then spray glacial blue. Start near 20 PSI, 0.5 mm needle, 12 cm.
Mask the foam streaks, the spill below the dam and the sky's edge, and spray snow white. Begin at 15 PSI, 0.3 mm needle, 8 cm, building coverage in thin passes.
Lay the keyline mask for the banks, contour rings, dam outline and stone edges, then spray pine black. Start at 18 PSI, 0.3 mm needle, 8 cm and keep edges crisp.
Mask the mayfly and the spinner's body and spray rust brown. Try 12 PSI, 0.2 mm needle, 5 cm as a starting point for fine detail.
Mask the spinner's wings and the small glints and spray snow white. Around 12 PSI, 0.2 mm needle, 5 cm to begin.
Let the paint dry fully, then heat-set it following the paint maker's label.
Finish with a thin, even sealing coat and let it cure for a full day before wearing.
Cure
- Heat set at 300°F / 150°C. Water-based textile paint is not wash-fast until it is heat set.
- Cap press: 3–5 minutes with a teflon sheet over the design.
- Or heat gun: 2–3 minutes per panel, keeping it moving 2–3 in off the fabric so it does not scorch.
- If you have neither, air cure for 72 hours before the cap touches water.
Seal
- Two light coats of matte fabric sealer, UV-resistant, from 8–10 in, 15 minutes apart.
- Leave it 24 hours before the cap is worn.
- Never a gloss sealer on cotton twill: it shines, cracks along the creases and looks like a sticker.
Clean-up
- Flush the brush with water, then airbrush cleaner, until it sprays clear.
- Strip the needle and wipe it toward the tip, never away from it.
- Never soak the brush body overnight.
Common mistakes
- Spraying white too wet makes it bleed under the mask. Go light, let each pass flash off, then go again.
- Thin pine black keylines lose the linocut feel. Cut them wider than you think and keep their weight even.
- Lifting a mask before the paint sets tears the edge. Wait until it is dry to the touch.
- Skipping the heat-set lets colour fade on the first wet day. Follow the label every time.
Tips
- Cut the light shafts as long tapered wedges so they read as linocut blocks, not soft haze.
- Test each colour on scrap first; snow white over glacial blue needs a few thin passes to stay bright.
- Weed the tiny insect masks with a sharp pick and lay them down with light pressure so the legs stay put.
- Keep the river's white streaks flowing in one direction so the water reads as moving downhill.
Every kit size
Trucker · kit for 1 hat
$224
Bought separately $249 · you save $25
Includes Starter airbrush set · Cap jig · and 7 more
Every item in this kit · 9 items
Blanks
- Trucker blank, natural cotton twill front$9
Stencils
- Pre-cut mylar stencil set for this design — 8 layers$18
Paint & masks
- Water-based textile airbrush colour, 2 oz — one per colour in this design$42
- Transparent base and reducer, 4 oz$7
- Low-tack masking film and ¼ in tape$8
- Matte fabric sealer, 4 oz$12
Equipment
- Starter airbrush set — 0.3 mm dual-action gravity brush, mini compressor, braided hose$129
- Cap jig — holds the crown taut while you spray$24
Guide
- Printed step-by-step guide for this designIncluded
Trucker · kit for 12 hats
$1,073
$89.42 a hat
Bought separately $1,220 · you save $147
Includes Dual-action gravity-feed airbrush · Quiet compressor with tank and moisture trap · Cap jig and two spare crown forms · Tabletop spray booth with exhaust fan · and 11 more
Every item in this kit · 15 items
Blanks
- Trucker blank, natural cotton twill front$78
Stencils
- Desktop stencil cutter, 12 in — the "stencil printer": cuts mylar from this design's layer files$299
- Stencil mylar, 7 mil, 12 × 12 in$22
- This design's layer files, every layer (SVG)Included
Paint & masks
- Water-based textile airbrush colour, 4 oz — one per colour in this design$98
- Transparent base and reducer, 16 oz$16
- Low-tack masking film$18
- Matte fabric sealer, 16 oz$28
Equipment
- Dual-action gravity-feed airbrush, 0.3 mm$135
- Quiet compressor with tank and moisture trap$179
- Cap jig and two spare crown forms$64
- Tabletop spray booth with exhaust fan$149
- Cleaning pot, brushes and a half-mask respirator$99
- Heat gun for curing$35
Guide
- Printed step-by-step guide for this designIncluded
Trucker · kit for 12 × 12 hats
$3,124
$21.69 a hat
Bought separately $3,676 · you save $552
Includes Two dual-action gravity-feed airbrushes · Production airbrush · Twin-piston compressor with tank and two regulators · Production spray booth · and 13 more
Every item in this kit · 17 items
Blanks
- Trucker blank, natural cotton twill front$756
Stencils
- Stencil cutter-plotter, 24 in — the production "stencil printer"$649
- Stencil mylar, 7 mil, 12 × 12 in$85
- This design's layer files, every layer (SVG)Included
Paint & masks
- Water-based textile airbrush colour, 32 oz — one per colour in this design$336
- Transparent base and reducer$49
- Low-tack masking film$54
- Matte fabric sealer$89
Equipment
- Two dual-action gravity-feed airbrushes, 0.3 mm$270
- Production airbrush, 0.5 mm, for base fades$95
- Twin-piston compressor with tank and two regulators$329
- Production spray booth, two fans$289
- Three cap jigs$192
- Cleaning station, respirator and spare cartridges$139
- Cap heat press for curing$279
- Drying rack, 24 caps$65
Guide
- Printed step-by-step guide for this designIncluded
The creator
How it was made
1 iteration led here; the saved one is marked
1 Saved
Remixes
No remixes yet — make your own version.
Where this came from
“a hat made for Owyhee River, Oregon”
trucker hat · made
0 — nothing entered the score yet, at the Derby's published weights, since . Views are not counted.
- rusty spinner
- mayfly
- tailwater
- linocut
- trucker hat
- fly fishing
- river
- dam
- autumn
- glacial blue
- dry fly