Frying Pan River, hand airbrushed
Frying Pan Rainbow trout Trucker
Roaring Fork Valley, Colorado · one at a time
A trucker cap hand airbrushed with a rainbow trout and the Frying Pan River, sprayed in five stencil layers and sealed by hand.
- Hand airbrushed, never printed
- Five stencil layers plus freehand detail
- Palette pulled from the Frying Pan River itself
- One size, adjustable
The cap it is painted on
The same artwork, sprayed on any of these. The front panel colour changes what the paint sits on, so it changes the hat.
Classic trucker
Natural front panel
$85
- Crown
- 6-panel structured cotton twill
- Build
- Structured — buckram behind the front panels
- Back
- Polyester mesh back
- Closure
- Snapback, plastic tab
Low profileshown
Stone front panel
$85
- Crown
- 5-panel unstructured cotton
- Build
- Unstructured — soft front, no buckram
- Back
- Soft poly mesh back
- Closure
- Snapback, plastic tab
Waxed canvas
Field tan front panel
$110
- Crown
- 6-panel waxed canvas front
- Build
- Lightly structured — the waxed canvas holds its own shape
- Back
- Heavy poly mesh back
- Closure
- Brass buckle strap
Fit and measurements
| Blank | Profile | Crown height | Visor | Adjusts to |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Classic trucker | Mid profile | 3¾ in (9.5 cm) | Pre-curved, 2¾ in (7 cm) | 21½–24 in (54.5–61 cm) |
| Low profile | Low profile | 3¼ in (8.3 cm) | Pre-curved, 2½ in (6.4 cm) | 21½–24 in (54.5–61 cm) |
| Waxed canvas | Mid profile | 3⅝ in (9.2 cm) | Pre-curved, 2¾ in (7 cm) | 21–23½ in (53.5–59.5 cm) |
One size. Run a tape around your head just above the ears, keeping it level — anything inside the range above will close on it.
How it is painted
5 passes, in this order. Each mask comes off and the paint has to dry before the next one goes down, which is most of why a cap takes what it takes.
sky
Soft fade, shrimp pink into rust oak
ridgeline
Frisket-cut skyline, Roaring Fork Valley, Colorado
water
Masked river channel, canyon red
subject
Rainbow trout, hand-cut stencil, three tones
detail
Freehand spray for fins, foam and highlights
The artwork
Fourteen miles below Ruedi where mysis shrimp grow trout to a size that looks like a misprint.
Every cap is sprayed by hand on a blank, one at a time. Five layers go on in order — sky, ridgeline, water, fish, then freehand detail — and each one has to dry before the next mask goes down. There is no print run and no transfer.
The palette is taken from the water itself: shrimp pink, rust oak, canyon red, clear teal. That is why two hats of the same river still differ, and why a hat of a different river looks nothing like this one.
Water-based paint, heat set, then two light coats of matte sealer. It will take rain and a season on a boat. It will not take a washing machine.
The water it was painted from
Frying Pan RiverRoaring Fork Valley, Colorado · CO
- River
- Frying Pan River, Roaring Fork Valley, Colorado
- States
- CO
- Fish
- Rainbow trout, Brown trout
- Water type
- Tailwater
Specifications
Airbrush palette
- Paint
- Createx Wicked, water-based, heat set
- Colours
- shrimp pink, rust oak, canyon red, clear teal
- Finish
- Matte sealer, two light coats
What arrives
- The hat
- A care card
- A numbered tag naming the water it was painted from
Looking after it
- 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.
Paint your own
Frying Pan stencil set
The five hand-cut stencils behind this hat — sky, ridgeline, water, rainbow trout, detail — in reusable mylar, with the layer order and the paint list.
$36
Coming soon
Airbrush starter kit
Dual-action gravity-feed brush, quiet compressor, moisture trap, six Createx colours and a cleaning pot. Everything to spray your first cap and nothing you will outgrow in a month.
$245
Learn to airbrush — hat course
Eight lessons from holding the brush to sealing a finished cap, shot over the shoulder at the bench. Includes two stencil sets.
$99
Coming soon
Where this came from
trucker hat · made
0 — nothing entered the score yet, at the Derby's published weights, since . Views are not counted.
- frying-pan
- airbrushed
- trucker
- rainbow-trout
- co