The New Acorn & Artisan Bandanas Are Here
At some point, I apparently became the kind of person who orders 400 bandanas and then waits impatiently for several very large boxes to show up at her front door.
Thriving, actually.
The newest Acorn & Artisan bandanas are officially here, and opening this shipment felt like one of those very surreal small-business moments where something that existed as an illustration on my iPad suddenly became stacks and stacks of real, wearable things.
This collection takes some of my favorite nature-inspired designs and turns them into colorful, one-color screen-printed bandanas made for people who like their everyday accessories with a little more personality.
From Illustration to 400 Bandanas
Every Acorn & Artisan bandana starts the same way most of my products do: with something in nature that caught my attention enough that I wanted to draw it.
Sometimes it is a creature I have seen outside. Sometimes it is a species I fall down a research rabbit hole about. Usually, it becomes a combination of nature, pattern, bold color, and the kind of tiny details I can spend entirely too long adjusting.
For this run, I wanted the designs to feel a little different from our previous multi-color bandanas.
The new versions use single-color screen printing, which gives the illustrations a cleaner, graphic look while still keeping all of the movement and weird little nature details that made me love the original designs.
And then came the slightly ridiculous part:
Four designs.
Hundreds of folded squares of cotton.
400 bandanas total.
There is nothing quite like seeing that many versions of your own artwork stacked together in one room.
Meet the New Bandanas
The collection includes four colorful designs inspired by the plants, insects, and wildlife I keep coming back to in my work.
Each bandana is:
- 22" × 22"
- 100% cotton
- One-color screen printed
- Illustrated by me in Texas
- Designed to be worn, tied, packed, displayed, and generally used however you want
They are intentionally useful without feeling boring—which is basically my favorite category of object.
Wear One, Tie One, Make It Yours
One of the reasons I love bandanas is that there really is no correct way to use one.
Tie one around your neck.
Wear it as a head scarf.
Add it to a ponytail.
Wrap it around the handle of a bag.
Tie it onto a backpack.
Use it on a hike.
Hang it somewhere because you like the artwork and have no intention of wearing it at all.
I am firmly in favor of buying something because it makes an ordinary thing feel a little more like you.
Nature-Inspired, Without Being Too Serious About It
My background is in natural sciences, so the species and details behind these designs genuinely matter to me.
But I also do not think loving nature requires everything to be muted green, hyper-realistic, or educational-looking.
Nature is already weird.
It is colorful.
It is dramatic.
There are moths that look like tiny works of art, snakes covered in incredible patterns, bats with wonderfully strange faces, and grasshoppers so bright they barely look real.
That is the side of nature I want Acorn & Artisan to celebrate.
The new bandanas are part field-guide curiosity, part wearable illustration, and part excuse to put more color into something you already use.
A New Version of Some Familiar Favorites
Some of these illustrations may look familiar if you have been around Acorn & Artisan for a while.
Rather than completely replacing the earlier versions, I wanted this run to explore what happens when the artwork is simplified into one bold ink color.
The result feels familiar but completely new at the same time.
The patterns are easier to see from a distance, the colors feel more graphic, and each bandana gets its own personality depending on the fabric and ink combination.
And yes, opening the boxes and immediately unfolding every single color was absolutely necessary.
For research.
Obviously.
The New Bandanas Are Available Now
After months of drawing, samples, color decisions, production conversations, and eventually having 400 bandanas arrive at my house, they are finally ready to head out into the world.
If your current collection of hobbies, bags, outfits, hikes, road trips, or general everyday life could use a little more color and wildlife, you can shop the newest Acorn & Artisan bandanas now.
Because apparently some of us did not outgrow collecting hobbies.
We just got adult money and started ordering the accessories for them.