Maria Rubio was not sure she would graduate from Arizona
State University after having a daughter when she was a sophomore.
“I was on the verge of dropping out,” she said.
اضافة اعلان
But Rubio, 22, whose parents immigrated to the US from Mexico
before she was born, said that becoming a mother in 2020 ultimately gave her
the motivation to finish college. “More than ever, I wanted to graduate and do
something for myself and my daughter,” said Rubio, who lives in Phoenix.
At her graduation this month, Rubio plans to have her
daughter in the audience — and on her head, in the form of a custom portrait
decorating Rubio’s graduation cap. The portrait, which cost $120, features
likenesses of Rubio and her daughter.
“It’s the cherry on top of my accomplishment,” Rubio said.
Sarah Plazola, who started
customizing graduation caps in 2017, at her home studio in Los Angeles on April
10, 2023.
Decorating graduation caps has long been a tradition among
graduates, many of whom do all the gluing, beading, and glittering themselves
or with friends. But those who would rather outsource the task can now hire a
growing number of artisans to create elaborate artwork that is placed flat on
top of a cap.
Kimberlee Morales, who made the portrait for Rubio’s cap,
said she has received order inquiries for graduations through 2034. She started
customizing caps in 2016, when she was still in college. After a few that she
had made for classmates drew attention on social media, strangers began
requesting their own designs, she said. When Instagram later promoted her
business, Kim’s Custom Caps, it resulted in even more orders.
Morales, who works from a studio at her home in Norwalk,
California, said she is making about 250 custom designs this year. Each one
typically takes two to three hours to decorate. They start at $65, but pieces
that require more detailed portraits can cost more than $100.
Morales also sells semi-custom styles (starting at $28),
which can be personalized with quotes or photos, as well as premade designs
(starting at $26).
Judith Dueñas, 24, who is pursuing a degree online from
Thomas Edison University, ordered a custom piece from Morales for her
graduation this winter. Dueñas, who lives in Desert Hot Springs, California,
and works as an administrative assistant, said she and Morales spent days
developing the design. It features a prosthetic leg, which Dueñas has had since
childhood, as well as elements that nod to her Mexican heritage.
Dueñas said that when she saw the finished product, which
cost $120, she “sobbed for a good 10 minutes.”
Morales said most of her clients who request custom designs
are the children of immigrants or have immigrated to the US themselves. Many,
she added, “owe their journeys to their families, and they want to honor that.”
Like Morales, Emiah Youman began customizing graduation caps
when she was in college. Youman, who started selling them through her business,
Custom Couture by Emiah, in 2019, now also offers premade styles (starting at
$50), as well as hand-painted designs (starting at $210).
Youman, who lives in Washington, DC, said she has received
about 100 orders this year. Her custom designs can take up to three months to
complete, in part because she is running her business while attending law
school at Howard University. “It’s just me doing everything,” she said. But,
she added, “to get videos and pictures of the families with the caps, it’s just
really special.”
Marc Goldberg said he saw the potential for a cap-decorating
business in the late ’90s, when his mother couldn’t locate him among the throng
of black-capped students at his college graduation. “I thought, ‘There’s got to
be a way that you can stand out in the crowd,’” said Goldberg, who lives in
Midland Park, New Jersey. Years later, in 2012, he started Tassel Toppers,
which lets customers design mortarboards online.
Custom mortarboards from Tassel Toppers start at $25, in
part because the company does not offer hand-painted styles; premade designs
start at $15. Goldberg, who also owns a technology company, said this allows
some orders to be shipped within 24 hours of being placed. The company, which
employs five full-time assistant designers, can complete as many as 1,000
orders a day between April and June, Goldberg said.
Sarah Plazola, a part-time substitute teacher in Los Angeles
who began making custom caps in 2017, said she received thousands of order
inquiries in 2022. This year, Plazola said she has accepted about 260 orders
for her custom designs, which start at $30. She also sells premade styles, starting
at $25.
Plazola said that in the years since she started her
business, Uncapped Creations, she has noticed that the field of cap decorators
has become more crowded, and that more designs are starting to look alike. She
once had to ask another maker to stop offering styles that borrowed too much
from hers.
“I don’t mind when other makers add their own personality
and creativity to it,” Plazola said. “But when it’s a complete copy, I will not
stay quiet.”
Even though she has more competition, Plazola still has to
turn customers down.
“There are so many graduates,” she said. “I can’t cater to
all of them.”
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