Welders

How these were drawn

Posterised to three tones, with the arc doing all the lighting. Large dark areas are left as open shirt, which is also how a dark-garment print stays soft. Stacked dimes are drawn as real fillet passes — a welder can tell when someone actually looked.

Buying for yourself

Black heavyweight tees, an embroidered hoodie with a blank year for the shop she started in, and a tumbler for the early shift.

Buying it as a gift

The mug is the one a nine-year-old picks out, usually through a dad, usually the week before Mother's Day. It talks about her trade, not about her being somebody's wife.