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You might be thinking, ‘I’m not that cheap, if I want an umbrella I’ll just go out and spend the $8 and buy one!’ Why would you ever need to make your own umbrella? Aside from the creative and unique aspect, what if you were out bushwalking or hiking and forgot to bring your umbrella?
Or maybe you’re camping and the sun is just too hot and you need a bit of shelter. Don’t worry; with a little bit of ingenuity and a couple of bits and pieces you can make your very own umbrella. It probably won’t win any design contests, but it should serve its purpose.
Firstly, you’re going to need a couple of things. For arguments sake let’s pretend you’ve got all these items packed in your backpack while you’re away camping.
What you’ll need
- Material for the umbrella canopy – you can use a garbage bag (the thicker the better), a tarpaulin or solar blanket.
- Duct tape
- Framing materials – if you’ve got coat hangers – great! But I don’t know of many people that go camping with them, so you’ll be able to make do with a sturdy tree branch for the pole and about six smaller branches for the spokes.
- Scissors or a knife – you’ll need something strong enough to whittle the branches and to cut the tape and material
Instructions
- Now that you’ve got your materials together you’re ready (as you’ll ever be) to make your umbrella.
- Have a look at your branches and decide how big you want your umbrella to be. Choose the biggest branch to be the center pole, then take the other six branches and whittle them down to the same size.
- Take two sticks (of the six) and make them into a cross and secure them with duct tape. Take the center pole and tape it to the middle of the cross leaving about 3 inches at the top. Make sure you secure the branches well so it doesn’t fall apart.
- Repeat the process with the remaining four sticks, making crosses out of them and then securing them with tape to the stick handle. Spacing them so they make spokes like a wheel. When you’re finished it should look like an asterisk with a stick poking up the middle.
- Now cut out your canopy material in a circle several inches bigger than your frame. Next push the center stick through the middle of the material and tape up any holes that are left.
- Tape the edges of the canopy to the spokes. Make sure you duct tape on the underside of the canopy so the tape doesn’t get wet.
And there you have your crude, homemade umbrella. Not pretty, but perfectly serviceable!
