D. I. Y: Building your own Umbrella, Possibility or Fantasy?

I have always been fascinated with umbrella's, from the large outdoor umbrella to pop culture inspired colourful ones, even the Asian themed umbrella's, they are an important invention that most of use truly take for granted. Like most designers, I'm always looking for inspiration in a wide range of things from nature, to the humble shoe. I find umbrella both simple and complicated. the mechanisms involved work intricately to allow users to engage with the product with little to hassle at all, whilst boasting a very complicated system of design.

The umbrella seems like a simple enough thing to replicate, but in-fact there are many components that go into the building of them, which sadly enough makes them very difficult to build on your own (the cute cocktail umbrella don't count lol). I found an article that sheds some light on the modification of umbrella's rather than the building of one from scratch on your own.

So those of you hoping to build your own perhaps this article can at least satisfy this dream in some way...

How to Build an Umbrella

By Tucker Cummings, eHow Contributor

 
 
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Build an Umbrella

Building your own umbrella is incredibly difficult. In addition to understanding the mechanics of an umbrella, you will also have great difficulty sourcing umbrella parts. Umbrella repair shops are few and far between these days, making it virtually impossible to build an umbrella by yourself. Making an umbrella from scratch may not be possible for you, but this article will help you understand how to cannibalize an old umbrella to make a new one.

If you are looking to repair your umbrella, or modify it in any way, this article can help you. Why bother to repair an umbrella? After all, you can find them cheaply on any streetcorner. However, if you have an umbrella with a lovely pattern, or a vintage umbrella that belonged to your grandfather, building a new umbrella out of the old parts is a great idea.

Read more: http://www.ehow.com/how_4843413_build-an-umbrella.html#ixzz2cTXjKOqG

For the full article, please follow the link provided

Happy D.I.Y-ing