Smiling Ram
Upcycled Parasol
One brisk fall day, while walking through the streets of downtown Minneapolis, a light drizzle began. Soon the pitter, patter became a downpour, and I was, sadly, umbrella-less. BEHOLD! A discarded, broken, worn down, weary, homeless umbrella - it beckoned me. It was in sorry shape, but I only needed to get to my car and it would definitely keep me relatively dry. I seized the poor discarded beast, made way to my car, only slightly damp, and threw the relatively useless umbrella in the trunk where it has lain approximately 3 months.
Rewind to a beautiful, sunny spring day - a perfect Saturday of garage saleing and scavenger hunting, with plenty of treasures to be found. As I made my way from one sale to the next, collecting gnome trinkets and squirrel knick knacks, I happened upon a heap of discarded periodicals. These dated as far back as 1949, and included various issues of Women's Day, Good Housekeeping, House Beautiful, and Better Homes and Gardens. The perfect resources to make my domestic life just that, but in that very 1950s way. The magazines were free of mold, but very brittle, and left for garbage Monday, they surely would have met their demise. I swept them up, and headed home for the domestic education to begin....
The magazine pages have been laminated to help protect them from age, as well as give them strength to function as the shade. The individual pages were pieced together to create each wedge of the shade. The umbrella skeleton is from that which I found, and the handle and top have been painted a lovely shade of aqua. The edges of the umbrella have been bound using the discarded shade of the unwanted umbrella.
The exterior of the Parasol depicts exclusively delicious cake and pie advertisements from the 1950s. ENJOY!
Upcycled Parasol
One brisk fall day, while walking through the streets of downtown Minneapolis, a light drizzle began. Soon the pitter, patter became a downpour, and I was, sadly, umbrella-less. BEHOLD! A discarded, broken, worn down, weary, homeless umbrella - it beckoned me. It was in sorry shape, but I only needed to get to my car and it would definitely keep me relatively dry. I seized the poor discarded beast, made way to my car, only slightly damp, and threw the relatively useless umbrella in the trunk where it has lain approximately 3 months.
Rewind to a beautiful, sunny spring day - a perfect Saturday of garage saleing and scavenger hunting, with plenty of treasures to be found. As I made my way from one sale to the next, collecting gnome trinkets and squirrel knick knacks, I happened upon a heap of discarded periodicals. These dated as far back as 1949, and included various issues of Women's Day, Good Housekeeping, House Beautiful, and Better Homes and Gardens. The perfect resources to make my domestic life just that, but in that very 1950s way. The magazines were free of mold, but very brittle, and left for garbage Monday, they surely would have met their demise. I swept them up, and headed home for the domestic education to begin....
The magazine pages have been laminated to help protect them from age, as well as give them strength to function as the shade. The individual pages were pieced together to create each wedge of the shade. The umbrella skeleton is from that which I found, and the handle and top have been painted a lovely shade of aqua. The edges of the umbrella have been bound using the discarded shade of the unwanted umbrella.
The exterior of the Parasol depicts exclusively delicious cake and pie advertisements from the 1950s. ENJOY!