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How to Make a Miniature Umbrella

Designers make miniature umbrellas in a variety of sizes, from a drink accessory to a doll's rainy day outfit. Miniature umbrellas also create a festive atmosphere when used as decorations elsewhere at parties, and can be used in artsy arrangements for homes and businesses, as wall-hangings or decorative additions to vases and houseplants. These umbrellas can also be made with basic craft materials.

Things You'll Need

  • Round object
  • Paper -- white or origami
  • Pencil
  • Scissors
  • Double-sided tape
  • Wooden skewers
  • White glue
  • Paint
  • Decorations
  • Styrofoam
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Instructions

    • 1

      Decide on the type of paper to use for the umbrella. Plan to work with origami paper, which comes in a variety of decorative patterns; white art paper allows you instead to create your own designs on the paper using other artistic materials, such as paint.

    • 2

      Locate a round object that matches the approximate size that you want your miniature umbrella to be. Find a soup can for a smaller doll's umbrella, or a round baking pan for one that is intended to be slightly larger.

    • 3

      Place the round object on the back of your paper and trace around the edges with a pencil. Cut out the circle shape.

    • 4

      Add a slit in the paper by cutting from a point on the outer edge of the circle to the center. Slide the slit so one edge is just slightly underneath the other edge: 1/4-inch in a cake pan the diameter of a cake pan, and less in smaller umbrellas. Tape the slit edges together using double-sided tape by placing the tape between the top edge and the edge below along the slit.

    • 5

      Cut the wooden skewers to match the length from the center of the umbrella to the circumference. Attach the skewers to the umbrella by gluing them in an evenly-spaced way from the centers to the edges on the underside of the umbrella. For an umbrella traced from a soup can, use about four skewers, and for one traced from a cake pan, use ten. Let dry.

    • 6

      Determine the length needed for the umbrella's handle, and then cut a skewer to match that length. Push one end of the handle into the Styrofoam.

    • 7

      Set the umbrella upside down and place a small amount of glue on the center of the underside of the umbrella. Then balance the umbrella right-side-up so that it stands on the Styrofoam-cup base. Let dry.

    • 8

      Decorate the umbrella as desired using paint and decorative objects such as beads, unless you would prefer to enjoy the decorative print of the paper.

Sculpture

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