Recycling Broken Umbrellas

 

Those who watch my posts on Dress of The Day on Facebook and blogger, think that I have a lot of umbrellas. I certainly do. However, not all of them are pristine and intace. My umbrellas often break when I am travelling. I often see discarded umbrellas and pick them up. I never discard an umbrella.

Then what do you do with them?

I have this fantasy of using parts from two damaged umbrellas to make a new one. I have never done this. However, I have occasionally taken the sew-on tip from one broken umbrella for another which is fine except for a missing tip. 

I often want to save the fabric, maybe to cover another umbrella whose fabric has got dirty.

I once picked up an umbrella in Singapore which had a lovely fabric cover, but a useless and dangerously sharp broken metal body. I was in the ladies toilet of Cashew MRT underground railway station trying to remove the cover. I asked a girl who came in to wash her hands if she could help me. She did.

We discovered how some small fold up umbrellas are constructed. the small circular orizontal handle would not pull or push off. However, as I tried to hold it and my writst turned, I found it could be unscrewed by rotating it anti-clockwise. The same colour plast disc on the base of the umbrella also screwed off.

this young lady turned out to live on the same housing estate and we often see each other and wave and stop to speak. 

The broken umbrella and my attempts to recycle it had brought us together.

Can you really re-use parts of a broken umbrella? Google it and you can see the results, see the success of recyclers and craft teachers.

Re-using Fabric

Other people have used the fabric to make a tote bag.

You could sew a poncho or hat or raincoat for a doll, or a teddy bear.

The Metal

Use the wonky umbrella to shelter a picnic. Use the spokes to support plant stems, or as a trellis for climbers (those which are decorative, not for fruit in case you catch your hands on the spikes).

Photo Props

I use broken umbrellas as photo props.

Turn the umbrella so that the broken part is behind your back.

If an aquaintance wants to borrow an umbrella from you on a rainy day but you are afraid you will never get it back, you can lend them a broken umbrella for a one way trip from your house to a waiting taxi.

While you are stuck at home or in a hotel or quarantine centre after travelling during Covid-19, you can use the time reairing or upcycling your broken umbrellas.