Summer Parasol

The sun has broken through our late Spring rain, and it’s now the time when Atti starts begging to be outside at all times. But this also presents a problem because I gave birth to a little vampire baby, and he reacts to the sun like it singes him. I’ve tried hats, which he just tears off his head, I’ve tried sunglasses, which he won’t even let me put on his face, but I still end up spending the day dragging the blanket around the back yard, trying to chase a little shade. I found this paper parasol in the wedding aisle of my craft store and I thought it might be just the thing to create my own shade.

This is how the parasol came. White rice paper on a bamboo frame, covered with this awful nylon fabric at the top.

So I cut that fabric off as close as I dared without the whole thing coming apart on me.

I knew I wanted to take advantage of the transparency, so I decided to decorate it using a resist technique. To start, I used a clear embossing ink and stamped an image on the parasol. I used a fine clear embossing powder and poured it over the ink.

Shake the excess powder off and back into the container, then use a heat gun to melt the powder.

To get this great watercolor effect, I used acrylic craft paint I had on hand and watered it way down. In spots where I got a little more color than I wanted, I just went back over it with water to lighten things up. You can see how the paint just slides right off those embossed images. I used orange tissue paper to cover the knob at the top.

And then wrapped ribbon around it, using white liquid glue to keep it in place.

My parasol had that circle that I wasn’t loving, and in my trial run at decorating this I changed my mind, tried to undo it after the glue was set, and managed to rip a hole in it. So I cut a circle out of green vellum and used more liquid glue to stick that down.

Then I finished it with a few more ribbons. A little bit around the edge of the vellum circle to polish that up, and then a couple tied around in a knot to trail in the breeze.

Now I’m just going to set this on the corner of the blanket and Atti can crawl under it whenever he needs a break from the glare. Which I’m sure will be often.

Aside from the practical shade purposes, I think it’s really lovely, and once I saw the light diffusing effects I fell totally in love. It makes me want to get married all over again just so I can make a canopy of these to soften harsh sunlight or the florescent lights of a rented hall.