35 Ways To Reuse and Recycle Broken Umbrellas

Broken black umbrella. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright. 

My umbrellas often break when I am travelling. I often see discarded umbrellas and pick them up. 

Then what do you do with them?

Richtom80, CC BY-SA 3.0 <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/>, via Wikimedia Commons

Umbrella Parts 

Starting at the handle, a curved handle, we have the crook handle. The handle has what looks like a bolt at the top of the straight part called the tip cup.

The main straight upright, like a tree trunk, or flower stem, is called the tube.

The triangular metal piece sticking out near the handle which you press to open the umbrella is called the bottom spring. Another one at the top under the stretchers is the top spring.

The metal spokes radiating out are called stretchers. The arched metal parts (which fold in telescopic umbrellas) are called ribs.

The end of the tube is called the end. The small cap part which touches the ground when you fold up the umbrella and use it like a walking stick is called the ferrule.

Tips On Mending Tips

Lost Umbrella tips

1 Sometimes the umbrella fabric is detached from one of the tips of the spokes (runners). You may simple be able to reattach it, the tip, to the runner. Clip

2 If the tip is lost, see if you can sew the end of the fabric on through a hole or ring. Or glue it to the end of the spoke. 

3 Or make a new tip by making a hole in the end of a plastic bottle top.

4 Or combine tips from two umbrellas to create one new one.

I like to buy two identical umbrellas, either same colour or different colours such as one black, one white, or one red, one black or navy. Then, if you lose one tip from each, you still have one umbrella and lots of spares.

Re-Using Fabric

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

Other people have used the umbrella 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.

Spares To Loan/Give Away For One Use

If an acquaintance 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 repairing or upcycling your broken umbrellas.

Umbrellas as Parasols

The word umbrella comes from the root umbra meaning shade.  (Burn umber - dark umber paint.) Umbrellas were derived from parasols - against the sun, sol being a word for sun, as in solar eclipse). In a hot country or on a hot day you can use an umbrella to protect against the sun.

A white umbrella can be used in photography. 

An umbrella can be used to hide your face from cameras. Also to hide your body when you need to relieve yourself when hiking in a national park which lacks toilets (as we found in Romania and Bulgaria) or where toilets are closed for economy or for health reasons during covid-19 or closed at night for security. 

Umbrella Stories

I once caught the last train in London, England, and found the toilets at my destination were locked. The umbrella came in handy.

 I also found in Guilin, China, that the toilet cubicle doors were missing and off their hinges. I had no privacy because, all the Chinese girls called each other to come to look at me because a Westerner was a novelty in deepest China. 

Afterwards I told a friend. They said, 'Why didn't you just open your umbrella!' 

The moral is, always carry an umbrella. If you don't have one, and you see a broken one lying around, you can use that.

Nowadays, 2020, with Covid-19, I no longer pick up abandoned items. However, if you carry a pair of protective gloves, and a large bag, you can pop into your bag anything you don't wish to touch. The bag and contents can be washed or put in the freezer.

Props

I use broken umbrellas as props for photos, at home, in a garden or on a balcony. You could also do this on a rainy day, a cloudy day, or a sunny day.

 

Useful Websites 

35 Ways To Reuse and Recycle Umbrellas