I picked up five compact umbrellaa at thrift today, Salvation Army, for a total of 13 dollars. This is one of the cheapest replicas I have worked on but one of the most fun. At this price, I could begin to leave them up on the old booths I find. With this pile I will start round 2, the moving popup version and round 3, the lightning version. I am going to make a second round one base model and add some sparkle to the red paint for more contrast when up on the booth.
Local urban legend that happens to be true, Oregonians can be divided into two groups using one simple characteristic difference. If you were born here, you do not use an umbrella, even if you own one, when it rains. Those that have moved here will stand out like an elephant in a bunny farm the moment they pull out their umbrella. So, a curious side effect is the great number of unused umbrellas at our thrift stores. Kind of ridiculous cool for my project.