Funky Chunky

All you need is a computer with a printer, an umbrella, fabric paints, a lamp and some selotape.

Choose a plain umbrella to work with. Patterned umbrellas distract from the design and drown any color umbrella will do, even dark colors such as navy or black.

The umbrella should be made from plastic, nylon and PVC not. The paintings used to decorate fabric on the umbrella are not as effective on PVC umbrellas.

Add a slogan on the umbrella.
To do this, write a slogan on a Word document on a computer. Make font as large as possible and chose a font for your slogan. I chose the slogan
"It's raining again ..." That I found appropriate and would be ideal for Madness fans, and I chose the font "Goudy Stout" a bold font with pieces.

Print out the slogan when you're happy with it. Due to the size of the text, words can break up on different lines, do not worry because they can be selotaped together.

Cut out the words leaving a good couple of inches all around. Selotape the words back together as necessary. Balance instead "umbrella on the backs of two chairs back to back table, but separated. Sit a lamp on the ground under the aegis so it shines through the umbrella like a retro- lighting. It is so that you can see the text through the fabric of the umbrella.

Using the selotape, stick the slogan to the underside of the front ink umbrella.

Using fabric paint trace around the text, filling in the appropriate parts in paint. Because the text is traced it is neat, all the same size and consistent and more professional.

The same principle can be applied to images. Find a picture in a single bold
Google Image Search, or photobucket.com. Hello Kitty is an excellent example.
Print the image, then cut the excess paper.

Selotape to the underside of an umbrella group of ink side up. Shine the light through the paper and umbrella and draw a picture with fabric paints.

You could have a range of characters in a freeze around your umbrella, the sky is the limit. The rainy days will always be funky vibrant days!