That's a good question, and unfortunately there's no easy answer.
No one i've found sells really good quality parasol frames. The ones from costume and wedding places are all fairly flimsy. You can buy good-quality modern umbrella frames and make new canopies, and switch out the handles if you like. For the theatres for whom i do parasols, i shop antique frames on eBay or flea markets--usually the ones with rotted canopies can be easily fixed.
The book explains how to repair broken frames in a variety of ways, too. It doesn't explain how to make the frame from scratch, because nobody really sells all the components separately. However, using the book as a reference, my students have rebuilt old frames to the point of replacing all the ribs and switching out handles, so it's not beyond therealm of possibility to do major overhauls on them!
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timeasmymeasure
Re: parasol frames
Date: 2010-08-20 11:21 am (UTC)No one i've found sells really good quality parasol frames. The ones from costume and wedding places are all fairly flimsy. You can buy good-quality modern umbrella frames and make new canopies, and switch out the handles if you like. For the theatres for whom i do parasols, i shop antique frames on eBay or flea markets--usually the ones with rotted canopies can be easily fixed.
The book explains how to repair broken frames in a variety of ways, too. It doesn't explain how to make the frame from scratch, because nobody really sells all the components separately. However, using the book as a reference, my students have rebuilt old frames to the point of replacing all the ribs and switching out handles, so it's not beyond therealm of possibility to do major overhauls on them!