Cocktail umbrellas...
How to make your own.
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Supplies needed
- Firm paper with a funky pattern – origami paper works a dream (or you could of course print your own designs!).
- A circular coaster, or other round object that you can use as a template.
- A pencil.
- Tooth picks (or thin bamboo skewers).
- Scissors.
- A glue gun.
- Ideally you would also have some paper glue (Pritt Stick is great for this).
- Optional – a small bead that fits on the end of the tooth pick or skewer. You’ll have to experiment to see what fits.
Let's get started!
Step 1:
- Place the coaster on your paper and trace a circle around it. It’s best to do this on the underside so that any pencil marks don’t show on the more visible ‘outside’ (dependent on how neat you are at trimming).
- Cut out the circle and fold it in half. Make your crease nice and clean, pinching your nails slightly together when running your fingers across each fold.
- Unfold it and then fold in half again, with your crease perpendicular to the first one.
- Unfold and then fold diagonally between the two existing creases
- Do the same again across the other diagonal.
- At this point, when looking at the circle you will have made 4 creases and have 8 segments. We need to get this to 8 creases and 16 segments.
- So now, do the same again, folding 4 more times, bisecting each segment, until you have a total of 16.
Step 2:
- Depending on how dextrous you feel, you now have a choice as to what you do with the edges of each segment:
- Leave as they are, that way the umbrella will be perfectly circular, but still have a nice ribbed effect.
- Cut a straight line from point to point of each segment, creating a more geometric looking umbrella.
- Or you can scallop the edges by cutting out almond shaped slivers from between the points of each crease. This may sound a bit daunting but there’s actually a lot of visual tolerance here, you really don’t need to be that neat to make it work, as the eye is distracted by all the small shapes and patterns.
- After doing this, cut a segment completely out with your scissors, so you have a V shaped wedge removed from your circle.
Step 3:
- Run a very thin line of paper glue (or a few drops from the glue gun) down one side of the V that has been cut, from the middle to the outer edge of the umbrella.
- Take the other edge of the V, overlap it on top of the glued strip and hold firmly in place until stuck.
- You should now have a very shallow cone/umbrella shape that stays in place without holding it.
Step 4:
- Cut the pointy end of a tooth pick off with your scissors.
- Put a small spot of glue on the now blunt end of your pick and push it into the apex of your umbrella from underneath. If you struggle with this, apply the glue to the umbrella rather then the pick.
- Hold in place while the glue cools, making sure you hold the umbrella straight.
Optional Extra: Top your umbrella off with a glitzy bead
- Before glueing the tooth pick in place (Step 4), gently poke a hole in the center of the umbrella from underneath with one of the picks (removing it afterwards).
- Then run through the rest of Step 4, but allow a small piece of the wood to poke through the top of the umbrella.
- Place a tiny spot of hot glue on the piece of wood protruding, then thread your bead on top of it, holding gently in place until dried.
And there you have it, custom made paper umbrellas, fit for whatever libational decorating purposes you see fit.
Now, why don’t you give them a test run on one of the following:
Did you know, every cocktail umbrella holds a secret message just for you?...
The next time you’re sitting at a tiki bar, twiddling the umbrella of your Painkiller, idly wondering what the night will bring you, simply break off the white piece of card at the top of the parasol and take a peak inside.
Wound tightly around itself you’ll find a tiny scroll of paper with a snippet of Chinese writing on. And if you’re lucky there’ll be another one in the piece that holds the stems together when you move it up and down.
Some believe that if translated, this secret message will spell your fortune. Other, more cynical folk, think that the manufacturers have gotten more creative in their use of budget materials…
I know what version I’m going for, but then I’ve been working my way through the above cocktail list and would pretty much believe anything at this stage. 
We put a whole lotta love, lime and rum into our work, so if you think your friends would find this article useful, we’d be thrilled if you could share it with them!
Thank you. Mahalo.
