Calligraphy Project Idea: Letter an Umbrella

Seriously, this was one of the coolest things I’ve done in a while.  I saw this beautiful huge umbrella and thought, what if I lettered it? So I set out to find out how I could do so.  In this tutorial I’ll show you how I did some fun calligraphy on an umbrella. Let’s dive in!

LETTERING AN UMBRELLA

Here is what I’ve used for this project:

SUPPLIES

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• Umbrella.  I got mine at IKEA (I do love IKEA)
• Screen Print Paint. I’m using white, but use whatever color you want!
• Soft Pencil.
• Paintbrushes. I found that flat brushes are the best for this!
• Mod Podge for Fabric.
• (Not pictured) Krylon Matte Finishing Spray

SKETCH

There are so many possibilities for quotes – “Rain Rain, Go away,” “You are my sunshine,” and more, but for this I wanted to kind of take the approach that honors the necessity of rain and chose the quote, “No rain, no flowers.”  I did this rough sketch to see whereabouts I wanted the letters to hit.

Using these umbrella section lines, I used the same soft pencil to sketch some guidelines for the letters onto the umbrella itself.

LETTER

This is the tricky part! I used a medium sized flat brush to dip into the screen-print paint.  The folks at Michael’s seemed confident this is the paint I’d want – since it is used on shirts and other fabric, I figured it would give me the opacity I wanted. It’s super thick, so be careful.  Be sure your paintbrush is clean of any ink – it might transfer to the paint.

Go back and get the coverage and opacity you want right away, going one or two strokes at a time.  Because it’s so thick, you’ll want to get at it before it dries – it gets cakey before too long.

You’ll notice that you’ll get fuzzy edges due to the thickness, so I borrowed a page out of my husband’s book and pressed my flat brush down to edge the letters more solidly.

The letters took me about 2 hours to complete – and then I had to stay patient and let the paint dry overnight.

SEAL

Obviously we can’t let the paint run off at first rain, so upon recommendation I used the Mod Podge for fabric to seal the paint.  At first I thought I’d have to paint over the WHOLE umbrella but instead I just sealed immediately around the letters.

As you can see, I coated the letters just a centimeter or so around the letters.  It looks creamy but will dry clear – really push the Mod Podge into the umbrella to make sure it seals.  I found that I needed to use a completely pigment-free brush because it was dying my paint blue because it was the last thing I used.  So make sure it’s super clean!

ADD SOME FLOURISH

For fun, I took some of the Mod Podge and added some extra flair by adding rain drops all over the umbrella.  You could do sunshine, flowers, polka dots – whatever!

Now it’s the important lesson I learned – LET IT DRY! You need to let it completely dry for a few days in cool temperatures with the umbrella completely open.  The Mod Podge sticks to itself if you close the umbrella (which I found out in haste to show my in-laws my latest project!)

To reduce the stickiness, I sprayed the whole umbrella with the Krylon Matte Finishing spray. Make sure you’re in a well-ventilated space and can let it dry off to set.

Here’s the final product!

I’m a little afraid to take it out, but I certainly hope the sealing does its job!! I’ll report back on how it does!

What’s the most unique thing you’ve lettered? I’d love to give it a try!

Yours,

Jessica