Hand-made Oil-paper Umbrellas

Hand-made oil-paper umbrellas are becoming popular again in modern China.

Girls who likes traditional Chinese dress,wears her hair in a bun and holds an oil-paper umbrella,looking back with a smile,then could you imagine that picture?

In early times,aside from their daily use,oil-paper umbrellas were often using on special occasions such as weddings,due to their pronunciation being similar to the Cantonese for"hing kids".

The traditional craft of making an oil-paper umbrella involves over 70 procedures of totally manual production.

In general,making a oil-paper umbrella needs the following steps.

Firstly,choose the appropriate bamboo material to make the umbrella frame,then papers are glued on the frame,and patterns are painted. Next,the umbrella cover is oiled and exposed to the sun.Fixing the umbrella frame with colored cotton thread is also a step needs much patient. For the whole process, it takes half a month to make one of these umbrellas even for an experienced craftsman.