Join Our Mailing List!

Stay connected with the ReadyMade community with updates and announcements.

You puddle jumpers made quite a splash with our umbrella challenge, but the prize goes to Maria Javornik and Jennifer Salas of Madison, Wisconsin, who built a magazine rack from their broken bumbershoots.

MAGAZINE RACK $10 2 collapsible 8-segment umbrellas of similar size and shape Thread 24-gauge wire Electrical or duct tape Scissors Pliers Wire cutters Sewing machine or needle and thread Straight pins

1. Separate the umbrellas’ fabric from their frames by cutting it away from the spokes and unscrewing the ferrule at the top. Take care not to snip through the fabric. 2. Detach the spokes. They are held to the umbrellas’ central mechanisms with wire, which you can untwist with pliers. 3. Download our set of illustrated diagrams. The figures below refer to the diagrams. You should have 16 hinged spokes. Remove extra pieces with wire cutters to create eight A spokes and eight B spokes (fig. 1). 4. Use the A spokes to build the sides of the magazine rack (fig. 2). 5. Form the base with two B spokes (fig. 3). 6. Use wire and the existing holes to attach all four sides to the base (fig. 4). 7. Lift the sides and connect them with wire at the corners, then reinforce the base with two lengths of wire (fig. 5). 8. Use the remaining six B spokes and electrical or duct tape to make the rods that will hold the fabric (fig. 6). 9. Cut the fabric from one umbrella to size (fig. 7), then pin and sew to create the magazine pockets (fig. 8). 10. Thread the rods you made in Step 8 through the fabric and attach the them to the frame with wire (fig. 9). 11. Fill your repurposed rain shield with must-reads.

ONLINE EXCLUSIVE: Check out the broken-umbrella challenge runners-up!

NEXT UP: LUGGAGE

{Deadline: March 17, 2008}
by Anthony Discenza

Among the woes of modern travel is the problem of luggage—the stuff we use only to schlep other stuff. Buy the cheapest valise you can find and it breaks after two or three trips; shell out for a pricier model and risk being stood up at baggage claim. What can we do with the conked-out carryalls? Deliver big ideas to win a subscription and a ReadyMade T-shirt.

Send photos or projects to: MacGyver Challenge, 817 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94710 or articles@readymademag.com.

RE-DUX
Three simple ways to reuse ready-to-retire sweaters

RE-STORE
The Expedit Challenge: Three designers reinvent Ikea's bookcase

MACGYVER CHALLENGE
Winning entry: Folding-umbrella magazine rack

UMBRELLA CHALLENGE RUNNERS-UP
Check out the MacGyver Challenge runners-up!

ARCHIVES
Peruse projects and features from past issues of ReadyMade

• 

  Vampire Weekend, the Raconteurs, CSS, Antibalas, a daily treasure hunt conducted via texting, a vendor village, massage station, on site hairstylist and ReadyMade?! How can you beat that?

• 

  ReadyMade sponsors the Indie Market and a special pre-event Macgyver Challenge. Come for the music (Beck, !!!, etc), stay for the drawing jam, the 'Power of One' photo exhibit, the 1 Reel Film Festival, and much more.

• 

  Artists include Dinosaur Jr., Ghostface, Apples in Stereo, and more. Don't forget the artists at the onsite indie design and craft fair and at Flatstock, the finest in rock poster design. Be an artist yourself at the ReadyMade booth —we'll have crafts!

• 
• 

  This year's architectural tours, film screenings, exhibitions, design lectures, and home shows will reinforce the theme of "Design for Community".

• Privacy Policy
• Subscription Services
• Work @ ReadyMade