This is an umbrella i was working on to teach myself about blender animation, it might be useful for a project such as Tempest of the Ether. 

it has four texture maps, two diffuse, normal and transparency, each 1024x1024, i've also included the .xcf to aid in creating more maps. 

there is a video of the finished animation here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjzUkFCva8Y

As always, if you use this, I'd love to hear about it.