Category: Kite Building

A Little Catching Up

The latest kite fly was again cold and very windy.  So windy, in fact, I only put delta kites in the truck and grabbed our heavier lines.  When I got on the beach, I quickly decided that two of the deltas I brought would have more pull than I cared to deal with that day.  So, once again, I only put up two kites and spent the rest of the morning visiting with the other fliers.

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Premier Mesh Delta
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Brasington Stealth Delta

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had a couple of out-of-town flyers joining us and they made a point of putting lots of kites in the sky.  Looking upwind, kite anchors were popping up all over the beach with no rhyme or reason.  Well, there was a reason.  We didn’t want to have a lot of tangled kite lines.

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One more community kite fly coming up and then it’s off on a trip to Maryland for the Maryland Kite Society Kitebuilders Retreat.  This year we’ll be building Chris Hanson’s Solar Cell kite.  I’ve still got the appliqué to do on my sail pieces but I, at least have them all cut out and the patterns transferred.  I should have no problem getting them done.  The big task after that is just planning what I need to take.  As usual, I will probably take more than I need.  Thank goodness we have a truck.

 

Looking at the calendar, it’s going to be a busy Spring and early Summer.  Hopefully, that means I’ll have lots to write about.  So here’s to good winds and good weather.

Fair Winds All

A Time Of Quiet Desperation

The weather has truly been against us as far as the community kite fly.  And this day was no exception.  Early morning rain, cloudy skies and high winds made it dark and gloomy and questionable for flying.  However, there were a couple of desperate people who were willing to take a chance and put a kite in the air.  I got some heavier line and flew my Illusion delta with its tube tails.  It handled the winds very well.  My flying buddy put up the little Spinner kite.  It just hung in the gusty winds and spun itself into a blur.  The line vibrated in a shallow repeating shallow sine curve.  It really is a fun little kite.  Because the temperature was mild, people were out walking the park.  And that little kite drew a lot of attention.

The kite build I began in the last post has been put on hold.  Instead, I am going to the Maryland Kite Society’s Kitemakers Retreat in Ellicott City, MD next month.  I’ve never been to this four-day kite building marathon and am nervously looking forward to it.  Several of my kite builder friends have been encouraging me to go, so this year instead of going to Kitemania in Florida, we’re going north.  The featured presenter is Ron Gibian and I will be making a kite of his design.  This is the 40th retreat so there are going to be some special activities.  The gem for a 40th anniversary is the ruby.  So one of the events is to build something with the anniversary/ruby theme.  So I am starting a banner with ruby gems on it.

This banner was meant to be, as a friend of mine was clearing out her stash of fabric and gave me some large pieces of nylon banner material.  And, by coincidence, they were red and black.  I’m hoping this turns out well as I’ve never made a banner before.  So I’ve checked out some banner patterns and instructions and examined some commercial banners to see how they’re made.  I think my idea will work.  Keep your fingers crossed.

The Beanie Babies as weights idea was stolen from another kite builder friend.  My bean bag weights were packed away and I have two drawers full of these little creatures courtesy of my grown daughter.  Like most children, they leave half of their “stuff” behind when they move out to live their own lives.  I hung on to these and will have them for the grandchildren when they come to visit.  Maybe I can send them home a couple at a time until the drawers are empty.  Or at least reduced down to only the ones I’m using as weights.  What do you think?

Fair Winds All

 

 

 

 

 

Ugh!!! Another Rainy Fly Day

All week long it was sunny or moderately so.  Then our community kite fly day arrives and it rains.  We have had enough rain this past fall and winter to last an entire year or more.  The only good thing about poor weather is that it forces me to get back to kite building.  I’ve had a pattern on my computer for quite a while now and have decided to put it on a rokkaku.  To make things a little easier, the width of the rokkaku is going to be the width of my fabric.  That way the sides will be parallel and I only have to cut the top and bottom points when the design is done.  And I only have to worry about centering the design side to side when I’m transferring it to the material.  Centering top to bottom can be done later.

It will be a little tricky working on this kite as it is larger than my work table.  After making the modified edo, I told myself I wouldn’t make anymore large kites.  An yet, here I am again.  It will be approximately four feet by six feet, give or take an couple of inches.  I’m going to use a Ray Wong rokkaku as a plan for framing and bridling.  His always fly well and that may reduce some of my trial and error later.

I really wanted to do this kite in the blue that was on the drawing.  However, I don’t have a good middle hue blue that would work.  So I’ve decided on a teal and a golden yellow.  Don’t panic!  The branches and bird accents will still be black.  You’ll just have to wait to see what the golden yellow is for.

And so the project begins.  Wish me luck.

Fair Winds All.

After The Storm

It’s been a week since hurricane Florence blew through our area.  The devastation is horrible.  So many people have lost everything they own.  So many people have no home to come back to after evacuating.  We stayed through it all and are very glad we did.  It minimized our damage to just a couple of ceilings and shingles lost.  After spending the week cleaning and removing debris, I was looking forward to a community kite fly as a means to get away from it all.  Unfortunately, Fort Macon State Park is closed.  For how long, we have no idea.  They are doing damage assessment and repair and have to see how much beach remains after the storm.

Being on the “right” side of the a very slow-moving storm results in a lot of beach erosion.  Some areas now have a four-foot drop to get to the beach.  Some have lost the beach and the first row of dunes.  And, oddly enough, some areas show no erosion at all.  The quirks of a hurricane.  So it may be a while until there will be another community kite fly.  We hope not.

So I’ll take us back to a more pleasant time.  To a kite building workshop which was held this past July.  A couple of NC kitebuilders decided at the beginning of the year that it would be nice to have Robert Brasington hold a kite building workshop in NC.  One was held four years ago in Raleigh, NC and it was about time for a return visit.  A number of builders from NC, SC and VA were definitely interested so the planning began.  The location this time was Morehead City, NC by popular demand.  Conveniently located so the builders and spouses and families (should they decide to tag along) could spend some time at the beach.

 

Thirteen builders converged, ranging in experience from complete novices to master builders.  The majority chose to build the 3/4 stealth delta kite in varying colors.  The delta was my choice as I had never made a delta before and I truly admired the Brasington deltas.  His technique of using adhesive and multiple templates is very different from what I normally do so this workshop was a learning experience.  But that is why I like to attend workshops.  I’m always open to new ways and, sometimes, easier ways to build a kite.

The camaraderie during the weekend was grand.  Taking breaks from sewing to visit with people I only see once or twice a year was one of the best parts.  Having to hem three incredibly long tails for the delta was the worst.  Unfortunately, some people had to leave early on Sunday and others were in a rush to go to the beach and fly their new creations.  So we missed getting a group photo.  All in all, it was a great weekend and one which many of us are looking forward to doing again.

Fair Winds All.