Category: Kite workshop

It’s Been A while

I’ve gotten behind in writing this blog.  The weather was not cooperating and there have been other activities which have kept us from the beaches.  The last day we flew was Memorial Day.  Fort Macon State Park had finally opened so there was the weekly community kite fly on the holiday weekend.  And it was a busy weekend.  The park was crowded which made the kite fly somewhat of a challenge.  More fishermen, more sun bathers and more people walking along the shore.  This gave us a greater audience to view the kites but it also cut down on the space to fly.

Because of the holiday, we chose to only fly red-white-blue kites.  And we only carried a couple as our kite cart is still in need of repair.  We put up the handmade Painless Parafoil and our new Killip foil.

For the first time in a long time, I brought out a dual line stunt kite.  The red-white-blue Window NG.  I had forgotten that noise that this kite can make as it circles in the sky.  It drew a lot of looks and comments.  Especially with the twenty-five foot tube tail following behind.

IMG_9873

I particularly enjoyed flying the Painless Parafoil as it is one of the first kites I had built.  Although few people who see it recognize the stylized eagle I appliquéd on the bottom panel.  The creator of the Painless Parafoil, Stretch Tucker, was supposed to give a workshop this summer in Pennsylvania but, in light of current events, he is unable  come.  However, I have his plans for the Flowform 16 and will be starting that kite soon.  And, if I’m lucky, I will still be able to attend the workshop and finish the construction there.

The weather is not looking good for a community kite fly this weekend.  So, for now, I will have to clean up the kite room and begin planning for the Flowform.

Fair Winds All

 

 

 

No Kite Flying For A While

Well, the virus has caught up with us.  The beaches have been shut down.  The State Park is closed.  There isn’t another good place to fly here.  All of the school play fields and the soccer fields are surrounded by buildings and trees.  Until I can find another suitable place, I must find an alternative.  And that alternative is kite building.

So I have two projects on the table.  Although I really don’t need more projects as there are a couple of unfinished projects and about half a dozen repairs already on the table.    I guess I just enjoy appliqué over repair and frame construction.

So I’ve got to get the new patterns on paper in the actual size I need.  That, in itself, was a project.  First I had to get the designs off my computer and onto an SD card.  That was easy.  Next I had to get them traced onto large sheets of paper.  Well, I don’t have paper large enough so I had to piece segments of paper together.  After taking a picture down, I taped the paper to the now blank wall.

img_0278

 

Then I set up my LED projector, plug in the data card containing the image files, and display them onto the paper.  This takes up some time as I’m moving the projector back and forth until the image is displayed the required size.  It was quite the balancing act.

img_0277

 

Finally I could trace the designs onto the paper.  Now I’m ready to cut fabric and plan out the appliqué sequences.  Looks like I’ll be on my knees as the plans are bigger than my table.  Thank goodness the living room has carpeting and I have a couple large cutting mats.

img_0279

One of the two projects is an online workshop at the Kitebuilders Forum, http://www.kitebuilder.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=42.  It is Project 10.0 – Jumbo Hata.

The other is a older kite style that I found in an old kite book, Kite Flight by Jack Botermans and Alice Weve.  It’s called the Russian Giant.  This book was published in 1986 and the framing instructions call for dowels.  I’m going to try and adapt it to either carbon or fiberglass rods.  We’ll see how that goes.

Wish me luck.

Fair Winds All

 

Flying Days

So we’ve had two days in a row of kite flying. Can you believe it? One was the community kite fly day and the other was a day too beautiful to stay home.

The weekly community fly started out chilly. It never really warmed up much but was rather pleasant since the wind was low. No wind chill. Yes, the wind was low so it somewhat restricted what kites I flew. I pulled out two of my go-to light wind kites bag. The Skate by Into The Wind and the Dunton-Taylor Box. Both jumped around in the sky as the wind was coming out of the north and having to pass over and between the beach houses.   tried to fly my Emong, a glider kite by Flying Wings, but it preferred to glide back down rather than catch the wind and climb. 

It just felt so good to be back on the beach with kites in the air. A sure sign spring will arrive soon and we will be flying more often. And, believe it or not, the following day was even better.

The temperature jumped up at least ten degrees and the wind picked up and came off the ocean. The best kind of kite flying wind. We put off a few of the household chores and headed back to the beach. This time with the intention of flying some new acquisitions.

This was to be the inaugural flight of the cellular kite I built at the Maryland Kite Society Workshop. I named it Sunshine (for obvious reasons). And I wanted to fly the mermaid kite I made at the Keystone Kiter’s Workshop last year, the Tametomo. She hadn’t seen much air time.

During the Maryland workshop, we picked up some kites to add to our collection. And, of course, we had to put them up as soon as we possibly could. John got a square-headed Skydog dragon kite. It has the Skydog logo on it and matches his Skydog rokkaku kite. I got a Joel Schulz parrot kite by Go Fly A Kite. Both are in perfect condition. And both loved the wind and looked great.

img_1183

img_1173

Here’s hoping for more perfect flying days to come.

Fair Winds All.

 

We’re Home From The Retreat

Another Maryland Kite Society Kitebuilders Retreat is in the books.  We spent four days with other kite builders and non-builder friends at a resort in Maryland with the intention of bringing home a unique kite.  The presenter was Chris Hanson from Washington state and brought the plans for completing the Solar-Flier kite, a cellular kite of his own design.   To make sure the kite would be completed on time, we were to pre-cut the panels necessary and pattern them as desired.

The first day was for unloading and setting up your work station in the ballroom.  while it seems like you take a lot of “stuff” to a workshop, you never know what you will need or what will be handy at that time or what someone else may need.  And, yes, all my kite building things are in matching totes and bags.  It keeps me organized and together in a room full of people with their totes and bags and things.  On a side note, the long black container is a fishing rod holder for transporting rolls of ripstop fabric.

_D3_6909

Sewing didn’t begin until first thing Saturday morning.  All through out the weekend, there were short talks by several members of the host kite club.  These highlighted topics on kite building and uses of kites other than recreation.  Of course, one can’t sit in front of a sewing machine for eight-plus hours.  Especially when it was seemingly endless hours of sewing edge binding on each panel.  Everyone wandered around the room, taking breaks, talking with friends, seeing what others were working on and generally enjoying the day and the time together.  Also a bag raffle was set up in the lobby.  You could come-and-go as you please, checking on items and soul-searching as to “want” versus “need”.  “Want” usually wins out.

_D3_6774

Saturday night is a banquet catered by the restaurant in the resort.  A time to sit and talk and eat great food and rich dessert and drink wine.  Of course, I ate too much.  Then it was back to the ballroom for the auction.  The loud auction.  And to get the results of the bag raffle.  I came home with several new-to-me kites, some ripstop and the books I wanted.  Mostly pretty good deals.   And, I’m happy to say, I didn’t spend as much as I thought I would.

Sunday was assembly day.  Time to sew together all the panels, make the pockets for the small support rods and slide them in place, and attach end caps and bridle.  The tricky part was to make sure all the panels were facing the right way.  It was so easy to have the right side facing in instead of out.  Especially on the inner panels with the cutouts for the rods.  It felt so good to finish without any major errors.

This year there was something different.  Take-out Chinese.  Sunday night we had a Chinese buffet.  A large amount of Chinese food was brought in from a local Chinese restaurant.  Paper plates, plastic utensils and help yourself from the takeout containers.  It was fun.  And there was a variety of food to sample.  Of course, dinner could be on your own if Chinese was not to your liking.  But it was fun and I have to find out what restaurant was used for our next trip and a dinner on our own.

Monday was finish up, pack up and clean up.  And many, many good-byes.  I did get a bag made to bring my kite home.  Now, I have to make a tail to match.  Two options here – fuzzy tail or banner tail with sun motif.  Decisions, decisions!

_D3_6867
Chris Hanson, Me and my Solar Flier

Fair Winds All