It’s been a few weeks since the last snow storm, and spring in these parts means wind (as does fall. And summer… and winter). The recent Arvada Kite festival was great fun, with a tiny $4 impulse-buy sled type kite running out three spools of line, much to the delight of the oldest son.
I’ve decided that the fancy shaped kites that dominate the shelves of Target are useful for little but aggravating people who just want the damn thing to go upupup, so I ordered this diamond kite recently, and was shocked and amazed at how well the thing flies. I’d almost come to the conclusion that delta’s are the only way to go, but the way the diamond leaps from my hand at the slightest breeze has convinced me otherwise. I so rarely see this traditional shape that I may stick with it.
Of course, I have a rip-stop nylon tent with a gaping hole in it that I may use as raw material in a kite of my own design. We’ll see, it all depends on finding the sewing machine…
Anyone have interesting kite stories? Or even uninteresting ones, I’m not picky.
Back in the late 40s/early 50s, my husband and his dad and uncle got into kite flying. They’d make them out of newspaper and they’d glue broken glass to the line (or maybe the tail) and try to cut the other guy’s line. They had tons of fun flying kites.
I’ve got directions (somewhere…) to make a pretty darned serviceable kite out of a brown paper grocery bag. A nip here and a nip there with the scissors, add some line and a tail, and you’re in business.
I got the directions from a camp counselor when I did an NSF summer camp (that would be National Science Foundation, not Not Safe For summer camp!) in Nevada (mumble-mumble) years ago. He must have kept it folded up in hib bacpack as part of his routine gear.
Kite flying in the Nevada dessert. Cool!
I’m into kite telemark skiing. Wheeee!!!
We went kite-flying last year and I was really surprised at how much stress relief it was. It was like all my worries just flew away, up in the sky. I haven’t felt so fulfilled by such a simple thing since childhood.
Having moved inland, I really miss the sea breeze to fly kites in. My big delta kite might be a bit too heavy for our unblustery days. Might have to look into a smaller, lighter model. I do have a massive backyard with a mostly open expanse of lawn/dead grass, although launching a kite around a Hills Hoist can be a bit annoying!
Every kite flying season I vow that I will get one for the nostagia. Every year I lie to myself…
We’ll see, it all depends on finding the sewing machine…
It be in the scary garage of ours up under the shelves of hell. 
Funny you should mention it. I’ve been thinking of making one. And if anybody could point me to a good set of directions on the web, I’d be most appreciative. I’m looking low-tech, by the way – something on the order of a diamond kite that could be made of wood crossmembers, and maybe a trash bag.
One kite-related thing that saddens me a little is the disappearance of the ubiquitous bat kite of my childhood. I’d love to make a replica, but again, I don’t have a set of plans, and it seems an iffy business to get the dimensions and shape by memory and eye.
Well Sal, I googled “kite making” and got a bunch of plans that all pretty much sucked, plus links to books on kite making that don’t cost much more than a new kite would, so I’m gonna make it up as I go along.
Here are a few, check out the 2-stick frame
Actually, that two-stick frame design looks pretty good. It even has dimensions! Well, maybe I’ll let my kids talk me into making one for them.
Yeah, sorry about that. I actually found that site after I’d made the crack about all the instructions being crap. Went up a level and found all sorts of cool stuff that I’m going to teach my kids to do this summer when they are home with badkittypriestess 
Apparently the material my tent is made of suffered from exposure. It’s been out since just before the blizzards started (mid-December) and I’m not too confident that my kite is going to work. Plus - the stitches were too close together, so I’m think I managed to perforate the load-bearing seams. I don’t think this is going to turn out well, but it was practice for the next one! Yes, a couple yards of new rip-stop and I’m golden, baby!
I still have an old Skite (by Frisbee) which I always meant to get properly repaired but the local Kite shop (who had agreed to do it) suddenly closed without warning…grrr. And the other not quite so local kite shop has also closed.
I was down in London recently and the kite shop I knew about there (near Covent Garden) has disappeared as well!
So I guess I may as well dump the skite and stick to newer ones…
Well my homemade kite, lovingly hand crafted from scraps scavenged from a terribly damaged tent flew today. Leapt from my hand, leapt I say, as if it knew it was born to fly, kind of pulled to the right for a while but eventually flew wonderfully, right up until the string broke. Ended up chasing it several blocks and found it mere inches from someones car.
All in all, considering the time effort an materials involved, I’m going to buy the next one.
Still, it was kind of cool to get the balance and stuff right the first try. The developing thunderstorm and accompanying high winds were probably more responsible for the success of the maiden flight than my aeronautical design skills.
*Let’s go fly a kite
Up to the highest height
Let’s go fly a kite
And send it soaring
Up through the atmosphere
Up where the air is clear
Oh, let’s go fly a kite! *
The thread isn’t old enough to be called a zombie yet (I hope), and as we have a new member going by the moniker “kitemaker_chuck”…
Are you remembering the same one I am? Behold the Baby Bat Kite, still available for $6.95!
Hi Bobotheoptimist!
It’s always nice to talk to a fellow kite-person!
Kitefully yours,
kitemaker_chuck
(Chuck Anderson)
The unit I attempted to build from the sun-rotted tent resembled a T-shirt. It flew pretty good, as I mentioned in the earlier post, but a kite store in Boulder sold me a 7-foot delta (like this, and also one of these) that, in wind higher than about 10, flies a little too well. Pulling in almost a thousand feet of 50 lb line that’s so tight it’s humming, using nothing but those stupid circle thingies is … well, actually it’s kind of fun.
The little one is a hoot, especially if you remove the tail - Insta battle kite!
Crazywoman at work got a stunt kite, smashes it into the ground repeatedly and rejoices when it stays up for more than 30 seconds at a time.