The Kitebuilder.com Forum

dpb · Master Kite Builder Joined: 17 Dec 2003 Posts: 6

I know that at least one other here is doing a kite for the exhibit. Who else here is, and how do we share pictures on this forum?

Kitesquid · Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2003 1:55 pm Post subject:

Yup, I made a Sharonie kite with Thomas Jefferson on it.

It is 11 feet tall by 8 feet 2 inches wide. The fans in the bridles are 70' long...

It pulls like 3 sheets of plywood... about 90 square feet of sail area.

Made from 1.5 Oz Nlyon and spared with SkyShark P300's EXPENSIVE frame but well worth it. something like 55 tubes to build it!!!!!!!!

IIRC, Stevef was making someting too.
_________________
VR/
KiteSquid
AKA TakoIka
AKA Harold
King George VA

P.S. The wind is like the air, only pushier.

dpb · Master Kite Builder Joined: 17 Dec 2003 Posts: 6

I finished mine: "First view of the Great Falls". Here's a pic:

Hope this works right (first attempt at attaching pic).

wdrwilson · Posted: Tue Dec 23, 2003 12:35 am Post subject:

Wow... looks beautiful..

Can you share the technical details.. Smile

Cheers,
Bill

imagin · Joined: 22 Oct 2003 Posts: 84 Location: NB Canada

Wow dpb!
_________________
Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.

Mountain Man · Joined: 04 Sep 2003 Posts: 449 Location: NB Canada

Impresive kite for sure ! Wink

Maybe one day I will be able to do that ! but not for a while! Wink

congrate dpb what would you say time wise on that kite??? Wink

_________________
Bernie
the Mountain Man

"Line Art is beautiful and fun to make"
"Fly a Kite!"

Barbara · Master Kite Builder Joined: 01 Sep 2003 Posts: 12

Don't know if this image will display or not, Wish I had a better at hand, but was too busy flying or competing with it to take photos.If you have one, please send me a copy!

imagin · Joined: 22 Oct 2003 Posts: 84 Location: NB Canada

Very nice Barbara! What is the colouring on the kite. Almost looks like a batik or dying of some sort.
_________________
Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.

kiteguy · Joined: 15 Sep 2003 Posts: 254 Location: Kansas

Barbara · Master Kite Builder Joined: 01 Sep 2003 Posts: 12

The painting is a reverse stencilling using silk dye from G & S Dye, Canada with the animal shape cut out of freezer wrap and then ironed onto the Ripstop, with the dye painted around it.
Glad you liked it.
Barbara

Kitesquid · Posted: Thu Dec 25, 2003 2:21 pm Post subject:

I got to see that kite at Dayton and WOW does it look GREAT!!!!!
_________________
VR/
KiteSquid
AKA TakoIka
AKA Harold
King George VA

P.S. The wind is like the air, only pushier.

dpb · Master Kite Builder Joined: 17 Dec 2003 Posts: 6

Since a couple people have asked about technical details, hereâ€™s a short description.

Technique used is hand painted dyes on cotton using fabric dyes. My wife used both resist and water color painting techniques. Hard to say how many hours we invested in research and design. Diane wanted to use plains Indian designs for the animals noted in Lewisâ€™ diary on the day he saw the Great Falls (She got her Masters in Art History, and her Thesis was on Northwest Indian art, so she tends to be a stickler for such things). Each of the animals you see, except the cutthroat trout are from traditional sources (the trout is her design, as we could find no Indian motif for cutthroat trout). The red, cyan and yellow border is from plains Indian beadwork. The view of the falls is from the north base of the falls, which is where Lewis first approached it.

She and I redesigned the falls about 3 or 4 times (each time drawing it out full size). Applying resist and paint took about 4 solid days (3 separate panels). Piecing together the skins, assembling the kite and then bridling (and then re-bridling with thanks to kitesquid) was several days of work (spread over a couple weeks). I tend to go very slow and meticulous in the assembly, because if I muck it up, it means that my wife has to paint a new panel (I canâ€™t repair the panel or hid the error as I can with appliqué on Ripstop). If I had it to do over again and had all the supplies at hand, I could definitely sew it together, and bridle it in a weekendâ€™s worth of time, but still probably wouldnâ€™t. Remember also that this is cotton, so sparring needs to be very light. All horizontal spars are rectangular, solid Graphite (very light weight). Everything was made as light as I could get it, so the spars is held in position with elastic at the ends, and with the bridle points in the main body of the kite.

It flew well this last weekend, with a nice looking, 14 point, cascade bridle (the upper bridle fan is 16 ft in length and the lowest is 8 ft. I am considering making a much longer bridle when we go out to Billings to fly it.).

PS. By popular request, my wife will again be teaching the silk painting class at Ft Worden.

stevef · Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2004 12:01 pm Post subject:

My topic is "Fiddling & Dancing" and the kite is coming along quite nicely..... It will be a Della Porta with graphics that are inspired by the topic description. I call it "Rose Tree" - I'll be posting some design and construction notes in the Conception, Creation & Completion Forum.
_________________
Go Build a Kite!

stevef · Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2004 4:15 pm Post subject:

Lam Hoac just sent me a picture of his Lewis & Clark kite. He calls it "Montana Blood and Body. "

The kite also has a long "flowing" blue tail that matches the river's water....
_________________
Go Build a Kite!

Kitesquid · Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2004 9:27 am Post subject:

A della porta from Lam!!!!!!

Too cool!!!!
_________________
VR/
KiteSquid
AKA TakoIka
AKA Harold
King George VA

P.S. The wind is like the air, only pushier.