Kitebuilder.com - Fly... with a little help from your friends.

[The Wizard]

Hi Folks,

I hope that as this thread develops it can serve as a learning experience for anyone who follows along behind. I want to make it as comprehensive as possible and that if I make any mistakes (I’m sure there will be a few!) then others will be able to learn from them and avoid them on their kite. I know there will be lots of discussion on various aspects with forum members chipping in with comments, suggestions, support and humour (the humour is going to be a vital part of keeping my sanity at points along the way so keep it light hearted guys ‘n’ gals).

This is going to be a major project for my wife (Karen) and myself as we have never built a flat hexagonal kite before. They look deceptively easy but I am already finding out there are a lot of decisions to be made before you even start building. This will also be the first time we will be attempting the ‘back cut’ appliqué method although we have used other methods many times in the past.

The kite itself will have 336 individual pieces of fabric in the sail alone without counting the edge binding, ‘highlight’ strips, spar pockets, bridle loops and other sundry sewn parts. This is, by far, the biggest project in terms of ‘piece count’ we have attempted to date and we have built more than 70 kites or kite related items in the past 3-4 years, hence the trepidation we feel at the start of this task.

Background
This forum thread regarding hexagonal kites with kaleidoscope type graphics inspired this kite. I was so impressed with the idea I decided to have a go at building one of my own while waiting for the ‘Forum Build’ project to start. I started a pre-build thread here to discuss various questions I had regarding hexagonal kites in general, sparring issues, tails and the like so that I could be fully prepared (hopefully) when it came to the time to start building. If you are following along while building a similar kite I strongly urge you to read that thread too as a lot of important factors were discussed and they may not necessarily be repeated in this thread.

So let’s get the ball rolling and discuss the kite itself.
_________________
Larry Green
a.k.a. The Wizard
http://essexkites.studio1.net/

[The Wizard]

Design Stage
I spent many, many, hours playing around in my graphic design software trying out various ideas in an attempt to come up with something I liked. Some I scrapped almost as soon as they were finished while others I toyed with for days changing a colour here or ‘tweaking’ a shape there. I would leave it for a few days and come back and decide I didn’t like it after all and change something again. I just could not find a design that jumped out at me and screamed ‘You have to build me!’ I searched the web for ideas, I used templates from stained glass sites, I searched clip-art CDs just looking for that one key piece of inspiration but nothing said ‘Build me!’

One day I just happened to be sitting at the computer, reading the forum and pondering just what I could change in the design of this kite that was now starting to get tedious. I don’t know if it was something I read, if it was something I saw or if it was my sub-conscious working away at the problem but I suddenly sat up and said that ‘That’s IT!’ It was a ‘Eureka’ moment or what the German’s call ‘Gestalt’ when the answer to a problem suddenly appears in your mind for no apparent reason even though you have been puzzling over it for a length of time. Once I had found ‘IT’ I was off and running! It only took a couple of hours to completely redraw the design and I knew that once I had the drawing finished that this was a ‘must build’ kite! I could tell that by shrinking the image down on the screen it was going to look the way I wanted it to in the sky and I had a surprise twist in the tail (groan……pun fully intended ) that would only reveal itself when the observer got close to the kite on the ground………BONUS!

This kite has all the things I look for in a great kite, good design, lots of colour and that little extra ‘something’ that makes it stand out as a unique piece of art! Hopefully the folks here on the forum will feel the same way about its looks and uniqueness as I do and I am also sure they will let me know if they detest it too!

OK, I have teased, hinted and generally worked a ‘wind up’ routine on you lot both in this thread and in the poll I ran asking whether you wanted to see the design before seeing the finished kite and it is time for the big unveiling! The results of the poll were to see the design first so here we go.

This first image is how I imagined the kite would look in the sky in my mind’s eye, the kaleidoscope effect is clearly evident but the nature of the things creating that effect cannot be seen. They just appear to be coloured ‘blobs’ without any true definition.



By the way, it took me longer to draw that picture than it did to create the design of the kite in the first place! I had a rough night due to my illness and couldn’t sleep. I read a book until 3:30 a.m. and then turned out the light and tossed and turned but could not ‘drop off’ to sleep. By 4 a.m. I was back up and fired up the computer to kill some time. I had that image completed by 11 a.m. and finally crawled into bed exhausted after almost 24 hours without sleep and slept like a log until the kids came home from school at 3:30 p.m.! Such is my life with ME/CFS!

Anyway, back to the kite!

I have mentioned that there is a twist in the tail with this kite. As you get closer to it the ‘blobs’ will become more defined and you will start to pick out the ‘hidden details’. What were ‘blobs’ will become recognisable shapes and you will hopefully get the ‘big picture’ and see what grabbed me so strongly when the idea first hit!

This kite is in fact a kite of kites!

A kaleidoscope of kites or if you prefer a……………

‘KALEID-O’-KITES’

So without further ado..........

I give you.........

drum roll Maestro please!


THE BIG PICTURE



So?
Do ya like it?
Huh? Huh?
Yes? No?
Well tell me then!
Am I on to a ‘winner’ or am I wasting my time?
Do I fire up the hot cutter or forget about the whole thing and take up knitting instead?
_________________
Larry Green
a.k.a. The Wizard
http://essexkites.studio1.net/

[KiteSquid]

Great looking kite design!!!!!!!!!!!

and I like your "minds Eye"picture....


THAT should be a kite too!!!!!!!!!!!
_________________
VR/
KiteSquid AKA TakoIka AKA Harold of King George VA
PS Yet another post by the Squid... Doesn’t he ever shut up?
PPS The wind is like the air, only pushier.
PPPS All information provided is for hobby use. None may be used commercially.
PPPPS Vir sapit qui pauca loquitur. x11.5K
PPPPPS Please excuse my speling errorors.

[Progcraft]

WOW!!!
That's all I got to say.

WOW!!!!
_________________
There is no box.
--------------------
The invisible and the non-existent look very much alike
- Delos B. McKown

[The Wizard]

[Grant L]

it's going to look great. This will be a fun one to watch progress

[The Wizard]

[jamescrumley]

Rather striking both close-up and at a distance. I like it!

Jim

[mike g]

I might have to take a road trip to see this fly.

Should we have a "lighting of the knife" ceremony?

....And thanks for letting us in on the final design as well as the
build process.

[The Sorceress]

With some luck the cutting will start tomorrow.
_________________
Karen Green
"Wife of The Wizard"

[The Wizard]

[mike g]

Too late.... My son, Mike g jr. just got his drivers license today!
He's on his way to Kite Studio right now. From there it will be
delivered to Cliff, who will then pass it to Gary.
It will be delivered to your door step by the One and Only,

Kite Builder of the year 2005, Dave Ellis.
Who will present you with this torch in Our honor!

[The Wizard]

COOL!........Dave can drop by anytime he likes . Let me know when he is due and I will make sure Karen has the coffe pot on .
_________________
Larry Green
a.k.a. The Wizard
http://essexkites.studio1.net/

[The Wizard]

After completing the design stage I started on the next phase of construction………

Templates
I don’t have a lot of space to put large pieces of cloth on the wall to draw the design on the cloth and I no longer have access to an OHP to project the image onto the sail (or paper). Instead, I have to make Bristol board (poster board) templates for all the parts I need to build a kite. I import the design into my CAD program, break the image down into individual components and then add sewing allowances where required. While in the CAD program I fit the parts onto rectangles representing the boards so that I can get the maximum number of parts into the minimum amount of board (this saves me a lot of time and money later). I also fit the parts onto drawings of the available cloth shapes (remember I often have to build from scraps only) to make sure I can get the parts out of the cloth.

If I am building a multi-line kite with plain panels I try to align the parts with the ‘grain’ of the cloth so that the longest or most stressed edge is down the length of the fabric. If I am building an appliquéd kite then I don’t worry too much about the grain and try to get the most parts out of the material with the least amount of waste (the more cloth I can ‘save’ the more kites I can build!)

Once all those drawings are completed I can think about printing. I managed to pick up an old wide-carriage, dot matrix, printer for 20 bucks and it makes a great printer for kite templates. By using the tractor feed ‘computer’ paper I can print long runs which significantly reduces the amount of ‘taping up’ I have to do when working with large templates. I was also given some DOS software that will make a dot matrix printer think it is an engineering plotter! I have pre-made drawing ‘blocks’ representing sheets of paper and I take all the templates I made earlier and once again arrange them on the paper to get maximum coverage and minimum paper usage. I put the ‘blocks’ side by side where parts are too wide for a single width and draw ‘alignment lines’ across the joins so that I can line the parts up later. An example is shown below.



In the picture above you should be able to see the ‘alignment lines’ with identifying letters to show which parts fit together and also the ‘L’ shaped ‘scales’ I use to make sure that the printer is in fact printing to scale in both directions. Occasionally I hit a problem where one print run won’t exactly match with another print run due to the fact that the print head pins on the printer are at fixed distances. It can only ‘approximate’ curves and angled lines but I can usually ‘fudge’ the fit to get the parts to align satisfactorily.

If you are wondering why there are 4 templates for each part when I need 24 pieces of fabric for each part it is because the heat from the hot cutter causes the card to shrink and your parts start getting smaller and smaller! From experience I know I can get 6 pieces per template before the size starts to give problems so 6 pieces per template x 4 templates = 24 pieces of fabric . There are also 5 templates in that drawing I will use to help align the parts when I start the appliqué process. Can you see them?

The first time I used the printer I had to set up a ‘virtual printer’ in my CAD program as it would not talk directly to it. This ‘virtual printer’ is set with a custom paper size to suit my tractor feed paper and instead of telling it to print to paper I tell it to save the print job as a ‘plot file’ which can be read by my DOS software. Once all the prints are ready to go I fire up the DOS program, load the print file and go make a coffee while the printer chugs away and spits out the drawings. Once the drawings are printed (it is a slooooow process) I cut out all the shapes (leaving roughly 5mm all around), tape the big parts together and it is on to the Bristol board stage.

I take however many boards I need and use wide packaging tape to tape them together end to end and side to side to make a large enough surface to get the parts onto. Using a print out of the board layout I then start sticking the paper templates to the Bristol board. I use spray glue sprayed on the back of the paper templates not the board itself, if you spray the board it will be dry before you can get all the parts on! (DAMHIKTIJD OK )

At this point I find it easier to rough cut the parts out of the large board and trim them to size afterwards. Karen usually sits and cuts the curvy bits with scissors while I use my cutting board, rule and knife to cut the straight bits. The photo below shows a template with the curved bit already cut to the line ready for me to trim the straight edges to size. Some of the finished templates can be seen in the top right hand corner of the shot.



It might be worth mentioning the rule at this point as it has a nice feature that I find invaluable when it comes to using it to hot cut cloth if I am not using a template. The reverse side is covered in a thin layer of cork that not only grips the RSN and stops it moving but it also holds the rule just clear of the cloth which prevents the RSN welding itself to the rule!

Once all the templates are cut out it is time to clear the table, drag out the large mirror I use to cut on and get some heat into the hot cutter!

NO NOT YOURS MIKE G
_________________
Larry Green
a.k.a. The Wizard
http://essexkites.studio1.net/

[The Wizard]

[smarties]

I can't wait to see this art work flying!! Keep us posted.
_________________
Smarties
http://www.yvonhache.com

To boldly go where no imagination as gone before!

[KiteSquid]

WOW what a project, and trying to get the old dot matrix printer to run with your software must have been fun!!!!!


TOOOO COOOLLL!!!!!!


Keep posting your progress.
_________________
VR/
KiteSquid AKA TakoIka AKA Harold of King George VA
PS Yet another post by the Squid... Doesn’t he ever shut up?
PPS The wind is like the air, only pushier.
PPPS All information provided is for hobby use. None may be used commercially.
PPPPS Vir sapit qui pauca loquitur. x11.5K
PPPPPS Please excuse my speling errorors.

[Grant L]

[Steve D]

[The Wizard]