My focus was on kites again this week: this time, experimental ones.
I call this the Exploded Square. It was unstable with no tails, and with a two-point bridle it was excessively tricky to set the correct angle.
A three-point bridle with two legs attached to the top of the vertical struts and the third attached in the middle of the lower horizontal strut made flying easier.
I also made a Bird Kite. I have seen pictures of similar kites in flight with just the wings, but I found that a tail helped the balance. I am still working on finding the best bridle for this one. Two legs didn’t work, and four legs worked but was tricky to adjust, so I will try a three-leg bridle on this one as well.
Here it is with the four-leg bridle. You can see the attachment points of two of the bridle lines on the inner edge of the left wing.
The third kite I made has not really flown successfully yet — only a few seconds at a time. It started as a traditional Thai snake kite with the head made from card stock. I added the cross strut because it wouldn’t balance side to side —the head is only about 8.5 cm wide— and that helped, but the tail was still not heavy enough. Rather than lengthen the tail (it is 127 cm/50 in), which would make the kite harder to handle when it is not in the air, I added two more tail strips at the sides. It is still extremely tricky to fly, so I may try to enlarge the head without adding too much weight.
All of this playing with unusual shapes is a direct result of finding the amazing sculptural kites of Anna Rubin. I recommend having a peek at her website to see some kites that are definitely more than toys. (The images on her kite menu page are clickable, and lead to more fabulous kites.)
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If you are anywhere near the path of totality of tomorrow’s eclipse, you might want to make Kelli Anderson‘s new eclipse viewer. To make the viewer you will need black paper or card stock, translucent vellum, and a thick needle with a 1-1.5mm diameter. The instructions for assembly are in this booklet.
NASA is providing live coverage so that you can watch from anywhere.
In book arts news:
If you can’t make it to Librairie Métamorphoses in person, you can look at the exhibition catalogue on their website.
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Registration for Maiwa’s online ink-making workshop opens tomorrow.
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If you are in the northern part of the Northern Hemisphere, it may not be gardening season yet, but you can do a little daydreaming while looking at Edith Wharton’s Italian Villas and their Gardens with lovely illustrations by Maxfield Parrish.
Byopia Press 