Art4Water Edo style

Edo Dako inspired piece
Paint on nylon, artist unknown, for Art4Water exhibit

This kite is framed with fiberglass rod. Please take care not to slide the rods along your fingers or hands! Fiberglass splinters are not a delight to catch, and can take weeks to get rid of.

This process works best with 2 (or even 3) sets of hands. It can be done with the painted face on the floor or ground, but I found it easiest with the painted face of the sail leaning against a wall on its side.

The parts

parts
7 each top and bottom fiberglass rod and 2 extensions, all 1/8 inch fiberglass rod. Top and bottom rods are 5 foot long, the tops ending in a metal ferrule, the bottoms ending in a plastic arrow nock and having a prusik knot tied to it.

Framing the sail

Thread 5 of the top rods each through a sleeve from the bottom of the sail. Take care not to slide your fingers on the rods, you won’t see the splinters waiting for you.
Mind that the rod doesn’t slip out of a hole as it passes the fiberglass spreader.
As the ferrule on the end of that rod reaches the near end of the pocket, thread a bottom rod through the small loop of with line at the bottom of the sail and then insert the end into the ferrule and continue pushing the assembly through the sleeve. Now, mind both the top end of the assembly, and the ferrule as they run into the spreaders (It’s helpful to have a second person for this).

When the assembly reaches the far side of the sleeve, ensure that the end of the rod seats into the fitting inside the pocket at the nose of the sail. Remember this is for all 5 of the sleeves, and should leave you with 2 each of top rods, bottom rods, and extensions for the next steps.

With one of the remaining top rods, with the nose of the sail as your target thread through the smallest loops in the black line glued to the spreaders that this rod would reach.

Once you’re through all the loops that the top rod reaches, insert the top rod all the way into the vinyl tubing at the nose of the sail.

After threading an extension through the loop that it reaches, insert it into the ferrule on the top rod. Then, including the smaller loop in the white line at the bottom of the sail, repeat with a bottom rod to the extension.

Now that the first cross assembly is in place, use a larks head to tie the large loop on the bottom of the sail to the small loop from the prusik knot tied to the bottom rod that crosses the kite, and then practice the knot on all the rods coming from the sleeves as well.

Now put the second cross assembly into place, and tie it in as well.

With the knots tied, place the two strands from the long loop over the arrow nock, then grasp the bottom of the sail and push the prusik knot toward the nose of the sail. Remember to be cautious of slivers from the fiberglass, Grasp the prusik knot on the line itself, not on the rod on either side of the knot. Repeat for the rest of the bottom rods.

With the sail now under pressure, and all the rods all being held in, use the black bowline on each of the spreaders to create dihedral in the sail by sliding the prusik knots on both ends at least half way between the outer sleeves and the fitting on the sides of the sail. Once again, please handle the knot itself to avoid acquiring splinters from the fiberglass!

Congratulations!

You’ve assembled the sail, stand it up and admire your handiwork.