2 inch Sotich Shield kite, cocktail napkin.
I’m much happier with this kite than the previous one.
The stripe along the spine is a great separation for the two patterns.
Posted in Miniature Kites, Shield
2 inch Sotich Shield kite, cocktail napkin.
This little guy shows off why I was so excited about this print. It’s rare to have 3 classic graphic elements in such proximity to fit on sails this small.
While I myself am not a huge fan of pink polka dots or zebra stripes, it’s refreshing to have iconic material that really works for me.
Posted in Miniature Kites, Shield
2 inch Sotich Shield kite, striped cocktail napkin.
Just to change things up a little, I made this Shield kite.
Posted in Miniature Kites, Shield
3 inch Sotich Shield, striped cocktail napkin.
A couple days ago I felt a strong desire to stop off at the local Dollar Tree store, anybody else ever have that feeling?
There’s just something special to me about some stores. For me it’s been fabric, craft, hardware, office supplies stores, and now (that I’m making enough miniature kites to choke a horse) you can add party supplies stores to that list .
While there I found a couple new and exciting cocktail napkin prints. I’m sure I’ll get back to having fun with the 3-stick designs, but I wanted to make a straight-forward design with this striped one first.
Also, I’m getting closer to being ready to mail these out to festivals as raffle items or door-prizes, I might even use some as greeting cards (or God forbid Christmas cards). The picture above has the kite hanging on an easel card that will fit nicely in in A-2 envelope, with plenty of room for writing if used as a greeting card, a canvas textured card if the recipient wants to display the kite without embellishment, and still some room if any one wants to add stickers ( I think puffy clouds would look neat). I’m excited about getting the detail s nailed down so I can clear some of these kites out and make room to make more of them.
Miniature dinosaurs.
While I was prepping this post, my youngest son came in with his toys, and said that I needed to take a picture of his dinosaurs fighting. Do miniature dinosaurs go well with miniature kites?
3 inch Sotich Shield, striped cocktail napkin.
The last few day shave been all springy, but I’m feeling a little different today, so a larger stripey Shield kite is the order of the day.
The spine obscures an interesting detail in the print, so expect more along this line.
Posted in Miniature Kites, Shield
2 inch Sotich Shield, confetti tissue.
Here’s another kite from the tissue with the stars.
I wish that I had a better kite to mark the day with, as I’ve learned of the death of a great kiteflier and friend that I was looking forward to getting to know better.
I’ve been involved in kite making and kite flying since the late 80’s, but it is relatively rare that I’ve been close to kiters outside of my local area. At the same time, there are names of kite makers and kite flyers that I’ve heard from the mouths of those of my friends that were fortunate enough to get off of the edge of the world on occasion.
A couple of years ago I was honored to accept the invitation to substitute for Sandy Gibian as Field Director at the Southern Oregon Kite Festival (this event is in Oregon, but only just barely), which I hadn’t even been able to attend for something like ten years.
There I was able to not only meet , but work with many great kiters, including Ron Despojado. Ron was a talented and hardworking flyer, just enough of a showman to help round out our show, and a real gentleman. I’m still waiting to learn the details of his demise, but the most important detail is that there is now another hole to fill in my sky (the metaphor fits whether you are watching kites or stars). I will miss the man I knew, and mourn the opportunity to know him even better.
Learning of this loss in the same week that I’m processing the first anniversary of losing one the boys from my Scout Troop is weighing on me, but now it’s time to get ready for the rest of my day. With one more start fallen.
2 inch Sotich Shield kite, spring floral tissue.
Yesterday I wrote about an experiment that didn’t entirely satisfy me, but it flew.
Today I get to share a complete fail. For those of you that don’t know me and the way I work, a piece of work doesn’t get called a kite, until it flies (no matter what shape it is).
1 inch Hata shaped art project
The kite above was my second project of the day, because the piece at the left did not want to fly. Which disappointed me, because I’m having issues finding graphics from this napkin to work with.
I’m not certain exactly where I went wrong, after all I had a very similar piece work fine last week, but whether it is too small, doesn’t have enough dihedral, the line or tail is too heavy, it just doesn’t work.
Oh well, you can’t win them all. However I did want to share my view on kite as opposed to art.
1.5 inch freehand Shield kite, cocktail napkin.
I’ve wanted to do something with the butterflies on some cocktail napkins for several weeks.
After doing several kites from templates, I decided to brave making one off template (freehand) to avoid getting some stray lettering onto the sail.
This little beauty is the result. I’m very pleased with how well it turned out, and how well it flies.
Posted in Freehand, Miniature Kites, Shield
4 inch Sotich Shield kite, balloon tissue.
I’ve finally made a template for a large shield kite.
I’m not certain I like a miniature kite that is so big, but time will tell how they’re received.
Posted in Miniature Kites, Shield
3 inch Sotich Shield kite, confetti tissue.
That’s it, I’ve made a kite three days in a row, even if it is just miniature kites.
Actually, I finished a large kite as an experiment using wrapped rods today as well. I’ll post details when I can test it.
Posted in Miniature Kites, Shield