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
2 inch Sotich Eddy kite, striped cocktail napkin.
As I mentioned in my last post, my next few kites are pretty basic. This one is a nice Eddy from the striped cocktail napkin that’s provided me so much fun.
Posted in Eddy, Miniature Kites
Well Spring has sprung here in Lincoln City. Even more businesses have advertised for help lately, which filled much of my time filling out applications, and most of the rest of my time has been filled preparing for a part time position I accepted at the local fitness center and golf course.
I managed to make a kite everyday, but the only day I’ve had time to post them, I spent lying around with aching muscles. Many of them are pretty simple, but there are some fun little twists so enjoy the next few posts.
2 inch Sotich Eddy kite, striped cocktail napkin.
This little guy is a basic Sotich Eddy with the striped cocktail napkin I’ve been using, but I wanted to orient the stripes a little differently. I’m pleased with the way it turned out.
Posted in Eddy, Miniature Kites
3.5 inch 3-stick kite, striped cocktail napkin.
This is another of the 3-stick kites, something between an Eddy and a Rokkaku, a traditional kite shape from Japan.
As I mentioned yesterday, I’m excited about the new print I found the other day. I find the riot of color fitting for Spring, and the wavy stripes playful as well.
Also, I’m pleased to break out of a bit of a rut. Recently my stripey kites have had the stripes oriented generally along the spine (top to bottom), and that was starting to get to me. I’m quite satisfied with how well these wavy lines flow across the sail of this kite.
Posted in 3-stick, Miniature Kites
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 3-stick kite, striped cocktail napkin.
This little guy is just too much fun.
First it uses the striped napkin that has given so many great sails. Second, it’s another unique 3 stick kite. Next, I’ve used some negative space for the first time. Finally, it’s the first time that I’ve tried tearing part of the sail instead of having crisp clean edges all around the kite.
Come back tomorrow to see what I come up with next.
Posted in 3-stick, Miniature Kites
3 inch 3-stick kite, balloon tissue.
After yesterday’s success with my first star shaped kite, I decided to stick my neck out a little further and try something inspired by a Facebook post from a class at Hiromi Paper in Santa Monica this last week.
My friends Scott Skinner and Jose Sainz have been teaching classes around the country on using three sticks in a variety of shapes and some washi paper to make unique, creative and very organic kites. While it’s not a class I’ve taken (I’ve only taken 3 classes in all my years of kitemaking), I learned tons when they held the class at Oregon Kitemakers Retreat some years ago and encourage anyone that enjoys crafting with paper and/or is a kite enthusiast to go and have fun with these guys if the opportunity to take the class is ever presented.
While the things they were making when I saw them at OKR were very inspiring, I was not in a place to go out and invest in new and different materials for kites that would require very special handling to survive the weather conditions that dominate my local environment. However, since I’m now playing with paper (it’s not quite as cool as washi, but it is paper), I think it’s time to see where I can go with their concepts, but in the dimensions that I’ve been practicing with.
Stay tuned to see where this goes.
Posted in 3-stick, Miniature Kites
2 inch Sotich Star, star tissue.
With the passing of my friend Ron Despojado last week, I wanted to make a star shaped kite very badly. However, I hadn’t made a star before, and I was under some other time constraints, so I went with a shape I was more familiar with.
Today I made a little time to give the star shape a try, and got a nice kite on the first attempt. I couldn’t avoid one of the dots in the print, but nothing is perfect (and I kind of like the little break in symmetry).
Posted in Miniature Kites, Star
2 inch Sotich Eddy, striped cocktail napkin.
Here’s another from the striped napkin I’m having so much fun with.
Now, back to the work search for me. Spring is definitely here in Lincoln City, and businesses are advertising for positions all around me (finally).
Posted in Eddy, 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