How To Make A Kite

Step By Step Instructions

If you want to know how to make a kite, you have definitely come to the right spot! This part of my website is devoted to the steps in making a kite, with photos, for a number of different classic kite designs.

The emphasis is on very cheap components, so you could make them all for just a few dollars! However, making kites from bamboo or dowel and plastic is fun and they do fly really well!

Although this is quite basic kite making, the designs will get more complex and time consuming to build as you move down the lists. See the table further down this page.

I'm aiming to pump out one each month for years! Have fun coming back here and learning how to build a new kite.

As soon as the first one flies - you have just joined the MBK Kite Club! You're then welcome to leave MBK kiting stories here on this site just as others have done.

MBK Kites To Make

If you're itching to get on and make your own kite right now, there's eight different types to choose from! The 2-skewer designs have about 4 times as much sail area as the 1-skewer designs. Hence, it's easier to make them accurately. Plus, for any given sail material, a 2 skewer kite will be better in light breezes than a 1-skewer kite. The 1.2 meter Dowel kites are another step up again, with a roughly 4-fold increase in sail area compared with the 2-Skewer kites!

If you have never made an MBK kite before, you'll also need to look at...

1. Knot tying instructions which are important to know for any MBK kite project!
2. Tools and materials for the Skewer kites OR the tools and materials for the Dowel kites.
3. How to make kite tails for the Skewer designs. The Dowel designs are all tail-less.
4. Making up kite line on a cheap winder. Alternatively, if you like flying high, try the MBK150 Kite Winder!
5. All the Dowel Kite instruction pages except for the Sled have a link to a corner strap page and a bowed cross spar page. You don't have to look at them now.

The links in the table above lead to very complete step by step procedures on how to make a kite of that type, from very cheap materials. These instructions help your kite to be...

• accurately made
• light and strong
• properly balanced
• easily connected to various flying lines and tails (if appropriate)
• a great flier!

Ok, on that last point there needs to be enough wind, and the towing point needs to be adjusted correctly! But by following the instructions, you have a great chance of your creation flying 'like a bought one'. Better than some bought ones, to tell the truth. For less than a dollar, for the Skewer kites. The materials you initially need to buy will let you build many MBK kites. Some things, like scissors and sticky tape, might already be in a cupboard somewhere!

Just one final thing to note. These How To Make A Kite pages are revised from time to time. The long-term goal is to make them all totally consistent in format, with guaranteed hassle-free construction and great performance. Bear with me as I strive towards this. :-)

Actual Flights With All These Kites

I'm a compulsive blogger, hence the following table will slowly fill with accounts of what happens when our family goes out to fly. If you need additional proof that you won't be wasting your time learning how to make a kite the MBK way, just look it up below!

Hope you enjoy learning how to make a kite!

MBK Flying Skewers And Plastic is a fun publication for single-line kite lovers. This FREE monthly newsletter will keep you in touch with what's happening here. Including the latest news on the Kite Of The Month!

Also, please don't forget to pick up your FREE COPY of a great 87-page eBook on popular kites.

Last updated: 23 May 2009