Kites Newsletter'MBK Flying Skewers And Plastic'This kites newsletter arrives in your email on the last Friday of every month. It's a fun publication for single-line flyers and builders. Is that you? It's not for serious crafts-people or kite designers, but rather for anyone who wants to knock together a simple kite themselves, or perhaps buy one without breaking the bank. Currently, this kite newsletter features:
By the way, if you would like to keep up with all our kite flying activities, just click on kite flying blog up there on the left! More About This Newsletter...
The flying log entries will often feature my little son, Aren. He was 18 months old just before the first issue of this kites newsletter. Watch his kite flying career unfold. Yes, this age group can fly MBK Skewer kites!The construction of kites is a big part of this website. In fact, a different small kite made from bamboo skewers and freezer-bag plastic is featured every month! Hence the title, 'MBK Flying Skewers And Plastic'. These materials are probably too fiddly for very young kids to work with. However, the finished kites are easy to fly, with very low pulling force. Almost no tools are required. Besides the bamboo skewers and plastic, just about all you'll need are scissors, sticking tape and wood glue. Plus a hard flat surface at least 1m x 1m (3ft x 3ft). Also, all measurements are in terms of one skewer length. For example, half a skewer length or 0.3 of a skewer length. Your skewers might be a different length to mine, so this approach should make things clearer. Heck, you don't even have to use skewers! Any reasonably light and strong sticks up to a meter (3 feet) long will do. Finally, just about any kind of light plastic will do the job. Our small 1-skewer kites are made from freezer bags, which are extremely light. However, the current series of bigger 2-skewer kites use orange garden bag plastic. This shows up much better against a blue or gray sky!
Last updated: 14 Jun 2008 Return to Home Page from Kites Newsletter
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