Paper Kites

And Other Single Liners

Just about everyone has either made or seen paper kites at some stage in their lives! However, kites made from tissue or paper used to be much more common around the middle of the 1900s and before. Most kites these days use rip-stop nylon for their sails.

This page covers a variety of single-line kite categories that don't belong in the other sections of this website.

In fact, some of these categories are a bit odd!

For example, the funny kites page you'll find below. Also, a very specialized type of kite which doesn't even need a flying line! There's a clue - see if you can spot it!

There is such variety in paper kites, let alone single line kites in general. Everything from the classic Western diamond shape kite to oriental fish kites to Maori kites.

Even parafoils can be seen floating at the end of a single string, although they tend to be much simpler and cheaper than the steerable kites used by stunt fliers or board riders.

Because there are so many people involved in designing kites, there is huge variety to be seen even within each category. Half the fun of single line kites these days is just the way they look, not just the way they fly! I guess looks count more for young kids, while flying characteristics charm the older flyers. But there are always exceptions. What do you get out of single line kites?

Some Less Common Single Line (Or Less!) Kites

The categories below are full of interesting information on many kinds of single-line kites. Paper kites or otherwise, including the zero-line variety!

Read up on...

... Styrofoam kites

... funny kites!

... R/C kites

... fishing kites

... ancient Maori kites

... tetrahedral kites

... pocket kites

... Balinese kites

More to come. Stay tuned!

And here's a small survey about kite accessories.

Paper Kites From China To Java

Are you interested in some history on how kites spread throughout the non-western world, centuries before they became popular in the West? The very first kites flew in China, thousands of years ago. Just look at my Chinese Kites section over there on the left to find out more about this.

At some early stage, the idea spread to Japan and Korea as well. Eventually paper kites were to be found in South East Asia too, and the spread continued down the Malay Peninsula. We're still talking 2000 years ago at this point! Hopping from island to island in people's canoes, the simple single-line kite idea then continued to move through Indonesia, Melanesia and Polynesia. Bark took the place of paper in these kites. Come to think of it, there's actually an Australian native tree called the Paperbark!

Right on the end of this chain of countries lies Australia, where I'm typing this right now. No doubt, we got our first kites from English settlers and possibly convicts in the 18th Century. The original aboriginal population had a number of remarkable inventions, but as far as I know they didn't fly kites.

In more recent times, kite flyers over here have been influenced by the kite flying activities of our Asian neighbors. These countries are just a few hours away by air, to the North-West.

Unfortunately, the fragile Indian kite didn't fare too well when Cyclone (Hurricane) Tracy almost wiped Darwin off the map the following Christmas day! That would have been a great night to try a concrete box kite. With high-tensile fencing wire as flying line...

MBK Flying Skewers And Plastic is a fun publication for single-line kite lovers. Learn how to make a new kite every month! Subscribing to this FREE monthly newsletter has to be the easiest way to keep in touch with what's happening on this website.

Last updated: 25 Jun 2008