Paper Kites

And Other Single Liners

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

This page covers a variety of single-line kite categories that don't belong elsewhere in 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!

There is such variety in paper kites, let alone single liners 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 pretty cool kites. Paper single-line kites or otherwise, including the zero-line variety!

Read up on...

... R/C kites - researched

... R/C kites - up close and personal!

... fish kites

... fishing kites

... funny kites!

... pocket kites

... Balinese kites

... styrofoam kites

... mini kites

... giant kites

... bag kites

... ancient Maori kites

... tetrahedral kites

... Malaysian kites

... large kites

Some Miscellaneous Kite Topics

Of course, you can't fly paper kites without some kite string, and perhaps just a few other kite accessories as well. On that latter topic, I've also zeroed in on the humble kite reel.

Now, this is a page about miscellaneous single-line kite topics. Hence, a page about finding good kite clip art belongs here as much as anywhere else on this site!

After hearing about the book and the movie, have you ever been curious about kite running? Wonder no more.

Here's one for the school-kids learning about science. The Benjamin Franklin kite was a feasable design that might have been flown by Mr Franklin himself!

There's nothing like a kite festival for checking out colorful kites! We've taken the odd photo at these types of events.

Talking about color, bird kites are often very realistic and colorful. Particularly the ones from Bali!

Interested in a somewhat long and detailed history of kites? It's actually a compilation of other historical info on this site.

Making a kite starts with choosing which kind of design you to want to build! There's a fair amount of choice available with the MBK series.

Here's a great overview of the whole topic of making kites from recycled materials, by Glenn Davison...

Glenn Davison is an eco-artist and workshop leader who has been featured on HGTV as a New England Craftsman. He is the editor of the books, "Kites in the Classroom," "How to Fly a Kite," and the "Guide to Building Miniature Kites." As at Feb. 2010 he is a director of the club, “Kites Over New England” and Chairman of the Education Committee for the American Kitefliers Association.

A question that people often ask is Who invented the kite? Since almost all kites over 200 years old no longer exist, finding the answer comes down to careful research of ancient documents.

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 kite lovers. Particularly single-line fliers! This FREE monthly newsletter will help keep you in touch... There's always something new being built or flown at MBK!

Your FREE COPY of a great 87-page eBook on popular kites is waiting to be downloaded. It's my way of saying 'Thank You' for subscribing.

Last updated: 13 Jul 2010