Basic Kite Making

If my wife, not interested in kites, can make one and fly it...

I will show you how to build possibly the quickest, simplest and most foolproof type of kite that results in reasonable flying performance. It will also prove very cheap to put together.

Sure, you can spend more time and make rather more interesting and higher-performing kites than the type described here.

But the ultra-simple diamond described below will provide the all-important early success that you need. Then you might end up really motivated to progress further in the hobby.

Great durability or crash-resistance is not a priority here, since you just want to see your creation fly, right? ASAP!

After a bit of the inevitable wear and tear, you can just patch things up with a bit of tape. If worst comes to worst, it's not hard to quickly whip up another kite.

In time, you might move on to less basic kite-making techniques that result in hardier kites. Besides, you'll be less prone to mistreat them then!

MBK Simple Diamond

Suitable sail material is all around, just about anywhere you look. It just has to be light. The lighter the better. Serious kite-makers tend to turn up their noses at plastic, but the truth is it's a fantastic material for your very first kite. Here's a list of possibilities:

• garbage bags (best for quite small kites, say up to 50 centimeters or 18 inches in height)
• garden bags (similar, although some brands are slightly heavier multi-ply)
• old shower curtains (make sure the kite is fairly big, say over 1 meter or 3 feet tall)
• space blankets (similarly!)
• painters' drop sheets (for even bigger kites)

Finding spar material (the sticks that the sail is attached to) is a little harder. But it's still fairly straightforward. For rather small kites, you can experiment with bamboo BBQ skewers. Find them in any supermarket. Kites about 1 meter (3 feet) in height can employ 5 millimeter (3/16 inch) hardwood dowel. Hardware stores sell wooden dowel.

Here's the trick with basic kite-making using wooden dowel—if your finished kite bends like crazy and flops about on the end of the line without flying well, the dowel is too narrow. Go up a size or two and try again! At the other extreme, if your kite needs a fresh breeze to even look like flying, your dowel is far too thick and heavy. Go down a size or two and try again! A light wind is all the kite should need.

Quickie—no bridle required!

See how the flying line attaches to where the spars cross. The location of that crossing point is important. Stick to it exactly, and you should not be disappointed when the kite is ready for a test fly.

By the way, the flying line is threaded through a small hole in the sail to where it is tied to the spars. When flying, the spars are on the far side of the kite. You will most likely be able to see the spars through the plastic sail.

This basic kite design definitely needs a tail. A simple ribbon of the same material as the sail will do, about 1/10 as wide as the kite itself. Just to be safe, try making it ten times as long as the kite is high. That might seem a lot, but it can make up for inaccuracies in construction. It gives you the best chance of success. Just tie the tail to the vertical spar where indicated on the diagram.

When you have the kite flying successfully, you can experiment with shorter tails. The shorter the tail, the wilder and more unpredictable the flight patterns!