For me making a kite brings back lots of childhod memories, the last time i remember building a kite was when i was a child even then i was nervous that when it was finshed would it fly.
(History of kite)
| In the history of flight, the first lighter-than-air balloon (1783) and the first powered aircraft (1903) are very recent when compared with the age of kites. The exact date and origin of the kite is not known but it is believed that they were flown in China more than two thousand years ago. One legend suggests that when a Chinese farmer tied a string to his hat to keep it from blowing away in a strong wind, the first kite was born. |
| The earliest written account of kite flying was about 200 B.C. when the Chinese General Han Hsin of the Han Dynasty flew a kite over the walls of a city he was attacking to measure how far his army would have to tunnel to reach past the defenses. Knowing this distance his troops reached the inside of the city, surprised their enemy, and were victorious. |  |
| Kite flying was eventually spread by traders from China to Korea, and across Asia to India. Each area developed a distinctive style of kite and cultural purpose for flying them. During the Silla Dynasty of Korea around the year 600, General Gim Yu-sin was ordered to subdue a revolt. However, his troops refused to fight. They had seen a large shooting star fall from the sky and believed it to be a bad omen. To regain control, the General used a large kite to carry a fire ball into the sky. The soldiers, seeing the star return to heaven, rallied and defeated the rebels. Kites were brought to Japan about the 7th century by Buddhist monks. They were used to avert evil spirits and to insure rich harvests.  .png)  First day workshop with karl |
Each of us was given the task to build thier own prototype kite and make it fly on the same day. The first design that come in to my head was the classic dimond shape kite, so i started building this type of kite with the materials that i provided.
such as:
-Wooden Dowel
-Tissue paper
-Diffrent kind of glues
-String
PICTURES OF ME MAKING THE FIRST PROTOTYPE
USING WOODEN DOWEL AND STRING
GLUEING TISSUE PAPER TO THE FRAME
THE FINSHED KITE
DIMOAND KITE PLAN
My ideas after the second workshop with karl and the one and one talk with Demitrios.
After the second workshop with karl, i learnd how to built a kite that it will fly..and also with the help of a Demirrios, i findly decided about my finshed design and colours, ect...
TWO MAIN IDEAS
"The marry the night", this idea came from the Lady Gaga song "marry the night"
We were told the finshed kite had to fly, and also it would be a night flight. The reason we had to fly our kites at night was to demonstrate that they would glow in the dark. So i thought about using the music in the final video from Lady Gaga combined with pop art.
After seraching and reading about the sled.kites and comparing them to my ideas, i had second thoughts and decided to change my idea to a Delta Kite.
2.Delta kite
My second and final idea was to built a union jack delta kite. the idea came from when i was thinking about the flags and movoment of then in the strong wind.
Why union jack? i allways loved the colours of the union jack and design and also as international student its respect to a country that i live and study in.
PLANS ANS SCALE OF MY KITE
THE FINAL PLAN
Union jack flag (polyester)
Firstly by having the plan in mind and on paper and looking athe actual flag, i needed to see how big and also what scale and how i was going to cut the design from the material to built my kite.
CUTING THE MATERIAL TO THE RIGHT SIZE AND SHAPE FOR THE KITE
NEXT STEP
MAKING THE FRAME
Glueing the dowels toghter with plastic tube connectors and black masking tape. This technique i feel would make the kite frame strong but flexiable.
After the frame was made it was time to glue and sew the polyster material to the kite frame.
Finshing the shape of the kite by sewing the line attchement to the front face of the kite.
NEXT STEP, DESIGN THE FRONT FACE
By having the union jack design i wanted to write or draw something that matched the union jack style. The first thing that came to my mind was the title of the famous song " GOD SAVE THE QUEEN BY SEX PIESTOLS".
On the other hand i didnt want to use the same title so after thinking i changed my title to"GOD SAVE THE KITE" i found this to be more reletive to my kite design and eye catching.
Using the black waterproof marker
Then it was the time to make the kite illuminate and glow in the dark, the only thing which i could think of was water based glow in the dark paint.
Not knowing if the paint would make the kite heavy, another ideaa of mine was to use small LED lights, i did not use the LED lights as this would have made the kite very heavy and i was worried that it would not fly so i decided against this idea.
Got the paint ready to start
All the white parts of the union jack i painted with the glow in the dark paint.
THE KITE IS BUILT, NOW WAITING TO DRY
FLYING DATE
At 4 pm on monday the 3rd of December we flewt the kite and film it. My record of the kite flight consisted of photos and short video clips with this i made a short movie of my kite flying.
The (GOD SAVE THE KITE) flew like a bird, unfortunately it didnt glow in the dark. it may have been because it was not dark enough or didnt absorbe enough light.
While i was flying the kite, one of my classmates helped me take a short video so that i could use them for my final film.
"AND NOW LET'S FLY A KITE"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQVEdYdtlmw&feature=youtu.be
For making and editing of my short movie i used two programs (imovie maker and Adobe premiere pro)
choosing diffrent sections of the video taken that day and adding a famous song from the legendry film mary poppins by dave tomlinson "lets go fly a kite" you can watch the final video here or on
youtube by ciclking on the link above.
* FIN*
THANK YOU FOR READING MY BLOG
