Asian Kites. Wayne Hosking

to cover model aircraft. It is stronger than regular tissue, but will shrink if it becomes wet, which can be a negative or positive quality, depending on how it is used. For example, I painted the wings of my Lark kite, but left some parts of the wing alone, which created a three-dimensional effect. Silkspan comes in three weights—light, medium, and heavy—and is available from hobby shops.

      TISSUE PAPER is excellent for making kites to fly in light wind. Tissue paper is available in different weights and colors from hobby and art supply stores, and is also available in the form of gift-wrapping paper.

      JAPANESE MULBERRY (Washi or Kozo) AND CHINESE RICE PAPER are traditional kite-making papers. These specialty papers are often relatively expensive and are available from art supply stores in white and off-white, and man-made or machine-made. Mulberry paper is available in different weights. For kites, look for something in the weight range of bond paper (approximately 40 gm/sq m).

      TYVEK^® is a spun-bonded polyethylene (plasticlike) material made by DuPont (synthetic paper version is known as type #10; the soft cloth version is type #14). Tyvek^® is almost indestructible and can take gluing, sewing, printing, and painting. The disadvantage of Tyvek^® is its flight characteristics. The paper version tends to be stiff and not bend as well as paper does in the wind, and this can cause the kite to be unstable, a negative effect usually overcome with the addition of more tail. Tyvek^® is available from kite material suppliers and building suppliers, since Tyvek^® is also used to wrap insulate houses. For use in smaller kites, you may wish to use Tyvek^® envelopes, available through the U.S. Postal Service.

      CREPE PAPER best suits kite tails or decorative elements. You should be aware that the colors tend to "bleed" from crepe paper when it becomes wet. I once had a classroom full of rainbow-colored children after flying kites in a wet schoolyard!

      WRAPPING PAPER, BROWN KRAFT PAPER, AND NEWSPAPER are all traditional covering material for kites in the West, but they also tend to be heavy (note that weight can cause a kite to spin) and tear easily.

      KITELINE

       (also called the cord or tether)

      The kite line is held by the kite flier and attaches to the kite so it will fly. Early Asian kite fliers fashioned their lines from silk and other natural fibers. Even today, traditional Japanese kite flyers use line made from hemp or flax. Others use synthetic line, such as nylon or polyester, because of the cost and strength advantage over the traditional line material.

      Your choice of line will directly influence how your kite flies. A heavy line tends to pull a kite down； a light line has the risk of breaking. Fuzzy-textured line, such as cotton and linen, will catch the wind, causing a kite to fly in one direction while the line pulls in another. To lessen this effect, known as drag, some fliers wax their line with beeswax. Avoid using clear fishing line and wire because they can be extremely dangerous. I recommend using #10 crochet thread or buttonhole thread for small kites.

      Use a fishing swivel at the tow point, the point where the kite line attaches to the kite, to remove twists from your line and to make it easier to disconnect the kite line. However, use a swivel that is equal to the kite line's strength, because a heavy swivel will weigh a kite down.

      LINE WINDER

       (also called the reel)

      The line winder holds the kite line. There is no best kind of winder. Traditional Indian, Japanese, and Korean kite winders are simple, but very effective, handheld reels. Some Japanese kite fliers use woven baskets to hold their line. Some people in the West use a stick or a short length of a broom handle around which to wind their line in a figure-eight fashion, or they use a rod and reel.

      One of the most economical line winders is a soup can with one end removed. Electric or duct tape applied around the inside rim can protect your fingers from any sharp edges. In addition, a petfood resealing lid, sold in supermarkets and pet stores, will both protect fingers and can double as a container for a first aid kit for the flying field described earlier.

      TAIL

      The main purpose of the tail is to add drag, but not weight. A good tail should act as a stabilizer and not throw the kite off balance. Three materials recommended for a kite tail are strips of paper glued together, strips of cloth, or crepe paper. To attach a tail to your kite, simply glue or tape the tail end to the kite sail.

      The kite tail is often an afterthought, but on many kites it can be an important component. If you are unsure of what length to make the tail, a simple rule of thumb is to use a tail seven times the length of the sail of the kite. Too much tail will create excessive drag, causing a kite to pull to one side or even refuse to fly. The drag factor of a tail can be increased or reduced by changing the tail length or by adding strips to the end of the tail, called a ponytail. Usually, the stronger the wind is, the more tail required. In addition, to increase drag, you can try a material with more wind resistance. I carry a roll of crepe paper for this purpose.

      Attaching streamers to the sides of a kite can create extra stability, since they control any snaking, side-to-side motion, called yaw. If a kite is off balance and pulls to one side, add a piece of kite tail to the opposite side.

      Instead of a tail, Japanese traditional kite fliers use rope as a stabilizer on larger kites. When the kite tries to veer off course, the line tends to lessen the motion.

      BRIDLE

      The bridle is the line or lines (called bridle legs) that sets the kite to the wind. It is located between the kite's sail and the kite line and attaches to the kite at the bridle points. The point where the kite line attaches to the bridle is called the tow point.

      Because there is no standard bridle, you should use the style that best suits the kite. Some bridles may require adjustments for various wind conditions； some kites have the kite line attached directly to the kite at a single tow point and no bridle; others may have up to hundreds of bridle legs. By using multiple bridles, it is possible to use thinner or more flexible spars. The lighter a kite is, the easier it is to fly it. Many Asian kites come without bridles so that the fliers can make the kite their own by bridling them.

      It is very easy to make a bridle. You will need a tape measure or ruler, a marking pen, and bridle line. Using the measurements given in this book, mark the tow point and the tie points on the line— the given length of the bridle. Before cutting the line, allow an extra 2" (50 mm) at each end for tying.

      To attach the bridle to the kite, pass the line through the sail with a needle or crochet hook at the bridle point, shown with small circles in the kite diagrams. To complete the process, tie the bridle ends around the spars or spine at the marked points on the bridle line.

      If you ever make a kite where there is no bridle information given, you do not have to be an aeronautical engineer or do many calculations to come up with the correct bridle length. As a rule of thumb, a bridle should be one and a half to three times the length of the kite. If you use a short bridle, the tow point will become very critical; a long bridle is more tolerant of various tow points.

      A bridle should support the kite spars, distorting them only to add stability to the kite. Add extra bridle legs to carry the load if the spars distort too much, or if there is a risk that the wind pressure will break the spars. On smaller kites, it might just require relocating the bridle points.

      TOW POINT