During this project and after receiving my brief I will particularly consider
-How my kite will appear in the night sky
-Appropriate and effective materials
-A design ensuring the kite flies
-Already existing designs and how they work
For my first attempt I decided to create a simple hexagonal kite. I started to create my kite using brightly coloured tissue paper and some pieces of 4mm dowel. It flew...until it got wet.
After making my first kite I began to think more about what it was that I wanted to create as a final piece. I was particularly interested in researching the best ways to display a kite at night. I started sketching some initial ideas.
I bought some kites as I wanted to make sure that I really understood different designs and how they fly before I tried to overcomplicate my ideas or try and be unrealistic.
I tested the kites on a very windy day, perfect for kite flying. I struggled to get a couple of them air born. The delta kite above was the most successful and flew very easily. I want to ensure that my design isn't too complicated so that I can make sure it flies especially as it may not be as windy as these seafront conditions.
Next I needed to research ways of displaying my kite at night and the different materials that I could possibly use.
I bought some glow in the dark paints to experiment with...
I did a lot of research into different designs and ideas, I thought about using foils to reflect light or glow sticks. Here are some examples of already existing kites made with lights on to be flown at night. I think these are great and very effective.
I found artist and illusionist Frank Wilson who paints murals with rare-earth phosphors that glow in the dark. His canvases are invisible in the light and glow amazingly when it turns to dark. His work has inspired mine.
"Starry Couple Watching Meteorites"
This is one of my favourite Canvas Glow Murals. I like it for it's simplicity and drama.
"Bali Hai, Tunnels Beach, Kauai"
I also found kite artist Pauline Taylor. She is a kite maker with an international reputation, who receives invitations to fly her kites at events around Europe each year. Many of her kites are based on an architectural theme with Greek temples, Roman columns and Italianate churches. She also runs workshops for adults and young people in particular focussing on developing a creative approach and making kites from recycled and everyday materials. I found her kites impressive and interesting.
I bought some LED lights attached to a battery pack but the weight of the batteries was far too heavy for the size of the kite that I wanted to make so I had to research further.
After a lot of research I bought some single LED lights and some watch batteries, this meant that they would light up themselves and wouldn't be as heavy as using batteries.
I decided that the idea I wanted to take further was the moon and stars. As we are flying the kites at night I liked this idea. I sketched some further designs.
After my one2one with Karl he recommended that the best and the design that would be the most successful would be the star as my first idea would be very difficult to ensure it flew and my second idea was too simple. Karl explained the most effective way of making it. I made some small sketch models and research what already existed on the Internet.
For my first sketch model I used 5mm dowel, tissue paper and tape. The dowel was too heavy for the kite to fly. After further research I discovered that I didn't need to use as much material and that only 3 pieces of dowel/glassfibre were needed to create the structure.
I took apart an already existing kite so that I could use the materials and experiment with them. I bought some white ripstop nylon for my final kite and made a small prototype using these materials.
The kite flew but not for long. The weight of this kite and the materials used were a lot better but it wasn't big enough.
I bought a set of battery powered christmas lights powered by two AA batteries. I researched a way of using a smaller, lighter battery source to light them up. After a lot of research I bought a soldering iron, a 3V car remote battery and a battery clip. I unsoldered the lights from the initial heavy battery pack and soldered them to the battery clip. I inserted the battery into the clip and after a few attempts and a few sets of lights it was successful. Now this had worked I decided that the perimeter of my kite would be lights. I did this for 2 sets of lights so that I would have enough to reach around my kite.
Here is a more specific technical drawing of my final design and what I would like the outcome of my final kite to be.
I made my final kite 80cm wide using white ripstop nylon and glassfibre. I bought supports for the corners so that the sharp ends of the glassfibre wouldn't rip the fabric. I secured the edges using double sided tape as recommended by Karl as I didn't have access to a sewing machine. I added extra material onto the corners and where the bridle was going to be attached for reinforcement.
Making my final kite
The only thing that I am unsure about is how much you can see the black glassfibre rods through the material but I chose this material being mindful that I wanted to light it up and focus on the effect it had at night, rather than in daylight although I still want it to be aesthetically pleasing in the day.
I painted the stars for my tail in glow in the dark paint and soldered the edges to ensure they wouldn't fray. I also used silver glitter spray paint to cover my star maximising its reflective glow.
Trial and error
Flying my kite
In conclusion I really enjoyed this project and think that it was very successful. I have learnt that flying a kite is a lot more technical than first thought. I enjoyed researching the different ways of seeing things at night. I learnt valuable skills in particular I enjoyed using a soldering iron and how versatile it can be and the feeling of achievement in rewiring lights and making it possible to fly them on my kite.
If my kite was to be mass produced its horizontal arm would be removable so that the kite could be folded up for easy transport and easily stocked on shelves in shops.
