KITES

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Materials Required:—

Thin straight sticks of canes, strong paper or thin cotton material, strong thin string, strong paste, large-eyed needle.

Figs. 99 to 101.

These are several of the commoner and easier kites to make. They are usually made of paper pasted over the frame, but it is in all cases better if children will take the trouble to make their kites of thin cotton material and tack or baste it into place with large neat stitches; this really takes very little more time than pasting. The frames in every case should be of the lightest and straightest sticks possible to find. You can sometimes get very good ones which are used in strengthening cardboard boxes, or if you do not mind spending a few cents the narrow slips of wood used in making picture-frames are the very thing and any picture-framer can supply them.

Perhaps the most usual kite is that shown in Figure 99. The two cross-sticks are first firmly lashed in position and the ends notched and tightly fixed in place with tight "stays" of string. Now cut your paper or cloth at least two inches wider all round than the outline of your framework, cutting away the angles at the corners, so that you have a neat flap to turn over all round. Never use gum or mucilage for a kite, good strong paste is best, if it is to be made of paper. Now at the three points where your "balances" are to be attached to the kite, paste on a little square patch of cloth so that the string or "balance" as it is called does not tear the fabric or paper, and fasten the ends of your two strings through the two upper patches and knot it firmly round your wooden framework. The loose ends of your balances must now be run through the third patch and fastened to the vertical spar of the frame. The string of the kite is fastened round these balances by a slipknot. Next add the tail, which needs careful adjustment to the weight of the kite; it can be weighted with rolls of paper at intervals, or little bundles of fresh grass. Scottish boys often weight it at the end with a "divot" which is a little piece of actual turf, both grass and root, all together.

Figures 100 and 104 are another form of kite most commonly used in Scotland. This needs only one straight spar of wood, and the curved "bow" at the top can be made of light cane, such as is used for basket-making; or what is very good, if enough can be got, is a length of flat steel such as is used in lady's corsets. Fasten the "bow" to the spar by lashing it into a notch or groove at the top and bend it evenly and fasten it firmly by stays of string as in Figure 104, both across and to the end of the spar. Now lay on to your paper or cotton material and cut it out as before in Figure 100, with a good turnover to paste or stitch down, and add the patches where the balances are attached. These kites look very gay if a tassel of colored paper or wool is added at each end of the bow.

Figure 101 is a very good kite to make if a really large one is wanted. The two long cross-spars of wood must be notched to fit each other about one-third of their length from the top of the kite, and stays of string must be so arranged that they spread about twice as wide at the bottom as they do at the top. This kite must have four patches to insert its balances through and the slipknot of the kite-string is fixed around both. Another "balance" should be fixed from the lower corners of the kite from which the tail is hung. This is a very steady kite.

Figure 102—a box kite.

This is a comparatively modern form of kite and looks very complicated. It is really less so than it looks. Take two long narrow strips of thin cotton material about eight inches wide and four and a half feet long (this is for a kite about thirty inches long). Have four straight thin spars of wood about thirty inches long, and after joining the two ends of your strips of cloth together make at intervals a narrow "casing" into which insert the ends of your spars. You can either place the casings at equal distances on your material, or you can arrange it so that the open ends of your kite form oblongs. Now have four flat spars of thin wood measured to make diagonals at each "box" end of your kite, and bore a tiny hole in the middle of each to insert a pin when the kite is stretched. At the ends of these diagonals cut a rectangular notch to hold the spars apart, tie the kite-string considerably nearer one end of the kite than the other, or you can attach a balance and fix on the kite-string by a slipknot. This kite needs no tail, and can be folded and rolled away by slipping out the diagonal spars.

Figure 103—a round box kite.

Figs. 102 and 103.

This can be made of very strong brown paper pasted so as to form a wide tube, like a large paper bag with the bottom cut out. Only two spars are needed. Inside the paper tubes arrange near each edge a circle of cane, as is used in basket-work or for stretching out the crown of a cap. Set this into place and lace through the paper a strong string and lash the cane through to the spar. This should hold quite steady if it is well done, but it can, of course, have a third straight spar if necessary. Attach the string as in the other box kite.

Figs. 104 to 107.

Figures 105, 106, 107—a plane kite.

This is a most beautiful and graceful kite and combines the box kite and the older varieties. The box portion is made with casings run into the cotton material at equal intervals so as to form a three-sided box. Fix in your three spars, all equal in size, and along each side fix a plane, or wing, of thin cotton material; it can be of another color and looks very gay if this is done. Make a little bag or pocket at the outer corner of each wing, and into this insert the ends of the fourth spar, so that the latter may be slipped out and the kite folded up. The string should be attached near the "nose" of the kite. It needs no tail.


                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

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