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How to Build a Bird Kite

By Laurel Schwulst

under-cover

By
 Laurel
 Schwulst

This is a craft tutorial that doubles as a meditative experience.

Cover videos by Elliott Cost and
Farah Al Qasimi

May 19, 2021

preamble
one-a-materials-plastic

1

Gather your materials

a.Plastic

b.Wooden dowels

c.Electrical tape

d.Scissors

e.Marker

f.Kite string

one-b-materials-dowels

1

Gather your materials

a.Plastic

b.Wooden dowels

c.Electrical tape

d.Scissors

e.Marker

f.Kite string

one-c-materials-tape

1

Gather your materials

a.Plastic

b.Wooden dowels

c.Electrical tape

d.Scissors

e.Marker

f.Kite string

one-def-materials

1

Gather your materials

a.Plastic

b.Wooden dowels

c.Electrical tape

d.Scissors

e.Marker

f.Kite string

via Amazon
two-mise-en-place

2

Set up your working area

three-fold-plastic

3

Fold the plastic in half

four-a-drawbird-bend

4

Draw half the bird shape on the plastic

a.Test dowels

b.Envision

c.Draw

four-b-drawbird-envision

4

Draw half the bird shape on the plastic

a.Test dowels

b.Envision

c.Draw

four-c-drawbird-draw

4

Draw half the bird shape on the plastic

a.Test dowels

b.Envision

c.Draw

five-a-cutbird-cut

5

Cut out the bird from the plastic

a.Cut

b.Unfold

Photo by Into the Wind
five-b-cutbird-unfold

5

Cut out the bird from the plastic

a.Cut

b.Unfold

six-a-dowels-vertical

6

Apply your dowels to the bird

a.Vertical spar

b.Spreader spars

c.Optional spar

six-b-dowels-spreader

6

Apply your dowels to the bird

a.Vertical spar

b.Spreader spars

c.Optional spar

Photo by HereToHelp
six-c-dowels-optional

6

Apply your dowels to the bird

a.Vertical spar

b.Spreader spars

c.Optional spar

seven-wingtip

7

Tie a string from wingtip to wingtip

eight-a-addtail-cut

8

Add the bird’s extended tail

a.Cut strips

b.Attach

eight-b-addtail-attach

8

Add the bird’s extended tail

a.Cut strips

b.Attach

nine-packup

9

Gather all your materials and kite

ten-planflight

10

Find a good place and time to fly, and go!

eleven-a-line-hold

11

Apply flying line to the bird

eleven-b-line-tape

11

Apply flying line to the bird

eleven-c-line-knot

11

Apply flying line to the bird

twelve-fly

12

Try flying your bird kite and adjust as necessary

end-citations

Referenced works:

Lyall Watson, Heaven’s Breath: A Natural History of the Wind (1984)

Samin Nosrat, Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat (2017)

Alice Waters, The Art of Simple Food (2007)

Venkatesh Rao, “Planning to Start, Planning to Finish” (2019)

Cybernetics Library (Charles Eppley, Sarah Hamerman, Sam Hart, David Hecht, Melanie Hoff, Dan Taeyoung), “Cybernetics, a Primer” (2018)

Dan Hill, “Towards Designing for Adaption” (2002)

Mark Weiser and John Seely Brown, “The Coming Age of Calm Technology” (1996)

Music:

Yuna Lee playing “Soaring in the sky” by Jan Freicher from Three Solos for Vibraphone (2017)

under-coda
START

Kite guidance by Austin Wade Smith. Editorial guidance by Meg Miller, Melanie Hoff and Brixton Sandhals. Filming by Farah Al Qasimi, Toby Shorin, Elliott Cost and Lydia Mullin. Building off tutorials by Hack and Experiment on YouTube and Tim Parish of my-best-kite.com. Hardware store scene filmed at Tarzian Hardware in Brooklyn. Special thanks to Mark Beasley, Nina Chidichimo, Laura Coombs, Yatú Espinosa, Will Karmis, Brian Piñeyro and Sophie Schwulst.

Edited by Natalie Shutler and Bonnie Wertheim. Design and production by Tracy Ma, Adriana Ramić, Jonathan Huang and Matt Ruby.