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KiteSquid
Master Kite Builder
Joined: 29 Aug 2003
Posts: 10131
Location: USA Virginia King George
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 Posted: Wed Dec 03, 2003 7:06 pm Post subject: Thomas Jefferson Kite |
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All,
I just finished a kite 
It is about 8' by 11' and has an immage of Thomas Jefferson on it.
It has 63 bridle lines.
There is a photo of it in the Album in the bowed kite catagory 
Take a look!!!!
Kitepoor and my father-inlaw helped me bridle it and fly it for the first time. Others came along to help at the first flight of a kite that has the sail area of 3 sheets of plywood!!!!!!!!
I guess I could also call it "three sheets to the wind" 
_________________
VR/
KiteSquid
AKA TakoIka
AKA Harold
King George VA
PS Yet another post by the Squid... Doesn’t he ever shut up?
PPS The wind is like the air, only pushier.
PPPS All information provided is for hobby use. None may be used commercially.
PPPPS Vir sapit qui pauca loquitur. x10K
PPPPPS Please excuse my speling errorors. |
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Steve D
Joined: 02 Sep 2003
Posts: 1034
Location: USA GA Newnan
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| Posted: Wed Dec 03, 2003 7:10 pm Post subject: |
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This begs a question - what prompted you to use Jefferson as the subject for a kite? There's a story buried there somewhere.....
BTW, looks great! Edo's just look neat...period. The bridles amaze me.... |
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Steve D
Joined: 02 Sep 2003
Posts: 1034
Location: USA GA Newnan
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| Posted: Wed Dec 03, 2003 7:13 pm Post subject: |
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Hmmm, like the idiot that I am sometimes, I didn't read Squid's explanation in the album.
Note to self: Pay attention and read first, type later.....
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KiteSquid
Master Kite Builder
Joined: 29 Aug 2003
Posts: 10131
Location: USA Virginia King George
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| Posted: Wed Dec 03, 2003 7:15 pm Post subject: |
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The event coridinators came up with a list of topics. When they got arond to asking me to build a kite, the list of subjects was getting kinda short, so I picked something I thought I could do.
President Jefferson sent them on the trip and here is a short excerpt from his letter:
"The object of your mission is to explore the Missouri River, and such principal streams of it, as, by its course and communication with the waters of the Pacific Ocean, whether the Columbia, Oregan, Colrado, or any other river, may offer the most direct and practible water-communication across the continent, for the purposes of commerce."
It was spelled that way in the letter so it is not my fault...
Neadless to say that Lewis and Clark did not find a water-communicatin route across the continent, so now we have the interstate system and rail roads..
If you look at a $2 bill you will see a better version of this image.
_________________
VR/
KiteSquid
AKA TakoIka
AKA Harold
King George VA
PS Yet another post by the Squid... Doesn’t he ever shut up?
PPS The wind is like the air, only pushier.
PPPS All information provided is for hobby use. None may be used commercially.
PPPPS Vir sapit qui pauca loquitur. x10K
PPPPPS Please excuse my speling errorors. |
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Steve D
Joined: 02 Sep 2003
Posts: 1034
Location: USA GA Newnan
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| Posted: Wed Dec 03, 2003 7:24 pm Post subject: |
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How about a few more questions?
Was the 'portrait' of Jefferson done as applique' or some by some other means? If it was applique' what method did you use?
How many panels does the kite consist of?
Was the artwork done before the panels were joined? If so can you tell us a bit about how you drew the patterns on the panels prior to joining so the panels matched up properly? |
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KiteSquid
Master Kite Builder
Joined: 29 Aug 2003
Posts: 10131
Location: USA Virginia King George
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| Posted: Wed Dec 03, 2003 7:49 pm Post subject: |
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| Steve D wrote: | | How about a few more questions? |
Just a few huh 
| Steve D wrote: | | Was the 'portrait' of Jefferson done as applique' or some by some other means? If it was applique' what method did you use? |
It was done in the Jose Sainz/Randy Tom REVERSE applique' method.
| Steve D wrote: | | How many panels does the kite consist of? |
UUUUUUHHHHHHHHHHH I dont know. I guess I could count em...
| Steve D wrote: | | Was the artwork done before the panels were joined? |
No, that is the beuaty of reverse applique!
To describe the entire process I bonded two 4 yard pieces of 1.5 Oz white Nylon fabric on the long (factory cut) edge using 3M's 9460PC in 1/4 inch width because I had a number of rolls arond from other projects. I repeated the bonding process with the blue and black 1.5 Oz Nylon too.
I then drew the art onto the white in REVERSE of how I wanted it to come out on the kite. I used an overhead projector and the art on a peice of transpancny film.
I layed the white fabric on the floor art side DOWN.
Spray with 3M's spray mount.
I let it dry
I drank some coffee
let dry more
let dry some more
I then layed the blue down makeing sure the seam in the middle lined up as good as possiable. My wife helped me with this part of the process.
Spray with 3M's spray mount.
I let it dry
I drank some coffee
let dry more
let dry some more
I then layed the black on the blue makeing sure the seam in the middle lined up as good as possiable. My wife helped me with this part of the process again.
Now the front of the kite is up and the back is down...
I then picked up the 24 yards of fabric and tryed to sew it on my Bernina 130 home sewing machine. It woudl not feed right as there was WAY too much fabric there!!!!! Lots of mass a long ways away from the needle so the feed dogs could not move it uniformly.
rip out all stitchs!!!! This is the learning part....
Sew using a zig zag stitch on my Singer 20U industrial sewing machine with the presser foot tension adjusted many times till it was right. My wife helped me manipulate the fabric a lot!!!!
Now I just had to cut out the parts I did not want!!!!
Reverse applique makes lots of WASTE but it makes a kite that I could not make any other way and look this good...
| Steve D wrote: | | If so can you tell us a bit about how you drew the patterns on the panels prior to joining so the panels matched up properly? |
See above....
That is how I made the sail and there are a lot more to talk about, but I cannnot type all day....
Reverse applique is the way most kites are built by the masters... thank you Randy Tom and Jose Sainz for sharing your process!!!!!!!!!!
_________________
VR/
KiteSquid
AKA TakoIka
AKA Harold
King George VA
PS Yet another post by the Squid... Doesn’t he ever shut up?
PPS The wind is like the air, only pushier.
PPPS All information provided is for hobby use. None may be used commercially.
PPPPS Vir sapit qui pauca loquitur. x10K
PPPPPS Please excuse my speling errorors. |
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KiteSquid
Master Kite Builder
Joined: 29 Aug 2003
Posts: 10131
Location: USA Virginia King George
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| Posted: Wed Dec 03, 2003 8:03 pm Post subject: |
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Look here to see a more pictoral representation of what I tryed to describe in text...
http://www.sportkite.com/applique.html
and there was one on:
http://caspian.chem.uprr.pr/kites.html
look at the Applique Workshop and PRINT it if it is up as it usually is not!!!
Kai uses a hot tacker, but I prefer to use spary adhisives as they dont leave extra holes in your kite, but you do have to be carefull as you dont want to do a lot of clean up....
_________________
VR/
KiteSquid
AKA TakoIka
AKA Harold
King George VA
PS Yet another post by the Squid... Doesn’t he ever shut up?
PPS The wind is like the air, only pushier.
PPPS All information provided is for hobby use. None may be used commercially.
PPPPS Vir sapit qui pauca loquitur. x10K
PPPPPS Please excuse my speling errorors. |
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wdrwilson
Joined: 25 Oct 2003
Posts: 1688
Location: Canada, Nova Scotia, Halifax
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| Posted: Wed Dec 03, 2003 9:00 pm Post subject: |
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Mr. Squid,
You truly are a "master".. It's Beautiful....
Can I ask.. How long are the bridle lines?
Cheers,
Bill |
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kitepoor
Kite Builder II
Joined: 06 Sep 2003
Posts: 599
Location: USA Virginia Harrisonburg
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| Posted: Thu Dec 04, 2003 3:52 am Post subject: |
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you will have to teach me about that spray glue thing. I need to see more about that. Hot tacking looks ugly no doubt, but it is the only way that makes sence to me.
_________________
Randy
to fly a kite is like
holding hands with a lover
maybe like holding hands with God |
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kitepoor
Kite Builder II
Joined: 06 Sep 2003
Posts: 599
Location: USA Virginia Harrisonburg
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| Posted: Thu Dec 04, 2003 4:02 am Post subject: |
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IIRC the bridle lines are seventy feet long. seven columes, nine rows. It was so cool helping to do that! Each bridle row took almost 500 feet of line. And then so easy to knot a pile like that! But in the air it is incredible!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But a kite one could never fly alone. Maybe 3 people minimum. I had soooo much fun!
Harold do you have a photo of the line layout/pulling thing? Harold had a special board made up to rig on, so I could stand on the dumb end and pretend to help. A beautifully simple system.
The fist time I ever saw a kite flying at 100' on 30' of line
_________________
Randy
to fly a kite is like
holding hands with a lover
maybe like holding hands with God |
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