How to Build a Diamond Kite From Scratch
Kites have been a popular source of recreation in the West for centuries, ever since their introduction by traders who first saw them in Asia. Today, you can buy all kinds of kites, from miniature kites smaller than your hand to giant kites over 7 feet tall, to stunt kites with two strings that can perform tricks in the air. But the simplest kites are the diamond kites, which you can easily build at home from scratch.
Things You'll Need
- Plastic garbage bag
- Two 1/8 inch dowels
- Clear tape
- Scissors
- Yardstick
- Permanent marker
- Fishing line
- String or scrap yarn, at least 6 feet
Instructions
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1
Using a yardstick, measure the two dowels and check that they are the same length (dowels can be any length, but must match). Calculate the halfway point on each dowel and mark it with permanent marker. On one dowel, calculate another point halfway between that point and the end of the dowel, and mark that quarter-point also.
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2
Cut the garbage bag down one side and spread it out flat in a single layer. Lay the dowels on top of the garbage bag in the form of a cross, so that the one dowel is touching the marked quarter-point of the other dowel. Mark the ends of the dowels on the garbage bag with marker. Set the dowels aside.
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3
Use the yardstick to draw straight lines between each of the points that marked the ends of the dowels. This should make a diamond shape on the garbage bag. Cut this shape out with scissors. Cut the rest of the garbage bag into long strips. The exact shape and size doesn't matter, but try to cut out about a dozen strips before throwing any scraps away.
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4
Tie the two dowels together in a cross shape with the fishing line. You may have to wrap it around quite a few times to make a secure knot.
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Lay the crossed dowels over the diamond you cut out from the garbage bag, and tape them securely to the plastic at each end and in a few places along the lengths of the dowels.
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6
Poke two small holes in the garbage bag next to where the dowels cross. Thread the end of the fishing line (still attached to the original spool) through the first hole, loop it around the crossed dowels, thread it back through the second hole, and then tie this end securely to the original line. This means that the fishing line is inserted from the side opposite the dowels.
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7
Tie the strips you cut from the leftover garbage bag at regular intervals along a piece of scrap yarn or string. This is the tail of the diamond kite you're building, and it should be at least several times as long as the kite itself. Tie one end of the tail around the end of the dowel at the bottom of the kite. You've now built a simple kite from scratch!
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8
You can use the spool of fishing line as your kite string when you fly your diamond kite. If you need to use the fishing line for something else, unroll at least 50 feet of line before cutting, then wind it around a dowel or stick to use as a spool.
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Tips & Warnings
You can substitute other materials for most of the parts of this kite as needed (newspaper instead of garbage bags, plastic rods instead of dowels, etc.), just be careful not to use any materials that add significant weight to the kite. The lighter it is, the better it will fly.
