President’s Day Weekend Kite Making Workshop February 16-18, 2013

Rod Beamguard of Vancouver, WA and Carveth Kramer, of Taos, NM will be teaching the following class at the World Kite Museum President's Day Kitemakers Conference on February 16-18, 2013. The World Kite Museum is in Long Beach, Washington on the Pacific Ocean. Go to www.kitefestival.com for more details. For Rod's and Carveth's class, read on for the details.

"Bird on the Wire" Kite

Inspired by a picture of a kite made by Peter Schmidt

Engineered by John Freeman

World Kite Museum President's Day Kite Building Class -- February 16-18, 2013

Rod Beamguard and Carveth Kramer, teachers

John Freeman is a legendary kitemaker. His classes were always sought out. People enjoyed John, he always had a smile and a laugh.  He was a great teacher with a deep, yet practical, knowledge of kites.  Teaching kite making was one of his favorite things to do.  Carveth can remember him saying, "How could it get any better than this."  His kites were always special. He loved seeing the results of his many kite classes in the air at festivals and fun flies.  John saw an interesting photo on the website of Germany’s Peter Schmidt.  Using only the picture, John determined the size and did the engineering to create the kite you will prepare in this class. Peter was excited to see how John would engineer the kite. He was even going to take his class. This kite was the last kite John worked with.  He intended to teach it at Fort Worden.  Marzlie, John's wife, has graciously given us permission to teach this class in honor of John.

"Where did John come up with the name?" you may ask. The name came from several lines in a poem:

”Like a bird on the wire,

 Like a drunk in a midnight choir,

I’ve tried in my way to be true.” 

from Leonard Cohen’s “Bird on the Wire."

 How true:  John did try in his own way to be true.

_______________________

You will walk away with a good light-mid wind kite with fairly unique sticking.  John designed it with easy assembly and disassembly. This is your opportunity to build John's last kite. The class will fill up fast, so sign up right-a-way. We are looking forward to teaching the class.

John's kite is even a standout in a crowd. Here it is flying on a short line with a bunch of high flying inflatables at the Parksville, BC, Canada festival in 2010.

Here are some versions of John's kite we have made to give you some ideas on how it looks in different colors. It seems that having the main sail a lighter color than the keel works better, otherwise, you see through your keel and the darker main sail changes the color of the keel. That could create an interesting color change, if that is what you want.

Rod's Red, White and Blue	Rod's Black & Red
Carveth's Orange Kanji Version	Carveth's Bright Blue & Royal Blue

What You Need To Bring To Class

	FABRIC: You'll need to bring the fabric of your choice. * The tail and keel. Each needs a piece about 45 inches x 35 inches. * The sail will need a piece about 100 inches x 35 inches. * Then you will need a piece about 6 feet by 1.5 feet to make your bag. So you will bring 4 pieces: sail, keel, tail and bag. We will have three patterns you can lay over your fabric and trace the outside dimensions. IF... you decide you want to have the center section of the sail white (like Rod's Red/ White/Blue and Red/Black photos above), so it will not effect the color of the keel, you will need one more piece -- white 32" x 34". If you are going to do a white center panel, DO NOT assume you can bring the sail in several smaller pieces. You will still need a single 100 inch by 35 inch piece for the sail AND a 32" x 34" white piece.
Sewing Machine	If you are not familiar with it, or have not used it in a while, set your sewing machine up at home and sew some scraps. Get the tension all set. Oil it as shown in the sewing machine manual. This is all VERY important. We speak from personal experience.
New needle	Put a new needle in your machine. New needles solve a world of problems. For the 0.75 ounce ripstop you will be using, we have found that Schmetz Microtex Sharp Needles, size 90/14, work well. You should be able to find at any fabric store. But sewing machines differ, so check it out before you come.
Black Polyester Thread	If you need to buy thread, we’d recommend Guttermann or Mettler’s metrosene polyester thread, commonly carried by fabric stores. You can use for your regular sewing too.
Masking tape	One inch wide masking tape. We prefer and use the blue masking tape but the brown is OK. The blue is a little more expensive but less tacky. You might want to use this to help hold pieces of fabric together for sewing.
Watercolor pencil	You will need to mark key points on your kite material to help in sewing. The watercolor pencils you can find in any art supply or hobby store like, Michael's or Hobby Lobby. They easily wash off the fabric. The standard white sewing pencil often leaves a ghost mark. You may also want to bring a regular pencil and paper to make notes.
Super Glue	We've found that the Gorilla brand super glue with the light blue top works great. Unlike other super glues it contains rubber particles making it the only one we know of that is impact resistant. Most super glues can be brittle.
Scissors	You'll need them for cutting edge binding, etc.
1/4" double sided tape	If you have a roll, bring it along. For those of you who don't, we'll have some on hand for you to use.
Extension cord	Bring your own extension cord(s). You will be working off a table which most likely will not be up against the wall and over a plug. No cord, no juice for your sewing machine.
Lamp	You may want to bring a light source too. Since there will be many in the same room, if you could use a fluorescent bulb, it would reduce the drain on the wall plugs.
Sense of Humor	...and if you are short that day, contact Rod or Carveth. We'll help you out.