Go Fly a Kite!

Last weekend, I had done something old and new to me. I made a kite for my little tyke. It brought me back to memory ville, when I was young I used to make different types of kite and flew successfully some of them. I can not ask my father to build me one, he was a busy man so I have to be resourceful that I have to build my own to the envy of seeing beautiful and expensive kites I see flown by my other kids.


My little boy was asking me to buy him a kite, I said no need to buy I will build your own. He was amazed that I can build one. He's familiar of already ready made kites available in toy stores and hearing that I will build his kite excites him.

There so many types of kite, and one kind of kite that I wasn't able to build and make it fly is the "Filipino Kite" a tail-less one. Yes, it is named after us Pinoys. This type of kite in colloquial word is "borador" its big cousin is called "guryon". I am not a Kite expert so correct me if I am wrong.




This type of kite really fascinated me because when I was a kid I see how graceful this kite flies, it has commanding presence as compared to diamond shape kite with long tail. It resembles like fighter plane in the sky.

So it was a challenge to build this one for the kiddo and of course for me. This type of kite is very difficult to build as a kid, it requires good perspective and getting the right materials. From the frame to building it, string is attached to both end of the bows, this string controls the shape of the wings.

It was still a challenge for me, even I thought that I have grown and my artistic faculty is greater than when I was a kid. This stage was the hardest part of building this kite.

Skinning the kite was much easier (I thought it was, not!) but I noticed that the paper that I used to use to make a kite is very much gone thinned these days. This "papel de hapon" was so fragile that just a small amount of paste applied to it will basically ruin it. So I have to apply the paste very carefully.

By this time, the kid was so amazed and keeps on saying "kite" every 5 minutes or so. After 20 minutes of skinning the kite, time for it to get dry.

My big reward, a big smile from the little guy. :)