Hakkaku Detail
It is interesting (in my opinion) that here in Boston I made the step from rebuilding kites to making kites as art. I should say that I think many people in the kite scene should be considered artists, because they create magnificent pieces - and what else is art. I am not too serious about all of this.
My kites are influenced right now by several things. First of all, I am influenced by Native American Art. I personally like the reduction to the essentials rather than bringing designs to a pointillistic point. I like kites to speak boldly! So, my appliqus are large and not very detailed, you don't see details at 200 feet distance in the sky. But I also have another influence, patchworking. When I saw Bill Lockhards and Scott Skinner's kites, I had to do it. But even though I am working with up to 450 pieces so far on a 1.6 m wingspan Hakkaku, I try to let these little pieces speak boldly. From the small pieces I try to create large overall patterns. My Hakkaku in the gallery is a good example of this trend.
My greatest pleasure while flying kites is to get the attention of other people. I can fly for hours all by myself - but I admit, when other people start to look at my kites or are even touched by them, then my real pleasure starts.
So I just love it! I hope that you enjoy this hobby so much as I do. Kiting is my Zen !
One year has gone by since I created Kai's Kite Site, the year 1995
is history. In 1995 I developed some new design ideas and followed
new concepts. One of these concepts was to follow a while the
possibilities of applique work. Applique, while nice for the eye
from close distance, allways has the danger of being much too small
in the sky on the finished kite. One example is the Eddy "Danger of the Sun" . This kite, while nice in
close distance, is too small to fly high. Better, but still not
that what I want, is the Rokkaku Danger of
the Sun II . I could develop successfull applique for Fighter
Kites, e.g. the Black Orchid Fighter
came out quite nice. After experiencing these somewhat
dissappointing findings I will try to get back to my "old style":
patchwork and bold and simple applique work. That is after my new
kite was at Smithsonian and judged. The new kite is a combination
of very bold together with very detailed applique. One step in the
right direction I hope :-).
Well, time passes by (Dec. 2002) and sometimes stomps on us.
Since I I am in PR I have not made many kites, just one very nice
one (actually, really two but one does not fly ;). The one I made
though is beautiful, a quite nice genki kite. But I will be back soon and I
have started designing a new set of (I hope) beautiful kites. You
will see me in 2003 again on the field with new stuff.
Last update March 4, 1996.
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