1. Kites With Tails Have A Representation In The Group On Plate III

The English bow-kite was quite a familiar Figure to our fathers. The construction is simple and can be easily understood from the drawing. (The horizontal stick may be omitted.) The tail is long and is made of short pieces of paper folded or rolled up, and tied about the middle with the string of the tail. A piece of cloth usually is found on the end.

The star kite, Plate III, admits of considerable variety. The cover may extend over the entire Figure, making a hexagonal kite, or may cover just to the string shown by the dotted line, and both may be made, with or without the fringe. Again, each point of the star may be of 1 contrasting color, or there may be a star within a star.

The star and crescent is a production of one of the school boys. A crescent frame is made of split bamboo; two sticks of the star are long enough to cross the crescent, giving strength to the whole structure.

The five pointed star kite also has three sticks of equal length. They must be securely lashed together at the point of crossing. The horizontal stick can be bowed a little to good advantage. A further development of this kite would be the addition of a light circular band around the outside for the support of a fringe, which should add much to the beauty of the structure.

The kite considered the most artistic by a very competent set of judges at last year's tournament was a large six pointed star kite with fringe, and smaller stars of contrasting colored papers on the inside. The tail was made up of a graded series of duplicate kites, running down to a small one at the tip end. See photograph, Fig. G.

The Japanese rectangular kite shown at the top of Plate III is made entirely of split bamboo. The vertical and two oblique sticks should be heavier than the horizontal. The two tails are of heavy cord (twisted cloth can be used) with long tassels on the ends.

The circular kites need little explanation, but the horizontal sticks should bow a little - the upper one more than the lower. The small circles of the lower kite should extend a little beyond the large circle in order to allow good lashing. If the card board discs used on the tails are not sufficient balancers, they can be made double. See Fig. H.

Before leaving this group, we must consider the bridle. Let us show the attachment of a bridle to a hexagonal kite. See Fig. I. Take a string long enough to reach from b to c with enough slack to reach out about half the height of the kite away from the kite. Attach another of equal length to a and d. Bring the two strings together at e about one-fourth of the distance above the center, and attach the kite-string at this point. See that a e is the same length as b e.

PLATE III

Kites with tails

Kites with tails

Plain Surface Kites 1 Kites with Tails 19Plain Surface Kites 1 Kites with Tails 20

The Japanese unite a great many points in their bridle, but all must be at-tached to the kite string - or anchor line - above the center. The five-pointed star kite would have a little different bridle. The bridle string from the top of the two sticks would meet two strings from the lower end of the same sticks, and be attached to the anchor line above the center of the kite.

Two anchor lines are sometimes used for the purpose of performing kite tactics in the air. Two separate bridles are then necessary, and instead of crossing, would extend from a to c and from b to d in the above illustration. The two strings must be played out equally until the kite is well up, then by skillful manipulation many beautiful tricks may be attempted.

Don't cast aside a kite just because it has to have a tail. The fox is said to be proud of his tail. Surely many kites are made more beautiful by the trailing of a long tail, but when two long graceful lines float out parallel to each other, you get a very pleasing effect, as they sway back and forth in the varying breezes.