November 2015

Recommendations

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KITES, THE ART OF USING NATURAL MATERIALS Scott Skinner A REVIEW OF: Kites, The Art of Using Natural Materials by John Browning Culicidae Press, <strong>2015</strong> Having come full circle in my own kitemaking, finding the beauty and utility of paper and bamboo after years of “festival kites” in ripstop and fiberglass, John Browning’s new book strikes a chord within my kitemaking soul. The use of natural materials is hardly new. The kites of Muna Island, Indonesia, perhaps the first kites in the world, were made with only plant material for both kite and line. But John brings us into the contemporary kite world with his creative use of leaves, seeds, natural papers, and bamboo. The book is really a picture book of many of John’s kites, but don’t think there is no hard information to be had. John gives a complete list of materials used in every kite, and although his description of material preparation is limited, he tells us the most important thing: it takes time, patience, and experimentation with every material to discover the best way to end with a viable sail material. John’s kite shapes are a mix of creative and traditional and give the reader a glimpse into John’s active imagination. I particularly like his more traditional shapes and those that are evocative of Polynesian and Maori designs. Perhaps the most powerful aspect of the book is that it clearly shows the kite artist’s most continued on page 34 30
John Browning Diptera: Open spaces within the confines of a minimal frame. I love it because it is another of the endless three-stick kite variations. 31
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Page 3 and 4: FROM THE EDITORS EDITORS Scott Skin
Page 5 and 6: CORRESPONDENCE I think that kite [i
Page 7 and 8: AKA CONVENTION Scott Skinner I have
Page 9 and 10: Scott Skinner The city of Enid is r
Page 11 and 12: designs, and skill to fly in any wi
Page 13 and 14: Ali Fujino 1988 new generation Chin
Page 15 and 16: Ali Fujino TOP: Kitemakers with sma
Page 17 and 18: Ali Fujino The 1988 Weifang Kite Fe
Page 19 and 20: Ali Fujino TOP: Scott Skinner with
Page 21 and 22: WHY KITES? Stephanie Rauchwarter Co
Page 23 and 24: Collaction From a paper stencil cut
Page 25 and 26: Collaction Monsterheads and sewing
Page 27 and 28: Collaction Pyjamargot jumping over
Page 29: Collaction Schetch kites: A bride n
Page 33 and 34: John Browning LEFT: Indo 1: A strai
Page 35 and 36: THE EXPERIMENTS OF 1899: WILBUR AND
Page 37 and 38: Rathbun for the pamphlets and enclo
Page 39 and 40: Library of Congress Side view of gl
Page 41 and 42: tests because he had to mind the st
Page 43 and 44: Library of Congress Wilbur Wright
Page 45 and 46: ENDNOTES 1. Wilbur Wright testimony
Page 47 and 48: Scott Skinner Like a kitemaker of 1
Page 49 and 50: Mikio Toki Examples of Toki-san’s
Page 51 and 52: Toki-san travels extensively to fes

November 2015

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