WindFire Designs | Studio Blog

Project Flowx in the Australian Landscape

2012-01-15T17:16:00.004-05:00

To us, this work is like a gift we are receiving from our atmosphere. We are taking this all over our planet, using it as a sensor array for sampling moments in the sky. We're using this installation to capture these moments directly through experiences, and documenting them around the world. It's based in flight, and uses photography to show what has been, and painting to convey dreams about the sky that may or may not ever exist.

This moment was in Daylesford, Australia. The landscape here was made for kites. This is a hill called Snake Hill, which was originally settled and is still owned by Ruth's family. The sky and the wind this day was amazing. It was quite the welcome for us back to Australia. Just down the hill from this location is the old house. It's a beautiful place where in spite of the modern systems, one still feels that it's wise to be thankful for things like running water.

Gravity Flying

2011-08-19T11:40:00.004-04:00

Prepping a bunch of new colors for a major installation.

Scale

2011-02-21T23:13:00.000-05:00

Bridget with Flute

2011-01-27T18:26:00.003-05:00

I made this after taking what I thought to be a beautiful photo of Bridget playing her flute. I have always liked the Alexander Calder wire faces and figurative wire work. I thought I could do something perhaps cleaner. This stainless wire is sewn to black board at the three mount points. I plan to go big with some of the next ones.

High-voltage static jumping off a kite line

2010-07-29T16:16:00.003-04:00

In all my years flying kites, I have only encountered this 3 times. Phillip Chase was sitting on this bench flying a different kite and thought he heard the line singing on this one which was tied off. As he moved closer to check it out, it shocked him. I grabbed my camera to capture this real-life physics experiment. A few factors to note:

The bench was made of a plastic composite material, as was the line and the kite itself. The static would jump into mid air and make the same sound as jumping to our fingers if it was allowed to build up enough. The two other identical kites flying in the same conditions were not doing the same thing. They were flying on different line material, and tied off to different things, a person and a wooden fence. There was visible lightning and electrical activity in a storm that was about 1-3 miles to the West of us.

The other two times I have experienced this were both while riding in my kite buggy, and I started to get a shock through my leg to the metal frame of the buggy.

Listen through headphones or on good speakers for the full effect of this video.

Kites by Jordan Air Kites, Video by Tim Elverston and Phillip Chase. Shot at Anastasia State Park in FL on June 27th 2010 at 4pm.

I think the aspect of this instance which it truly worth noting is that we had two other kites 'showing' zero charging effect. They were at the same altitude, and only a few feet from this one. It's my guess that the charge was occurring on those as well, but had this one not been insulated, we would have never known that we were already the 'path of least resistance' on the other two kites that day. We would've gone home thinking that nothing abnormal had happened at all.

As in, you cant charge your body and get a spark to the door knob, while holding the door knob. You first have to build up the potential, and then discharge it. The other two kites were under constant discharge, but that doesn't mean that the electrons weren't dancing. It just means that this might be happening much more often than anyone is aware of.

Making 3 ColorWing Morphos

2010-06-30T12:57:00.007-04:00

This is a time-lapse that shows the incredibly lengthy process of painting and building these kites. Included is the complete paint and sewing job of one of the three. There is a total of 13 hours per kite of painting, and roughly that of cutting and building as well. The paint when dry adds about 14 grams to the total weight of the kite. The actual process of painting takes many days however, because there are 4 layers per panel and each layer has to dry completely before the next is added. There are a few things this does not show like the initial cutting of the panels and the complete framing processes. The kites are Morpho Gliders designed by Tim Elverston. Graphics and related technologies are by Ruth Whiting. The wing span is 14 feet each, or 4.25 meters. Weight of each finished kite is around 285 grams, or around 10 ounces. Thanks and enjoy!

If you are enjoying the video, it is VERY worth setting playback to 720p HD and clicking full screen.

Music is by Floex and is used with permission from the artist.

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Also, some backstory:

Pictured briefly at the end of this video are deltas made at Jordan Air kites. I designed these deltas at jordan air after being exposed to George Peters kites via Kitelines Magazine back in 1993 and also a small 2 foot plastic delta [giant by Charlie's standards] made by Charlie Sotich in 1995 which kind of started my entire obsession with glider-deltas. I never made any more like them. But after finding an old one in a friend's garage, dean recently revisited the design and has made a few - check out his site for the story. Kinda cool to have it all come full circle.

Leather case for iPhone 4

2010-06-26T00:19:00.005-04:00

So this is an iphone 4. Since I can't bring myself to buy a case for my phones, I have figured out a few ways to make them. This one is from leather. I got this phone because of the materials really -- they had me at glass and stainless. That and the camera. The images it takes are really amazing actually. Apparently there is supposed to be a signal attenuation problem with the new iphone when it's touched in a certain place. I can't seem to really make mine do it, but with this case it becomes a non issue anyway.

This is a detail of the well-protected corner.

Here you can clearly see the way each stitch hangs off the edge. There is a tension line that is trapped there and used as a draw string.

There are actually two tension lines. One for the front, and one for the back. As I was working with the leather, it was clear that it was going to need some kind of non-stretch solution for the main dimensional elements of the case. I used two super-thin dyneema lines.

Here you can see the 3 dashes along the side where the two lines get woven into the leather. This is so they can be losened when the case needs to come off which is not very often.

The scrap shows the corners that had to be cut. 8 tiny pieces of leather each had to have a bevel to sit flat against the face of the phone.

As far as the sewing went, it was pretty fiddly. I used a darning foot which is a tiny round foot for the machine. It's normally used with those clampy wooden rings that we used to see in people's houses back when they made stuff -- sniff. Anyway, this foot works well for the leather because it's tiny, and doesn't actually make contact with the base plate of the machine. There is a gap that it leaves that is just about the right height for the thickness of the leather, so you don't have it pressing down super hard. I have an industrial machine, but i didn't even have a chance to use the motor. I just turned the hand wheel with my hand. Each stitch is hand-placed.

an artificial ecosystem in the air

2010-05-18T17:32:00.005-04:00

Five kites from our new series. Painted by Ruth Whiting, designed and built by Tim Elverston. This shot was taken in Cervia Italy at Artevento 2010. The three kites in the background each have 14 foot wingspans. The two in the foreground each have 8 foot wingspans.

New Morpho Grandes

2010-04-12T00:34:00.005-04:00

First I cut them, and then Ruth paints these for about 13 hours or more. Then I meticulously build them, and then they fly. They're 4.2 meters wide and weigh 284 grams. This is the first of three.

Bone Kite - Stainless wire, carbon fiber, cuben cloth

2010-02-19T18:43:00.005-05:00

These images show one of the first flights of my new kite. I call it the bone kite because of the way the fittings work. I didn't realize it at first, but as I started assembling these fittings I saw that they work a lot like our joints. It's actually technology that I first developed for the articulated lamps that I've been making. This kite flies really nicely right now, but I'm more excited about the wide range of adjustment built into the design. Also the sail unclips while leaving the frame self-supported. This means that I can easily clip in different sail profiles and materials for varied conditions. My next designs will be a new quadline, and also another single line that does away with the spine.

Double hinges

2010-02-13T18:11:00.004-05:00

A spine and two articulated arms that will be leading edges for two wings.

2010-02-08T16:50:00.002-05:00

Reading light

2010-02-03T21:41:00.000-05:00

2010-02-03T21:33:00.001-05:00

Articulated carbon

2010-02-02T16:21:00.004-05:00

These are fittings that I developed as hinges for my counterweighted lamps. Here I have miniaturized them for use in a kite I'm working on. Images of that to follow.

Sassy and the Flame

2010-01-21T02:07:00.003-05:00

The fruit of the fire sticks

2010-01-14T00:07:00.002-05:00

I've been making juggling sticks for a long time, but never made a set for fire until now. Here are the first shots from them. Taken by Paul Forrestel with my nikon at 2 and 3 second exposures.

Physics Sticks

2009-12-22T01:28:00.003-05:00

I just worked out a path that I'm happy with for the design of one of my long-time favorite toys, juggling sticks. These are FAST, and feel almost mathematical when you use them. If you catch them just right, they will be found to be singing on the control stick. They would suck for a beginner perhaps, but wow! Earlier this month I ordered some materials for them and I've been playing with different ways of putting them together. This is carbon, silicone, webbing, and merino. I'm keen! And these are by way far, the absolute fastest sticks I have ever used. Previous designs of mine were fiberglass, latex, and tennis balls. The webbing is hot because the weight is totally adjustable.

And then there were two

2009-12-02T12:27:00.007-05:00

I've been developing these counterweighted lamps for about 2 months now. It started when our couch became an epicenter for handwork. I have always worked on various things there, but the fact that our friends started knitting and drawing there meant that we needed more specific lighting to accommodate the detailed work. I made the first one and started on the second one right after it was done. The second time around, it went a lot faster to do the arm. My sitting and staring time was far reduced because I'd already designed the fittings for the arm. The base was a different story. I wanted to move away from the wood base in the first lamp and make one using a consistent set of materials - carbon tubes and stainless wire. I figured this would unify the design, and I think it has. The next one will have a more shapely base, although I do enjoy this one.

I use the beautifully precise bearing in dead hard drives for the main counterweight - I strip parts out until I have the right weight, then I drill a hole in the top and feed the spectra around the center drum. This handles movement for two points in the articulated structure - the top point and the mid point. The lamps can be adjusted with very minimal force - two fingers to any position within their range.

In developing these stainless wire fittings for carbon tubes on both kites and lamps, I have really felt tested by the material. It is a real study in minimalism. These lamps have the smallest amount of wire that I could possibly use. What look like flourishes on the fittings are just clean ways to deal with the ends of wire that don't involve stabbing the user. The wire is both very forgiving, and totally relentless in the demand for precision. The annealing is absolute and wonderfully consistent when the wire first comes out of the can, but as soon as you commit to a bend that is beyond that limit, the wire hardens, never to return to the soft state that it started in. You have to work in one direction. There is no going back and adjusting certain aspects of the form.

The Flame at the Drop Zone

2009-12-02T12:11:00.002-05:00

I love these shapes.

Hold a Sky Photon by the tail

2009-11-29T00:29:00.003-05:00

I made this Sky Photon a long time ago as a wedding gift for some friends. I finally got to spend some time with it over this long weekend. In spite of very poor quality wind, it was tied off to my back pack all day long. I had some fun with one of the only relaunches.

First work off the new pliers

2009-11-17T03:03:00.002-05:00

Got my german surgical pliers today. Fantastic tools, and basically jewelry in and of themselves. This is a necklace I'm working on as another present.

Finished Necklace

2009-11-16T11:37:00.002-05:00

This is a gift. For whom? I cannot mention here. Stainless wire, onyx and jasper.

New Necklaces

2009-11-15T13:50:00.003-05:00

Here is the start of a new design. This is about 25% of it. Higher quality shots to follow.

Scan vs Photo

2009-10-24T00:28:00.004-04:00

Recently Ruth and I have been in image capture hell. Or, to put it more mildly, we have learned a lot about what makes a good image capture. Here are two examples showing side by side crops at 100%. These are Ruth's original oil paintings on paper. They are about 25" x 15" overall. We need to capture for Ruth's upcoming book Lonely Bird's Friend. Of course it's obvious that a scanner is going to have higher quality than a camera if it is possible to use a scanner in a given situation. This experience really drives it home though.

Prior to seeing the scans, we were blown away by the image quality from our recent shoot on the Nikon. The right hand frame on each image here is from my Nikon D90 with a 50mm prime at f5.6 on a tripod and using diffused halogen lights. The left side is from a sheetfed scanner at 600 dpi, the right side is from the nikon at 300 dpi and 12 megapixels. To compare, the nikon's raw images are about 12-15 megabytes. The scans are 376 megabytes. So what's the catch? The scanner at our print shop is perfect in every way except it leaves banding and lines in the images making them unprintable–we think the scanner is out of adjustment. We go for an appointment next week to another print shop to try another scanner. High hopes for it.

Good advice, for some.

2009-10-20T18:28:00.006-04:00

Don't fly kites near power lines. It is pretty good advice. Like many rules however, some can be bent, others can be broken. We often fly in our front yard. It has some really beautiful lines right above it. Getting close to them can be really photogenic.

Ruth in the studio - nearing completion of the book

2009-10-20T17:01:00.001-04:00

These are among the final images which have to be done to complete Ruth's book - Lonely Bird's Friend

Finished lamp - carbon, stainless, spectra, cuben fiber

2009-10-18T22:24:00.002-04:00

The makings of a counterweighted lamp

2009-10-18T21:28:00.002-04:00

Two weeks ago I made this lamp. I'm working on the second. This one has a wooden base, the next one will be all carbon. This is a wall-mounted lamp that is counterweighted so it can be adjusted with two fingers to go anywhere within the 5 foot radius. It started with an idea for a bent wire junction.

Leather Jacket

2009-08-21T00:56:00.004-04:00

In process, this is the first leather jacket I've ever made. I knocked off a patagonia jacket that I have and really like. The templates were very hard to get, so i used clear plastic to lay over the patagonia pieces. I traced the shapes onto the plastic, then I backlit them and traced them into paper templates. It turns out that I got the shapes within about 2 mm because the leather went together perfectly. I will post more images as I continue to finish this out. It's really soft, and not quite as shiny as this shot might suggest.

Raw silk shirt

2009-08-18T23:52:00.004-04:00

I'm learning how to use this raw silk. It is a dream to sew. Amazing the way it takes stitching. I want to do gusseted dresses next.

Rust Wire Mobile

2009-07-27T10:57:00.003-04:00

I made this when I was living in Australia. Ruth was taking a sculpture class and I was sitting around in the studio. There was a huge roll of this fantastic wire that had a really nice finish and took a curve really well. This was just a quick doodle and it came before this silghtly more complex wire mobile that I did from stainless steel.

How to make Dust Goggles.

2009-07-26T22:07:00.000-04:00

I made these goggles for the dust in the desert at Burning Man. I am posting these images as instructions for those of you who might want to try making some of their own.

Good goggles for the desert are hard to find and they are very expensive if you do.

These are made from an old leather jacket, and from two pieces of tempered and UV resistant glass that I got from the halogen 'puck style' lights. I popped the glass out of the plastic ring. They also sell tinted circles that can be used for torch brazing which would be great. I wanted these for night also, so I'm leaving them clear.

The whole process took about 3 hours. If you have any questions please email me. You can get the address from our website.

Here is the link to the main page on our site. How to make leather and glass goggles.

Silk is amazing

2009-07-14T18:44:00.002-04:00

So I finally finished this shirt. The strength of this sheer silk is beyond belief. I must admit that I had no idea that silk was as strong as I'd always heard. Like many things in life, they don't make real sense until you experience them for yourself. I can't wait to make some more clothing from silk now. Between silk and merino, I think I have my fiber requirements for my clothing totally covered for life.

Painting - Ruth Whiting - Tell Someone

2009-07-07T18:02:00.002-04:00

Near completion, this is Ruth's first painting in this series. It's called Tell Someone. It's 3.5' x 5' and oil on canvas, I love it.

Mike Emery's Razzle Dazzle Flame in Finland

2009-07-01T14:27:00.003-04:00

This is a razzle dazzle Flame designed for and living with Mike Emery. It's Flame number 16. Ruth and I designed it with the idea of the world war I camouflage scheme for the british and american ships. This flame is cold, but seems very at home in the snow.

LaceWings and Metalwings

2009-07-01T11:42:00.004-04:00

Shadow work with a Lacewing Flame by Tim Elverston and Ruth Whiting. Ruth Whiting's shadow. Jose Sainz's winged rokkaku. Spread Eagle stainless wings by Bryan Tedrick of Glen Ellen, CA. Photos by Ian Lauder. Perhaps out most amazing day at BRC last year 2008.

Tell Someone | new painting by Ruth Whiting

2009-07-01T11:17:00.005-04:00

I personally love this new direction for Ruth's painting. These are a few shots of the new work she is doing. I find the story so simple and powerful. The final image will be rendered to a very fine degree. I can't wait.

No this isn't flash photography, Ruth is projecting a sketch as a guide in the above two images.

Our facebook page

2009-06-30T18:19:00.002-04:00

Here is a little page on facebook where you can find some info about what we're up to.

WindFire Designs Facebook Page.

Hand-tied iPhone Case

2009-06-27T10:31:00.005-04:00

After resisting the urge to buy a case from the at&t store - I have a strong dislike of retail these days, I made this iPhone case using some scraps of kitesurfing kite bridle line. I figure it beats buying yet another thing with lots of packaging. Since having knots in this stuff in this context wouldn't work, I pierced through with a bridling tool and used spectra to bind it at the key points. This protects it well from being dropped on the corners, and stays out of the way of the controls and the invisible sensors on the front of the screen that sense brightness and holding it up to your face. Second gen might be sewn at the white points using the machine.

So, I couldn't stand it. I went through and replaced all the spectra with bar-tacks done with the sewing machine. Here is the design all cleaned up and nice looking.

CubenGami Kite - Mark 1 - It Flies!

2009-06-05T13:58:00.006-04:00

I'm so excited, this is a long time in the making, at least in my head. This is the first of many and it still needs some tuning. The shape when it's loaded with wind pressure is outstanding.

Folded cuben fiber, carbon, spectra, stainless steel. No adhesive=happy Tim.

Major inspiration from Anke Sauer. Look under pyramid>pictures.

Great in case I forget where our best friends are

2009-05-18T13:47:00.001-04:00

Paul builds his foil - a WindFire Zyzzle 1.4

2009-05-17T15:36:00.004-04:00

This foil is a 1.4 square meter buggy kite that I designed with gracious help from dean jordan back in 2000. Paul is making one for himself in this series of shots. It's an incredibly fast and responsive small kite. Unlike trainer foils of a similar size, this kite has no shortcuts taken with the design and has a full bridle and rib count. It's amazing for high-wind buggying and because it's also built as an ultralight, with no unnecessary reinforcements, it can also fly in near zero wind. Revisiting this kite makes me want to design some more, almost 10 years later, wow how time flies. Here is the first flight.

Tangle study | by Erin Curry

2009-04-19T12:46:00.010-04:00

I'm not sure if this piece has a name yet. I do know that it's a study for a much larger piece that will be made in a similar way. Erin Curry is a good friend of ours, and she is an amazing artist. I don't have the urge to purchase art very often, but when she showed me this series, I knew that one or two of these seductive objects had to live with me forever. Perhaps it's her consciousness and granular insight into materials and detail that I identify with and that draws me in to her work.

She is a primarily a fiber artist and a sculptor. To look on her time line, you would see that she is just starting her career. However, she shows maturity and vision in her work that would suggest a lifetime as an artist. If you pay attention as you get to know her, you'll understand at a deeper level what it can mean to work with fiber. She collects, understands, cares for, listens to, and gives back her life to the materials she works with, and it shows. She and her husband Tommy live near Ruth and myself here in Gainesville, FL. They are always commenting on the limits of their space, which is even smaller than ours. However, I think working under a quality constraint such as limited space is a great way to achieve intimacy and beauty in your work.

This piece is 12" x 6" x 3". Hand-spun wool, graphite powder, polycarbonate sheet, cotton binding. I adore it.

People seem to like boxes - Painted photon number 8 in a box

2009-04-02T00:43:00.006-04:00

This painted mini photon is one of only 8 like it. This one is number 8 and it is leaving the nest. We thought it needed a suitable way to travel and a place to stay when it gets where it's going. It was purchased as a birthday gift from a sister to a brother.

This is a stainless steel winder that I made. It clips into the case and is easily removable. Kiters will see that it is a simple classic design that holds the 10 pound spectra neatly in a figure 8. I got a lot of positive response from the box I made for a necklace which I gave as a gift to Ruth's mother. This is my second presentation box that I've made so far. This one is made from black foam-core and self-adhesive dacron.

Ruth's Camera Kite | Process shots of the painting

2009-03-21T17:09:00.001-04:00

The second layer of paint on this amazing quadline kite.

Ruth's Camera Kite | Process shots | painting first layer

2009-03-21T16:53:00.004-04:00

This is the beginning of a quadline kite that is conceived of by Ruth Whiting and will be finished by Tim Elverston. This is on Cuben fiber and done with oil paint. We realized that we needed a way to chase the photographers that are always chasing us. More process shots to come soon.

Wing tip

2009-03-14T23:10:00.000-04:00

Building a mini photon

2009-03-14T19:57:00.003-04:00

Here is a time lapse of the final stage of building one of these little kites. This particular kite is sold to Scott Howlett - thanks Scott! I'm first putting clear reinforcements on the tips, then black fibrous reinforcement which gets hot-tack welded to prevent creep, and black bridle point circles. Then I hand bend the stainless fittings for each tip and fit and adjust those to the carbon frame, assemble the kite, and tie the bridle. This is nearly two hours of actual time with a photo taken every 5 seconds. Kite designed by Tim Elverston and Ruth Whiting of WindFire Designs. Carbon, spectra, cuben fiber, oil paint, stainless steel.

Clicking the HD button once the video is playing will increase the quality dramatically.

Painted cuben micro morpho

2009-03-14T15:45:00.003-04:00

The painted mini morpho glider. I have made only one prototype that is blank. Ruth designed these graphics and this is number two. Shown here lying against a window patiently receiving her beautiful design.

Ruth continues to develop her style painting on cuben fiber. Here she is putting on the second layer of color after the first layer was dry. This is stuck to a window using water so that she can see in real time how the color will look when backlit. I will post images of the finished paint job in a few hours.

Foil design jig

2009-03-06T17:09:00.006-05:00

I decided long ago that while computers are perfect for many jobs, they were not suited to accomplish the entire task of designing the foils that I wanted to fly and make for ourselves. While I do indeed use computers for much of the process, the core of the shape is done very like lofting a boat. These kites really are far too much work to be for sale, but this is how I sculpted them with a life-size model. This jig is used to to find the non-intuitive shapes of each cell. These were taken in 2001—hard to believe it's been so long.

Flying the MiniMorpho under the streetlight

2009-03-03T22:42:00.003-05:00

Well, we really like this kite. Graphics come next, Ruth is excited. We were worried that it wouldn't glide, but luckily we were wrong. This thing almost flies itself. We were getting 30 and 40 second runs with totally slack line.

Cuben MiniMorpho Glider | Snipits from the build

2009-03-02T11:31:00.003-05:00

I built this very small cuben morpho glider last night. I haven't flown it much yet, but it seems like a lot of fun. There is a problem at this scale with the stiffness of the cloth, and I think this might come into play with this kite. We'll see.

Micro cuben fiber pocket

2009-02-28T23:37:00.005-05:00

It sews itself on as you insert the rod. This one is a test fitting, but I'm about to use it in an actual kite. I'm quite proud of the minimalism here, and I also like the fact that this fitting avoids glue, have I mentioned lately that I dislike glue? The rod is .030 - this stuff is tiny.

Time lapse of the Rabble Mobile

2009-02-23T11:52:00.009-05:00

The Rabble Mobile. This mobile is actually 7 kites called mini photon fighter kites. Designed by Tim Elverston and painted by Ruth Whiting. Each kite weighs only 4.6 grams. They are 22 inches in span and can be removed and flown indoors or out. Materials are: carbon, cuben, spectra, stainless steel, and oil paint.

If you enjoy this, I highly recommend watching it in HD. You have to click play first and then 'watch in HD' near the bottom right of the video - then full screen it - this is easier if you go to youtube. Thank you Tom and Edith for letting us play in your beautiful house. Tom Smith designed and helped build this incredible piece of architecture.

Seven piece painted photon mobile

2009-02-22T12:46:00.003-05:00

Not sure what the actual chances are, but now that all 7 are in a space that they like, waiting around for them to line up like this is quite the game.

Mobile from Photon kites

2009-02-19T11:40:00.006-05:00

When you want to fly them, you can easily detach each kite and hang a 4.6 gram placeholder in its position. I put this together last night after living with the now seven mini photons for almost a week. They were hung on a line all together in my office. They were obviously dying to become a mobile. This is a 5 piece, which you can see is the maximum allowed in this space. I am going to a friend's house to do all 7. I will shoot and post a time lapse.

The details of the pieces

2009-02-18T12:59:00.002-05:00

As with all mobiles, this one is also very difficult to capture. These are detail shots that show the wire work a little more closely. They are so light, and the joining method makes the whole system so frictionless, that they move absolutely constantly. I often imagine them moving even when I'm not there, perhaps in the middle of the night when no one is even watching.

Black and white mobile - ten piece

2009-02-18T12:46:00.005-05:00

Along with the installation of this lamp, I also made this two-layer mobile for Sidney Wade. In her house she has this fantastic flight of stairs with a very high ceiling. When I first saw the stairwell, I knew exactly what I wanted to make for it. I started with 14 rectangles of the simple fold pattern. I then decided on the progression of the sizes. Cut the circles and stitched them to the wire frames. I worked out that there are over 270 knots in this mobile but they are nearly invisible.

Evan Roth - Vienna show - Available Online for Free

2009-02-18T10:18:00.001-05:00

Our friend, and we hope a future collaborator of ours Evan Roth, is having a show of his recent work. It's in Vienna. Two good links are here ni9e and here advancedminority. From the show's text:

February 26th
Advanced Minority, Vienna

AVAILABLE ONLINE FOR FREE is the first solo show of Graffiti Research Lab co-founder Evan Roth. This exhibition contains new as well as past work and includes pieces currently in the permanent collection of the MoMA NYC as well as prints from the latest Jay-Z video. Driven by his motto “release early, often and with rap music”, humor, activism, hip-hop and technology are frequent themes that carry across multiple media, including custom computing hardware, lasers, prints and canvases. The title of the exhibition, AVAILABLE ONLINE FOR FREE, alludes to the friction between the artist’s interest in utilizing the web as a medium for freely sharing content and ideas, and the art world’s interest in unique objects and limited editions. While many of the works created for the gallery are indeed unique, they are also made available for free online in their digital form.

Party for six mini photons

2009-02-16T11:31:00.002-05:00

Well, here are 6 of the 7. I need to take them out and fly them together and do a real photo session. We are going to take these to San Vito Sicily this year. I'm thinking of clustering them, but first I guess we need tails for that. They fly so well as fighters that I'm a little reluctant to put tails on them.

Second color scheme for Mini Photon

2009-02-08T22:31:00.003-05:00

All seven mini photons are now painted. We're trying to decide on the sex of the two color schemes. I'm not sure which I like best yet.

Tape folding jig

2009-02-08T15:55:00.003-05:00

I made this ages ago when I worked for Guildworks. I was digging through old photos and found it. I love this jig. It folds tape in half and removes the paper backing all in on operation. Each part is is adjustable. The wire is actually wire we stole from a nail making factory upstairs from our shop. What a crazy time.

Four Morpho Grandes

2009-02-05T12:06:00.003-05:00

Four of our 14 foot deltas. They are polyester and carbon.

Wire mobile doodle

2009-01-31T20:38:00.003-05:00

I got some new wire recently. You can get this stuff from mcmaster carr. It's stainless aircraft wire. It's thicker than I've ever had and takes a beautiful curve. This is a quick doodle, but I'm wanting to make some large outdoor mobiles this way.

Four show kites

2009-01-31T19:30:00.004-05:00

I built these four cuben morphos for a show a few months back. I was particularly happy with the fittings. I never flew them, but we did make two painted lacewing ones that we kept.

The smallest origami pattern my fingers can do

2009-01-31T17:57:00.005-05:00

This is the simplest origami pattern I know, but done this small it's not quick. I'm gearing up to make a new mobile. This piece was used to make the smallest circle in this 7 piece mobile I made about a year ago.

Mini Photon's first flight in the daylight

2009-01-31T16:47:00.003-05:00

Daylight is certainly good for these little creatures. You can tell they flourish in it, and possibly get some nutrient that we are not aware of from enough exposure. Ruth and dean helped it fly while I tried to get a few photos. The other night I said that I bet it weighs less than a nickel. We weighed it today and I was right, as shown here on the scale it's 4.6 grams. Ruth's paint and the light properties of the cuben show more and more compatibility as she gets used to working with it. Bowed back as it is in flight, it's span is about 22 inches or 56 cm.

Built mini photon

2009-01-30T02:51:00.001-05:00

Wow, how things change when they actually become what they are meant to be. They fly so well I don't even know what to type. We flew this last night at the architecture school here at UF. It's a semi-enclosed space that is open at the top. There was an updraft which I was able to take advantage of. It was flying directly over my head in vertical wind that was escaping the building through the absent ceiling.

Second layer on the mini photon

2009-01-29T15:10:00.000-05:00

Ruth is about to put the third layer of color on this design. I thought I would capture an image of them in the second stage of their paint job.

Ruth Whiting's flying fire hydrant

2009-01-28T00:11:00.000-05:00

Ruth made this kite last year. It started with some research and a sketch. The sketch was done full sized and then traced onto heavier Cuben fiber. She then painted it in and framed it. We were ever-so-lucky to have one of Robert Trepanier's famous quadline dogs show up for a visit.

Tear Drop Lamp - Paper, carbon, stainless, spectra, lead

2009-01-26T02:00:00.000-05:00

I designed this lamp for a friend and client, Sidney Wade. She is a poet and works here at the University of Florida. She has a very nice website that you can get to by clicking on her name. The base is a tensegrity that I made from carbon and spectra with hand-formed stainless fittings. The top is paper sewn into carbon arcs. I think I am moving towards more of this kind of work in my lamps.

Packing for Korea? Take the film canister foil.

2009-01-25T23:36:00.000-05:00

Ruth and I made this replica of a dean jordan airform kite. This is an idea that we had about prescription kites that you could trade in your pharmaceuticals in exchange for one of these, except of course packed in an Rx bottle. This one was started by stuffing as much plastic in raw sheet form as we could into this little canister. Then we removed it and made our templates for the foil as large as we could. It flies perfectly, and we gifted it to ruth's brother mark. I hadn't seen this one in years, and as we were sitting around helping him pack for Korea he pulled it out.

Two butter-morpho gliders painted by Ruth Whiting

2009-01-25T22:17:00.001-05:00

This shot was taken by me, while flying the kite in the foreground. Ruth, seen in the balcony, is flying the other kite. This was in the performing arts center here in Gainesville FL. These kites were the precursors to the painted cuben kites. They are simply plastic film which will hold the paint, but not very well. These are kites that I really think of as a magic trick. So far they are really my favorite size indoor kite. They are just large enough to be seen well and just small enough to be controlled easily by the typical human arm length. These have been updated with stainless fittings too.

Necklace for Ruth's mum

2009-01-25T18:25:00.000-05:00

This is a necklace that I made for Ruth's mum. I have made several necklaces but never actually surprised someone with one of these new ones. The piece is special. I needed a container and this is a box I made from foam core, insignia cloth, and some matte board. The last shot shows a catch design that I've been making since I was very little. Mary said that it reminded her of a fifth century etruscan piece, she studies that sort of thing.

Cuben Fiber Lacewing Flames

2009-01-25T15:54:00.000-05:00

Ruth painted these exquisite quadline kites. I designed the Flame quite some time ago. I recently updated it to do away with all the urethane fittings. I got sick of the kites that I made ten years ago all having rotted fittings when I would take them out of the bag. It got me thinking a lot about the longevity of the kites I make and wanting to move towards more archival materials, or at least materials that will last similar amounts of time.

Paint on the cuben

2009-01-25T14:28:00.000-05:00

I'm continually impressed with the light-handling properties of cuben fiber. For years, Ruth and I have played with all kinds of ways to make color graphics and various plastic films go together. Water layup with masking, jigs, and spray adhesives - yeah we're done with that. Cuben and oil paint together seem to really be excellent. Long-term acidity of the paint on the p.e.t. mylar used in the cuben fiber has yet to be seen.

Necklaces - from a can of stainless

2009-01-25T12:26:00.000-05:00

Before I made kites, I was bending wire. My dad gave me a spool of his orthodontic wire. I started by wrapping stones, but soon I was doing my own designs. I found I could achieve mechanical fluidity by using an absurd number of tiny parts. This necklace I made about a year or two ago now and Ruth wears it every day, along with another that is similar. I think it has spoiled her, something I've always been willing to do. This necklace has about 117 wire parts and takes about 5 days of casual evening work to build.

Cuben Fiber Mini Photons

2009-01-25T01:09:00.000-05:00

These new little kites we are making are very exciting for me. They are made from .040 carbon and the fabric is Cuben Fiber. This stuff is like owning a little piece of science fiction for us. Having a roll of this around is very intimidating—having several rolls is also expensive. I've found that it's difficult to figure out what to do with it. Not because it's hard to use, although it is that to a degree, but more the fact that the stuff is just so amazing that you really want to use it in an amazing way—not always easy to work out how to. Ruth is painting them too with oil paint. Very exciting stuff for us. The mini photon is a sweet size for flying around in the front yard. The small wire fitting is something that I'm very proud of. They are stainless steel and hand formed. This is from .025 stainless wire.

Why we fly - the interface between kites and people

2009-01-25T00:36:00.000-05:00

Our latest passion in kite flying is the trick that doesn’t have a clear beginning or an end. We rig the kite on medium-length lines and fly it as though the kite is part of its surroundings. It’s like combining street-style skateboarding with kite flying. Some of us have been doing this for a while, but we’re acting like it’s new.

It turns out that when the kite merges with, and slips into, the subtle goings on in any particular airspace, people in general have an easier time identifying with what is taking place. A kite slowly moves through a narrow gap between a garbage can and a telephone booth, then turns away only to mimic the motion of a nearby flag on a pole—or a kite which moves so fluidly that, for a brief moment, it could be mistaken for a living creature. These kinds of tricks extend well beyond the direct control of the kite and venture into the minds of the onlookers. The movement and context of kites within a situation can impart a whole host of emotions.

The ability to surf the airflow in these often hostile urban environments becomes a kind of quiet, heart-pounding excitement—an obstacle course that changes with every whim of the air moving through it. These tricks begin in the moment the kite leaves the ground and end when the kite is flown back to base camp and packed down again.

We believe that the compatibility of kites and the general public should come first and foremost. People need to be comfortable in close proximity to the kite while it moves through the air. The responsibility for this rests entirely on the abilities of the kite flyer and the kite. The bystander must never question their own safety or that of loved ones. If they do, the relationship will be over before it begins. Instead, decide that your kite must approach an area as if it is a wild beast that must win back the trust of frail humans. This is indeed a true test of control.

Hopefully this blog will be more useful now

2009-01-24T19:19:00.000-05:00

I have to link this into my website. We will have news and events here. General goings on. You know about blogs, I may or may not. Thanks for viewing in the mean time.