Gravity Flying

Prepping a bunch of new colors for a major installation.

High-voltage static jumping off a kite line

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.

New Morpho Grandes

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.

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

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

The second layer of paint on this amazing quadline kite.

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

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

Building a mini photon

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

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

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.

Cuben MiniMorpho Glider | Snipits from the build

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

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

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

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

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.

Party for six mini photons

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

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.

Four show kites

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.

Mini Photon's first flight in the daylight

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

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.