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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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