CubenGami Kite - Mark 1 - It Flies!

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

Paul builds his foil - a WindFire Zyzzle 1.4

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.

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.

Flying the MiniMorpho under the streetlight

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

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.

The details of the pieces

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

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.