Catch a breeze ... it's kite season!

Maybe you're a kid at the beach with a simple one-line kite. Maybe you're a well-built grown-up maneuvering a giant squid kite in the breeze using so many strings you look like a marionette handler. Or maybe you just like to relax in a lawn chair and watch a wondrous Chinese dragon kite soaring on the breeze. Choose your fancy. Kites are for everyone. Whether you want to watch way-larger-than-life teddy-bear kites fly at a festival this summer, make and decorate your own kite, or just buy one and start flying, here are a few ideas to get you started.

Kites in the past
Kites are used mostly for recreation these days. When you're flying your kite, you're doing one of the same things people did for fun in ancient Japan and medieval Europe (and still do pretty much everywhere else around the world). But kites have also been used for serious business. During the Civil War, the Union Army dropped messages with kites asking the Confederate Army to surrender, and the Wright brothers flew big, sturdy man-lifting kites on the way to inventing the airplane.

Make your own kite
It's easy to make your own kite out of a few things you probably already have around the house. Here are some instructions for a small kite that flies beautifully in a moderate breeze. Young Poloppo artists have tried these and loved them. Or, if you're looking to recycle all those plastic bags cluttering up your kitchen drawers, you can turn them into a lightweight, easy-to-fly kite.

Decorate your own kite
Remember that kites are seen from afar, so bold colors and designs tend to work best. Try using 2-4 colors in big stripes or quadrants. Animating kites with eyes can be fun too. You could imagine a kite as any flying creature; a bird, dragon, pegasus or even some other fictitious flying creature of your own invention.

Go spy a kite
There are hundreds of kite festivals where you can purchase kites, learn to make them, and watch stunt kiters and kite ballet artists perform. Try googling your local kite festival and get ready to fly!

Go buy a kite
You can buy a kite at just about any toy store or department store. If you're thinking about buying a specialty kite, here are a few great kite stores and their web sites:

Into the Wind, Boulder, Colorado

Kitty Hawk Kites, Nags Head, North Carolina

Colors on the Wind, Spokane, Washington

Follow the Sun

Sunprinting: an old technique for new ideas (and a great summer-time activity for kids!).


Did you know that one of the oldest types of photographic printing is also one of the easiest? Cyanotypes were first developed in 1842, and artists and kids are still finding ways to make these blue-colored prints look modern.

Cyanotypes are a type of sunprint. That means you don't need to be in a darkroom to make them. You just need paper that's coated with a light-sensitive chemical, a tray of water, some objects or photographic negatives to make your image with, and sunlight. (Cyanotype chemicals are relatively safe. You need to be careful to keep them away from your mouth and to wash your hands after using them, but they're suitable for young artists.)

The easiest way to make sunprints is to buy a sunprint kit. It contains small squares of pre-coated paper, and it's about $5. The kit is just the right size to carry along to the beach or on a hiking trip, and you can use it to make images of flowers, shells, or whatever else you find along the way. Here are some examples of pictures made with a sunprint kit.

To make your sunprint, just place some leaves, flowers, or other objects on the paper and place it in the sun for a few minutes. Then rinse it off in a tray of water. If you don't have a photo-chemical tray, a clean, plastic take-out container works great. Watch this short video to see how much fun it is to watch your picture appear.

You can also use photographic negatives to make your picture. (Your parents probably have lots of them! Use them make new prints of old family photos.) Just place them on the paper, then put a sheet of glass on top to hold them down. (If you use a kit, it comes with a small sheet of Plexiglass for this purpose.) Your picture will be the same size as your negatives. If you have some 35 mm negatives, you can print a whole strip of them on one piece of paper.

You can even make your own negatives. Print your favorite photos, drawings, text, or collages onto clear ink-jet transparencies that you can buy from an office supply store. Clear ink-jet mailing labels make nice little negatives too.

If you get hooked on sunprinting and you want to try some more advanced techniques, you can buy a cyanotype kit from your local photography supply store or order it online from Photographers Formulary for about $20. This kit includes two chemical solutions that you mix together and apply to paper using a brush or a glass rod. (If you're a teenager and you read the directions carefully, you can do this yourself. Younger kids will need an adult's help.) Coating your own paper will let you make prints as large as you want, and you use different kinds of papers. For a traditional look, try a nice watercolor paper, or for a more experimental look, try brown paper shopping bags, cardboard or fabric.

Look what other artists have done using cyanotypes!

Cyanotype images of dresses, glassware and sea animals by artist Dan Peyton

A cyanotype quilt by New York artist Sandra Sider

Artist Bily Renkl used cyanotypes along with other techniques to make mixed-media collages.

[ This post is by Kris Vagner ].