Build a dragon yourself - DIY-crafting instructions

• Make a classic eddy kite
  • material
  • Bastelanleitung
• Create a kite using a garbage bag
  • material
  • Bastelanleitung

Spring and autumn are the best seasons to fly colorful kites, as the wind blows so hard in the months between March and June or September and November that it can easily carry the flying animals. Our creative DIY-handicraft-manuals also work without problems, with the help of which you can build beautiful dragons yourself and your children!

Kite flying is one of the most popular leisure activities in spring and especially in autumn. Both children and adults are delighted to make the skies unsafe with a purchased or better yet even conjured game and sports equipment. Kids usually take preference with a simple kite: In its simplest and most classic form, this consists of a sail spanned on wooden poles. The older the kite-mountaineering athlete, the more unusual the aviation object, including the flying technology, is also more unusual. Professionals raise the fun to a real spectacle that amazes spectators. Computer control and the like are not required for this: It only needs a breezy flow to give the dragon sail dynamic buoyancy.

To start your kite career, we provide you with two simple DIY craft instructions for flying kites!

Make a classic eddy kite

The so-called "Eddy" is considered a classic among the kites. You can make it alone or together with your children.

material

• Transparent or tissue paper (paper eddy) OR polyester or nylon cloth (fabric eddy) *
• crepe paper
• Nature sliver
• 2 round bars (once 60, once 44 cm, each with 4 mm diameter)
• 1 cross connector or dragon cross (4 mm diameter)
• 1 scale or key ring
• Kite string (about 5 m)
• Control line with handle
• pencil
• scissors
• needle
• ruler
• Adhesive tape and washi tape
• Adhesive (must be suitable for the respective kite material)
• small saw (optional)
• Connector for the corners (optional)

* The fabric eddy is of course a bit higher quality and more stable than the paper eddy.

Bastelanleitung

Step 1: Draw a long cross on sturdy translucent paper or solid cardboard. Draw the longitudinal line about 60 centimeters long. At a height of about 48 centimeters, mark at right angles the cross line of the cross. This should measure 44 cm centimeters. The round rods for the kite are later attached to the incorporated lines. Then connect the four endpoints together. If the kite is made of fabric, cut the rhombus out of the cardboard, place the cut cardboard template on the fabric and transfer the template to the same.

Tip: When using a kite it is recommended to add a border that is about three centimeters wide to facilitate the covering.

Step 2: Carefully cut out the dragon form with scissors.

Step 3: Use a needle to pierce two balance points into the paper or fabric. Work carefully! Integrate the upper balance point in the middle of the cross. The second point is located approximately 4.5 centimeters from the lower end of the longitudinal line. In these places you mount shortly the kite string (on the bars).

Step 4: Now pick up the rods. With a simple wood saw, the rods can be sawn to size.

Step 5: Now connect the two rods to a cross - you can use solid natural fiber tape, this gives the dragon even a DIY touch. Knot the ribbon around both rods, wind it a few times, and finally knot it.

Step 6: This is the simplest and fastest way of stringing: Make two holes in each of the four outer corners of the kite. To prevent the spots from ripping, reinforce them with a piece of tape. Finally, tie your paper or fabric to the bars with the sliver.

Tip: A dab of wood glue fixes the rod even better on the dragon.

Step 7: Now attach the kite string on which your kite will rise to the sky, at the pole cross. To do this place the end of the string below the cross around the longitudinal bar. Pass both sides of the string over the cross connector. Then tie a knot under the longitudinal bar at the top of the cross. Cut off the short protruding string end of the knot. Then pull the kite string through the "cross hole" in the paper or fabric on the front of the kite.

Step 8: Now connect the long rod to the dragon with a piece of thread at the bottom by passing the thread through the small hole.

Step 9: Now lay the upper line along the cross brace to the left corner. Similarly, pull the bottom line along the sloping edge to the left corner. From the protruding piece of the strings now creates a loop.

Step 10: Then attach the kite string to a bay knot on a scale or key ring. How the knot works: Pull the loop through the ring before sliding it over the latter down to the end of the string. Then tighten the loop with the ends of the string.

Note: Test if the kite is set correctly. To do this, hold it to the ring so that its bottom tip touches the ground. If the longitudinal bar is at an angle between 15 and 25 degrees to the ground ">

Tip: To adjust the kite to different wind conditions, you can push the bay knot higher or lower.

Step 12: The dragon tail can easily be made from many colorful crepe paper loops. Simply cut a square piece of crepe paper and wind a thread around it in the middle. On a long string you can attach so several loops. Then the tail is simply tied down to the rod.

We have wrapped the corners with colored washi tape - so nothing can slip or tear anymore. The home-made eddy kite is finished.

Create a kite using a garbage bag

This guide is recommended for those who want to create a great kite without much effort. The "heart" of the model is a simple garbage bag!

material

• 1 garbage bag (90 liters volume)
• Foil (should stand out strongly in color from the sound of the garbage bag)
• 2 round rods (about made of beech wood, each 75 cm long and with a diameter of 6 mm)
• cardboard
• Adhesive tape (about 4 or 5 cm wide)
• matches
• 1 ring of a soda can or keyring
• kiteline
• cutter
• scissors
• needle

Bastelanleitung

Step 1: On our craft template you will find the dimensions for the dragon.

Click here: To download the craft template

Step 2: Transfer the dimensions from the figure above to a large enough piece of cardboard and trim them.

Tip: Take a little time to properly understand the template and transfer it accordingly.

Step 3: Cut the garbage bag down lengthwise. As a result, she no longer has a closed page.

Step 4: Lay the garbage bag double-layered under the template and trim it to the specified dimensions.

Step 5: Open the trimmed garbage bag so that it is no longer double but only one layer in front of you. In front of you is now the garbage bag as shown in Figure 2 of our craft template.

Step 6: So that the kite does not look quite the same as a garbage bag, you can decorate it now at will - with a face, clouds like us or other patterns. Cut out the desired cutouts and then close them with colored tracing paper. To do this, stick sufficiently large pieces of transparent paper to the back with adhesive tape.

Step 7: Tape the rods with tape. In our case we use two bamboo sticks. These are just as stable, but at the same time have a DIY look.

Note: Both sticks are glued vertically, as you can see in our pictures.

Step 8: Cut the two corners off to the right and left and reinforce each with a match.

Step 9: Pierce a hole directly behind the rod. Be sure to use a needle and be careful.

Step 10: Cut off a 1.5 meter long kite string.

Step 11: Attach the metal ring (key ring or ring of a beverage can) to the string by making a sturdy knot.

Attention: The two sides of the string must be exactly the same length to give your kite a good sense of flight.

Step 12: Now mount the string ends on the right and left corners and balance the kite before finally tightening the ring.

Step 13: Finally, all you have to do is tie the kite line to the ring. Your home made kite is finished out of a simple garbage bag!

Whether experienced craftsman or novice craftsman: Our simple kites are for everyone without exception feasible. With a little logical reasoning, joy in the work and precise procedure, such a dragon succeeds in about one hour. The cost of the game and sports equipment is between ten and 30 euros - depending on what materials you already own and which you have to buy. Enjoy crafting and kite flying!

Tips for quick readers:

• Kite flying is a popular game and sports fun
• In spring and autumn, the best wind conditions prevail
• Build your own dragons out of paper, cloth or a simple garbage bag
• Workload is about one hour each
• Costs for homemade dragons are between ten and 30 euros