How to make a kite

First, material selection.

The skeleton of China kites is mainly made of various bamboos, supplemented by reeds and sorghum stalks. Use modern wood, glass fiber, carbon fiber composite or light metal.

Bamboo is characterized by light weight and straight and dense fibers (skins), so it has certain strength, toughness and elasticity, and can be split into strips of various specifications for easy processing. It can bend when heated, and it is not easy to deform after setting. The disadvantage is that it is not as hard as wood.

1. Selection of bamboo species: When selecting materials, besides species, there is another problem, that is, how to choose the use time and location of a certain species.

2. Selection of bamboo:

(1) Looking at an adult bamboo pole vertically, it can be roughly divided into root, middle and tip. The root node must be irregular and cannot be used. The tip is obviously tapered and many branches are not available. Only the length and thickness of the middle part can be selected.

The one that hasn't changed much.

(2) Cross-cut a bamboo and observe its end face. The outermost layer is bamboo skin, the part with dense fiber tissue in the skin is bamboo green, and the part with loose internal tissue is bamboo yellow. Generally, only bamboo green and bamboo skin are used to make kites, and bamboo yellow should be cut off. But how much to cut depends on the specific situation (Figure 6- 1).

(3) Newly-picked bamboo contains a lot of water, which is easy to bend and deform. It must be naturally dried in the shade for a period of time before it can be used. After several years of standing, bamboo with little moisture is brittle and hard, and it is not easy to bend, so it is rarely used. Of course, immature young bamboos and old bamboos that have been naturally cracked underground for many years cannot be used.

Second, cut bamboo.

Because the texture of bamboo is flat, it can be processed by splitting.

1. What is "chopping"? It is different from "cutting":

"Split" refers to tearing bamboo along its natural texture, rather than cutting it with a blade (see Figure 6-2).

2. Three steps of splitting bamboo (see Figure 6-3):

(1) incision;

(2) chopping people;

(3) open it.

3. Bamboo cutting tools:

Although ordinary knives can also cut small baskets, you must have special tools to cut big bamboo.

4. Preparation of bamboo:

Generally speaking, the collected round bamboos should be preliminarily processed to prepare bamboo boards for use. The steps are as follows:

(1) Remove bamboo shoots and bamboo shoots.

(2) Cut into bamboo segments of about1~1.5m. ..

(3) Split the round bamboo section into eight equal-width bamboo boards.

(4) Bundle bamboo boards every 10, and dry them neatly for later use.

Third, cut bamboo.

Cutting is the finishing after splitting, that is, using a blade to scrape bamboo into bamboo strips with different widths, thicknesses and slopes needed by our Tri, and make various kite parts. It has become a common method to plane bamboo board with woodworking plane.

Fourth, bend bamboo.

An important feature of bamboo is that it becomes soft and easy to bend at a certain temperature, and can be shaped after cooling in a bent state. Using this characteristic of bamboo, we can make all kinds of complicated parts. The exquisiteness of China kites is also related to the use of this kind of bamboo that can be bent at will.

1. Heat source:

Various heat sources can be used to process bamboo, and candles and kerosene lamps are used in traditional kite making in China. Uniformly heating bamboo strips to a certain temperature on a heat source. It is necessary to constantly turn the bamboo strips and move them back and forth to gradually heat up all parts. After preheating to a certain temperature, bamboo strips become soft and can be bent. But the bend should be moderate, slow and steady, and it is best to succeed once. When bending on the soldering iron, it can be carried out in sections, and finally it is bent into a larger arc and a smaller arc. Bamboo skin is easy to bend outward, but difficult to bend inward.

The bent bamboo strips can be cooled and shaped in cold water.

Verb (abbreviation of verb) relationship

Connect all the bamboo parts together to form the whole skeleton of the kite. There are many ways to connect kites, among which binding is the most commonly used in traditional Chinese kite making, so "binding" is the first of the "four arts". In fact, in addition to "ties", there are buttons, movable heads, plugs and so on.

"Paste" Art

First, material selection.

Traditional China kite covers are mainly made of paper and silk, but many new materials are also used in modern times, such as man-made fiber textiles or non-woven fabrics and plastic films.

The paper for pasting kites requires long fiber, toughness, thinness and lightness, low air permeability, good coloring and small deformation caused by temperature change.

Traditional big kites mostly use composite materials to cover their faces, that is, cotton paper or leather paper to support wires. This material has high strength, good air tightness and good coloring, and has incomparable properties with paper and silk.

Nylon yarn, nylon yarn, non-woven fabric and plastic film are all good materials. They are airtight and not afraid of water. The first three are far more powerful than paper and silk. There are many kinds of plastic films, some of which are extremely thin, and the weight is only110. But it also brings new problems, such as coloring and gluing. This aspect will be discussed later in "Paste" and "Painting".

Second, cutting

Cutting refers to masking materials, just like cutting clothes.

1. Form taking:

It is easy to make the shape of the upper plane part of the kite as long as the mask material is spread on the kite map and the shape is drawn. But there are many curved surfaces on kites, such as the wings of Shayan, which are complex surfaces. When taking shape, you must first put a piece of paper on the skeleton of Shayan's wings, cut it along the edge, and then draw it on the mask material according to the pattern.

2. Leave a margin:

When blanking, it must be slightly larger than the edge of the pattern and slightly larger than the curling used in masking.

3, texture:

Whether paper or textiles, most of them have their own texture direction. When cutting, we must consider the texture, ensure the symmetry of the left and right texture of the kite, and try to avoid using inclined texture.

4. Material saving:

Under the premise of not affecting the above three requirements, how to save materials is a problem that should be paid attention to when cutting.

Third, paste

How to stick the quilt cover on the kite skeleton is the key to the art of sticking.

1. Glue coating:

Before pasting paper, glue is often applied to the skeleton. What kind of glue is used and how to apply it to the skeleton? Is the problem to be solved in this section. When pasting paper and silk, the best glue at present is latex (polyvinyl acetate emulsion), and the concentration of glue depends on the paste material. In principle, the thinner the paste material, the thinner the glue can be. If the adhesive material has high strength and requires high bonding strength, the glue will be thicker. It is best to gently apply the glue to the skeleton with a brush, and the glue should be uniform. Be careful not to leave a lot of glue at the corners of some skeletons, which will make the mask uneven.

2. Shielding:

Cover the coated skeleton accurately and move as little as possible. Otherwise the glue will be wiped off. The mask should be placed flat on the skeleton, and the tightness of each part should be opposite. It must not be tight in some places and loose in others, which will cause the kite to be distorted and seriously affect the flight. After the mask is positioned on the skeleton, gently press around with your hands to make the mask firmly stick to the skeleton, but don't be busy curling. Because curling the glue before it dries will cause uneven tension around it.

Fourth, edge processing.

After the skeleton is masked, edge processing is an important step in the process of kite pasting. There are different treatment methods according to different situations.

1. Trim:

When the kite is not big, but the bonding strength between the mask and the kite skeleton is strong, you can directly cut off the remaining edges with a knife, which is called "trimming".

2. Curl:

When the strength needs to be increased, a part of the extra edge is cut off, and then a part is rolled after gluing, which is called "curling"

3. Sewing:

When more strength is needed, the extra part should be hemmed before sewing, which is called "hemming".

4. Bonding:

When covering the face with plastic film, its bonding strength with bones is often insufficient and it is not suitable for sewing. When excess edges are rolled and then bonded, it is called "edge bonding".

5. Amendment

In the process of masking, it is necessary to constantly check the correct position of the kite skeleton, and correct the distortion and asymmetry at any time when it is found, otherwise it will be difficult to correct the problem after the whole kite is pasted.

"painting" art

First, beautify kites.

Beauty is one of the goals pursued by human beings since ancient times. Kite is no exception, except its main aspect-flying, people always want it to be more beautiful. And there is a dynamic beauty in flight. For different types of kites, the importance of beauty is different. In other words, beauty has different meanings. Franklin's kite used to measure lightning, Marconi's kite used to replace the antenna, Han Xin's kite used to take Sean to heaven to play Chu songs and so on. , all in order to complete the established work. As for their shape: color is secondary. In other words, in people's eyes, it is most beautiful to complete the task well. Controllable pattern kites, or combat kites, embody their beauty with dexterous and magical flight. As for the shape and color are secondary, or serve to complete the skill flight.

1. The outline modeling of kites:

A kite, no matter how beautiful its pattern and shape are, can only see its outline from the ground as long as it flies far in the sky. Even if you don't fly far, you can see the patterns and shapes clearly from the ground, but the most impressive thing at this time is the shape of the outer contour. Therefore, the shape of the external contour of the kite is a very important part of the artistic effect of the kite.

The outline modeling of kites should generally be considered from the following aspects:

(1) Choose the most expressive shape. For example, to make an eagle kite, what shape should I choose? Eagle kites in Beijing, Tianjin and Weifang, Shandong have different shapes. If measured by the image of a real eagle, they have their own characteristics. Because there are many kinds of eagles and their flying postures are ever-changing, we should choose the most beautiful variety and the most beautiful flying posture according to the different aesthetic views of kite makers to determine the shape of their eagle kites. When dealing with the modeling of kites such as figures, insects and utensils, we should also pay attention to the same principle: highlight its characteristics and express its most vivid image. For example, kites such as Zhong Xu, butterflies, cicadas, clocks and bottles are all successful examples of modeling. What needs to be pointed out here is that the traditional zigzag kite in China mainly relies on its outer contour modeling to express its theme. Put it up, hang it high in the sky in a word, and the artistic effect is very good.

(2) Use changeable "soft modeling". In addition to the "hard shape" whose shape is basically unchanged in the air, there are also some "soft shapes" that can move with the wind. Such as the tail of a fish, the tail of a butterfly, the ribbon of a character, the ear of a flag, etc. These moving parts add endless vitality to the kite and enhance the artistic effect. We should make full use of kites when designing them.

(3) Don't forget the aerodynamic performance and structural requirements. If we forget the basic requirements such as aerodynamic performance and structural strength when considering the external contour modeling, it will bring trouble to the flight test: it is impossible to fly because of imbalance or instability, or it is disintegrated in the air because of insufficient strength, or it is too heavy to fly. Therefore, it is also an important aspect to deal with the contradiction between modeling and aerodynamic and structural strength requirements and unify them.

2. The composition of the kite:

Composition, like contour modeling, has an important influence on the artistic effect of kites. Moreover, the kite's outer contour modeling

It is often closely related to composition and should be considered in a unified way. The separation here is only for the convenience of narration.

(1) kite composition type. The composition of kites, according to their contents, can be roughly divided into the following categories:

Realism: birds and flying insects such as eagles, swallows, butterflies and dragonflies. The more real the better, take its natural beauty.

Decorative: this refers to the composition of natural objects that have been properly processed and deformed from the perspective of decorative beauty.

For example, a bat kite is very different in shape from a real bat and has a strong decorative flavor. Shayan kites are even less like real swallows. It is an image created by people. This decorative component is widely used in China kites.

Contrasting colors: In order to highlight the theme pattern on kites, some contrasting colors are often added, such as the clouds on kites with soft wings or hard wings, which are contrasting colors.

Moral: On the traditional China kite, there are many moral patterns. Such as a bat symbolizing happiness, a peach symbolizing longevity, and a peony symbolizing wealth. These symbolic patterns on some kites constitute the theme of kites, while on others, these patterns play a role in setting off and setting off.

(2) The characteristics of China kite composition. In the composition form of China kites, there are the following characteristics:

Symmetry: Most kites in China are symmetrical, so symmetrical composition is often used. It's just that the composition of character kites is often asymmetrical, and some black kites with sides are also asymmetrical.

Mosaic: On China kites, some patterns are embedded in other complete figures, such as bats and lotus flowers sometimes embedded in the arms of Shayan kites.

Full: The design and composition of China kites are very full. Even if it is blank, it makes people feel white and rich. This plump composition is one of the artistic features of China kites.

3. The color of the kite:

(1) The characteristics of kite color. The characteristics of kite color depend on the different viewing conditions of kite and general painting.

It's far.

In addition to large murals, people usually look at ordinary paintings within a few meters, while flying kites and watching the scenery.

The distance between the appreciators ranges from ten meters to tens or hundreds of meters. Therefore, when deciding the color of a kite, we should first consider the word "far". In order to meet the requirements of far-reaching effect, the colors on the kite should be bright, with strong contrast and large color blocks.

Move it.

Kites are something worth watching in flight. Although some people hang beautiful kites in their rooms as decorations, I think.

This can't be the starting point for us to consider the art of kite. Flying is the life and soul of kite, and its true beauty is closely related to flying. Therefore, when we consider the color of kites, we should first start with the word "flying". In this way, in addition to "far", it is "moving". We must design colors according to the effect in flight. This is consistent with the requirement of far-reaching effect, and it also requires bright colors, strong contrast and large color blocks.

Transparent.

Still starting from the word "flying", kites are in the air, and light often comes from behind. At this time, kites with different pigments and materials have different light transmission effects. If handled well, it can increase the beauty of kites. If it is not handled properly, it will be ugly.

Once, I met some young kite lovers in Nantes, France. One of them is holding a kite made of old newspapers. At first, I didn't think so. When she put the kite on it, it was just in the backlight, and the newspapers basically turned black. It turned out that she dug two holes in the newspaper and pasted orange cellophane. At this time, these two places are like two eyes, emitting beautiful lights, which are very touching! I can't forget this incident for a long time, and I deeply feel that we should make good use of the natural light transmission effect in the artistic treatment of kites.

In order to achieve the effect of light transmission, it is necessary to choose bright and transparent colors with strong contrast. China's traditional style of painting.

One of the reasons why Zheng uses "color" is to take advantage of its good light transmittance.

With the sky as the background.

The flying kite is set in the sky. Don't forget this factor when considering the color of the kite.

The traditional Chinese kite "black pot bottom" is only black and white, but it is very eye-catching in the sky. There are also bells in red robes, and "thin sand swallows" with red shedding in black armpits. They are especially bright when flying in the blue sky. But sky blue, gray blue and other colors are rarely used on kites, because they are not obvious in the sky and can't be seen when they fly away.

(2) The basic principle of China kite color: The traditional China kite almost only uses magenta, Sophora yellow, magenta and "pot smoke" (black). But the kites drawn are dazzling and colorful. This is the result of the clever use of color by kite makers. The basic principles of their colors are: bright colors, strong contrast and large color blocks.

Magenta, magenta, Sophora japonica and black, these colors are mostly bright, and the contrast between them is also relatively strong. Coupled with the use of black and white lines, the contrast effect can be enhanced. There are two ways to deal with large color blocks: one is to use large color blocks directly; The second is to add some identical small color blocks together, which looks like a big color block from a distance. These colors are very bright under the blue sky, but we should pay a little attention to the application of green. It is best not to directly associate green with the blue sky, but to add other colors to make the outline more prominent.

In addition to the above beautification problems, the art of "painting" also includes:

Color, background, drawing, dyeing and restoration will be discussed later.

Second, color.

There are many colors to choose from when making kites now, so everyone pays little attention to solving the color problem.

But there were not so many cheap chemical dyes and machine-made pigments before, and many colors used in kite workshops were homemade.

Already made, they are not only cheap, but also of good quality-colorful and durable. Here, the author would like to use a little space of this book to introduce to you the preparation methods of pigments handed down from ancient artists, which can help to understand the historical background and may be useful in some specific situations.

1. Take the black smoke method:

When I used to draw kites, black was painted with pot of smoke instead of ink. Because the black made by pot smoke is not only cheap, but also black and opaque, which is beyond the reach of ink. Cooking with thatch and firewood will accumulate a thick layer of black smoke at the bottom of the pot for a long time. Sweep it gently with a broom (it must not be scraped with iron), then mix it with Niu Pijiao cooked in advance, cook it on a warm fire, then hydrolyze it evenly, put it in a cup, and then rinse off the net fat after the impurities sink. Black used for block printing does not need to be mixed with glue, but is cooked with starch into porridge, then the black is cooked in a pot and stirred evenly, and then the board can be brushed. This kind of black printing does not stick to paper and does not fade.

2. Fried rouge method:

First, the collected stems of Arnebia euchroma (perennial herb, elliptic alternate leaves, rough leaves, small white flowers in summer, and purple roots, which can be used after drying) are pestle, and about 35 grams can be obtained every 50 grams. Add seven or eight leaves, put them in a casserole, boil them with snow water, slowly cook them with slow fire until the purple stems become soft, pick them up and crush them, and then cook them for six or seven times.

3. Stir-fry Sophora japonica:

Remove stems from Sophora japonica, dry in the sun, add lime and fry in a pot, then pour the fried alum water into the pot, stir up yellow juice with a stick (this juice can be used to prepare other colors), and the remaining powdery yellow can be used to paint kites with coke or paste.

4. preparation method of indigo:

Collect indigo grass (also known as Polygonum cymosum), put it in a jar, soak it in water, add lime after fermentation, mash it with a wooden stick to make indigo water, then filter out impurities and make it into paste, which is called "indigo" or "indigo". These "pastes" can be used after being dissolved in water.

5. Three kinds of green:

First grind the color with a mortar, or twist it with your hands dipped in water, and then add dilute glue. Glue should not be too thick, but it is not delicate when it is thick. When used, the surface layer is thin and the bottom layer is dark, so it can be re-developed. Just give the above five examples, we can see the traditional color-making methods in China. Now, we will write down the alum method for readers' reference.

6. Glue alum method:

Grind alum into fine powder, wash it into alum water with boiling water, clarify and remove residue, put the glue into a pot to boil, dilute it with water, pour it into alum water and taste it with your tongue. If the taste is too astringent, it means more alum and less gum. If the taste is light, it means less alum and more glue, and it tastes just right. Use alum more in summer and less in winter. If chemical dyes can be bought on the domestic market, kites will be painted with "color". This is a water-soluble dye, which is completely soluble in water and has no insoluble particles. Therefore, these pigments do not need glue, so after being coated on some paper, they do not shrink when drying, gain less weight, have high transparency and better light transmittance. Kites with colored stripes are particularly bright when backlit, which is incomparable to other insoluble pigments. Commonly used colors are magenta (scarlet), magenta, Sophora japonica, lake blue, violet, rose essence (purplish red), acid pink, basic orange and so on. The disadvantage of "color" is that several colors (such as yellow and green) have poor durability and will fade after a long time.

Now there is a better transparent color, that is, "color ink" mixed with water, such as Sanhuan brand color ink produced by Beijing Second Pen Accessories Factory, with a box of 12 colors. Its brightness is no less than "Pinse", but its durability is much stronger than ordinary Pinse. But the price is much higher than the color. This foreign painting color, watercolor, water pink and acrylic can be used when drawing kites, but it is best not to use it in a large area. Besides ink and pot smoke, carbon ink can also be used for black. There are also new requirements for making masked kites with new materials such as nylon silk, nylon silk, non-woven fabric and plastic film, such as beautifying colors. Acrylic color and plastic ink can be used on these materials. In addition, good results can also be achieved by printing and dyeing nylon and nylon.

Third, the bottom treatment.

There are many kites that need to be painted with background color before painting. This section will talk about the treatment of background color. For example, before making flying kites or cicada wings, the background color must be drawn. Red dragonflies have red backgrounds, green dragonflies have green backgrounds, and cicadas generally have yellow backgrounds.

This background color is usually good before pasting. Because the background color is colored in a large area and requires uniformity or gradual change, the paper is often put first.

Or spread alum silk on the desktop, brush a layer of water on the surface with a brush to make it wet, and then evenly coat it with transparency with a brush.

Colour it, wait for a while, and brush it again when it is not completely dry until it is moderate. When it is completely dry, iron it. If there is no requirement for gradient color, the background color can be treated by dyeing. Put the dissolved color into a flat plate (such as a plate for developing photos), cut the paper or silk into a width smaller than the width of the flat plate, hold the two corners of one end of the paper (or silk) by hand, immerse it in colored water, and then gently pull it along the edge of the plate to make the paper completely soaked and colored. After the whole paper is drained, gently hang the paper on the rope prepared in advance, just like drying sheets, and then iron it after drying. If you can buy pre-dyed colored paper and colored silk, you can use it directly without dyeing it yourself.

Fourth, tracing lines

After preparing the mask material with or without background color, you can start painting. Before painting, the "details" of11should be painted on white paper with ink lines. All the details should be drawn, but no coloring is needed. Spread the prepared mask material on the "details" and tick off all the lines with a brush. According to the design requirements, all black edges are drawn out with ink, and the big black surface is dyed with ink. Individual patterns with white edges or colored edges are marked with white powder or color. The requirements of tracing lines are: accuracy, uniformity, fluency and symmetry.

Verb (short for verb) to color ...

Point out the color. For the "base paper" and "raw silk" without alum, the colored part should be coated with glue alum water once before coloring on the grass drawing, and then colored after drying. Where large areas are colored, try to use transparent watercolors, and small areas can use opaque colors. For example, under special circumstances, when painting opaque colors in a large area, it must not be too thick or too thick, otherwise it will cause local stiffness or local contraction of the mask, making the whole mask unusable.

Sixth, modify

It means that the method of decoration and outline after dyeing is the same as that of painting, so I won't elaborate here.

Seven, the order of paste and painting

Finally, I want to mention the order of "paste" and "painting". There are three main ways to draw China kites:

1. Paste before painting:

This is one of the traditional practices of folk artists. They first paste white paper on the kite skeleton, and then use a pot with good glue.

Smoke, draw the black part directly on the kite. The atlas is all in their minds, so there is no need to type the manuscript in advance. When the black is dry, apply it in the right place with a colored pen. Finally, the kite is properly decorated before painting. This kind of painting, like drawing patterns on folk coarse porcelain, requires skilled skills. Painted patterns are bold and unrestrained, which is a masterpiece of China folk kites. Unfortunately, there are not many handed down now.

2. Print first, then paste, and finally fill the color:

In order to facilitate mass production, China kite artists combined the drawing method of kites with the production of folk woodblock New Year pictures, and formed this method: first, black stripes were printed on the wooden board, then pasted on the kite skeleton, and finally, several lines of the most common strokes were filled in by hand. This method is widely used in mass-produced folk kites. For example, kites in Yangliuqing, Tianjin and Baijiabu, Shandong are painted in this way.

3. Draw before pasting:

This is an effective way to produce and make exquisite kites in one piece. In recent years, domestic kite lovers and domestic kite manufacturers mostly use this method to draw kites. The drawing steps are as follows:

(1) Prepare the development diagram of the kite mask and draw the designed pattern on it with ink lines.

(2) Cut the masked paper (or silk, etc.). ), put it on the development drawing, and draw the pattern with a pencil/

(3) Draw, cross and elaborate on the masked paper according to the pattern and color. Wait until the color dries before ironing.

(4) Carefully cover the kite skeleton with masking paper. Pay special attention to the design of the interface part here, and spell it accurately and align it.

(5) Final modification.