Method of making kites

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. Bamboo belongs to Gramineae, and there are many kinds of bamboo in China, including 22 genera and more than 200 species, which are mainly produced in the south of the Yangtze River basin.

1. Selection of bamboo species:

(1) Phyllostachys pubescens

Main producing areas: Qinling Mountains, Hanshui River basin to the vast area south of Yangtze River basin.

Main characteristics: it is the most widely distributed bamboo species in China, with large output and the highest economic value. The thick end is straight, the pole is more than 20 meters high, the diameter is more than 16 cm, the bamboo wall thickness is 0.5 ~10.5 cm, and the internode length is 40 cm. The material is hard, firm and tough, and has good splitting performance. It is a good material for making all kinds of kites. In China, it is also an important material for making kites.

(2) Phyllostachys pubescens (Phyllostachys pubescens, Phyllostachys pubescens and Phyllostachys praecox).

Main producing areas: provinces in the Yangtze River basin, Hebei, Henan, Sichuan and other places.

Main features: the pole is as high as 15 m, the diameter can reach 14 ~ 16 cm, and the middle node is 40 cm long. Bamboo is thick, hard and aggressive, which is a good material for making kites.

(3) Moso bamboo

Main producing areas: widely distributed in the south of the Yangtze River basin.

Main features: the bamboo pole is 5 ~10m high, 4 ~ 6cm in diameter and 20 ~ 40cm in node length. The bamboo pole has moderate thickness, straight ends, tough texture, good mechanical properties and good splitting performance. It is a good material for making detailed skeletons of small kites or big kites.

(4) thorn beads (sweet thorn beads)

Main producing area: south of the Yangtze River Basin.

Main features: the bamboo pole is 5 ~10m high, 4 ~ 8cm in diameter and 60cm in node length. Bamboo wall is thin, bamboo is soft, and its mechanical strength is poor, but its material is light. The straight pole on a medium-sized kite can be made of strips cut from this bamboo (without scraping the meat). It is not only rigid, but also lighter than other bamboo materials.

There are also lemon bamboo, sweet bamboo, carnation, yellow bamboo, arrow bamboo and so on, so I won't go into details here.

When selecting materials, in addition to varieties, there is another problem, that is, how to choose the use time and place of a certain variety.

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, young bamboos that have not grown into adults and old bamboos that have 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. In addition to the traditional thick-backed bamboo cutting knife, we can also make our own cutting knife. Find a piece of steel plate with a thickness of more than 5 mm, a width of about 50 ~ 60 mm and a stiffness of about 200 mm, and it is best to have a hole with a diameter of about 15 mm at one end, such as an old car spring steel plate. On the grinding wheel, grind one side and one side of the plate into an oblique angle with both sides inclined by 45 "~ 60" to form a cutting edge, and then find a steel bar that can be inserted into the hole. The length is about 300 mm, and this bamboo cutting tool is ready. It can easily split any bamboo with a diameter less than 16omm (see Figure 6-4).

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. Traditionally, the method of "pulling and cutting" is often used, that is, the operator sits upright, spreads a thick cloth on his leg, holds bamboo in his left hand, with the bamboo skin facing down, and holds a knife horizontally in his right hand. The blade leans slightly downward when pressed against the bamboo meat, and the bamboo board is pulled back by the left hand, and the bamboo meat is peeled off. The thickness of bamboo meat can be changed by properly adjusting the angle and pressure between the blade and the bamboo board.

Now I don't want to damage my clothes when I process kites. I prefer to work on the workbench. Therefore, it has become a common method to plane bamboo boards with a woodworking plane. This bamboo cutting method is easy to master and the processing accuracy is relatively high. I suggest you adopt it. In addition to the above cutting methods, there are wood cutting (such as bamboo cutting) and scraping with a blade (for final finishing).

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. The latter can adjust the flame size, and it is better to use with a glass cover to collect heat. Curved bamboo should be heated with alcohol or gasoline blowtorch. At present, electric soldering iron is used to weld bamboo strips with small bending, and the effect is very good. Because it has no open flame, it only radiates heat, and at the same time, bamboo sticks can be bent against it, which is much easier than hanging on the flame.

2. Bending method.

(1) Preheating: the bamboo strips are evenly heated to a certain temperature on a heat source. Preheating should not be rushed. We should try to heat the inside of bamboo strips without burning the outside. This requires continuous rotation of bamboo strips, moving back and forth, so that every part of bamboo strips can be gradually heated. This process depends on the thickness of bamboo strips. Generally, the thin strip is shorter and the thick strip is longer.

(2) Bending: After preheating to a certain temperature, the bamboo strips become soft and can be bent. However, the bending should be moderate. If it is too urgent, it will break and the parts will be scrapped. If it is too slow, the bamboo pieces will not bend home. Therefore, we should seize the opportunity, slow and steady, and succeed at the best time. 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.

(3) Setting: After bending, bamboo sticks can be put into cold water for cooling and setting. There may be a little rebound after setting, so the bending can be a little bigger than the bending required by the drawing, and it is just right after springback.

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.

1. binding:

Binding materials include iron wire, hemp skin, paper and cloth. Traditional China kites use thin threads. Mass-produced hemp skin is bound with paper edges or silk strips (the edges attached with kite scissors). Modern large and medium-sized China kites are bonded with non-woven strips with glue after gluing, which has great strength. There are many kinds of bamboo joints on the kite skeleton, which can be summarized as vertical, parallel and inclined connections.

(1) Vertical connection: it can be divided into three types: cross connection, snap connection and lap connection. The cross connection is simple, but the strength is not strong and the skeleton is uneven. Cross connection generally adopts the method of cross binding. When clamping, one strip should be split and clamped on another strip, which is not as strong as overlapping, but flatter than the cross-connected skeleton. When overlapping, there should be strips bent at 90 degrees, but the strength is high and the skeleton is flat, so parallel binding method can be used.

(2) Parallel connection: there are two types: miter connection and lap connection. Two connected bamboo strips cut each other at the diagonal corner and then tied together, which is called diagonal connection. This is smooth and beautiful, but the length of the oblique angle should be more than 6 times the thickness of the bamboo strip to have sufficient strength. Lapping is simple and firm, but one face of the two lines is not in a straight line. (3) Inclined connection: Inclined connection is similar to vertical connection. Only the angles are different, so three methods can be used: crossing, overlapping and clamping.

2. Buckle wedge:

This is a traditional connection method commonly used in Tianjin kites. This is a method of punching holes in longitudinal skeleton and transverse skeleton. This is very effective for connecting kite parts used to make rotating bodies, such as birds, insect bellies, flower baskets, lanterns and so on.

3. Live head:

In order to fold the part, a movable joint is made, which is called "living head". The most commonly used kite in China is a ring. Its structure is two overlapping, the middle is connected by a horizontal shaft, and there are two metal rings at both ends. Loosen the ring sleeve and the two pieces can be folded; When the ring is sleeved at both ends of the two joints, the two bamboo strips will become an open bamboo strip.

4. Insert:

There are some detachable parts on the kite that need to be plugged in. The most commonly used traditional method is sleeve connection. Small kites use reed pipes, medium kites use bamboo pipes, and large kites need to be connected with special sleeves. Friction and bending resistance should be considered when making intubation, so the intubation must have a certain length, not too short.

"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.

1. Paper:

The paper for pasting kites requires long fiber, toughness, thinness and lightness, low air permeability, good coloring and small deformation caused by temperature change. The paper used in traditional China kites is mostly hand-made long fiber paper, such as tissue paper, leather paper, rice paper, elegant paper and Korean paper. There are many machine-made papers used in modern times, such as Wenzhou machine-made leather paper, Meinong paper, Cobb paper, oil-sealed paper and capacitor insulating paper. The choice of paper depends on the size, location, flight conditions and coloring requirements of the kite, among which the size of the kite is the main one. Generally, the smaller the kite, the thinner and softer the paper. For example, some small kites need high-strength leather paper, Korean paper and so on. And the paper used for large kites needs to be laminated together.

2. Silk materials:

Silk is a very thin silk textile with light weight, high strength and good coloring performance. It is a common mask material for traditional China kites, but its cost is high, so it is not suitable for beginners. Now there are some textiles made of man-made fibers that are thinner than silk, such as electrospinning (insulating spinning) and foreign spinning, which are lighter, stronger and less breathable than silk. Therefore, at present, traditional China kites are often made of spinning instead of silk. Most kites with textiles are pretreated, that is, soaked in a mixed solution of rubber and alum, dried and ironed before use. This has two functions, one is to reduce air permeability; Second, it is easy to paint when painting, and the color will not be soaked. In addition, the silk treated with rubber alum is also stiff, unlike untreated silk.

The traditional formula of rubber alum is rubber 2, alum 1 and water 36. That is, 20g of bone glue,10g of alum and 360g of water are heated and dissolved into liquid. But some kites are covered with raw silk that has not been treated with alum. It also has its special effects.

3. Composite materials:

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.

4. New materials:

The above-mentioned traditional Chinese kite mask material has two major shortcomings: First, it is not water-resistant, and once it is wet, it will fade and the mask will be damaged. Second, the strength is poor, and it can't stand the test of strong wind or high-speed flight. I remember that once the author flew a traditional China butterfly kite at a kite exhibition abroad. On that day, the wind speed on the ground exceeded level 5, and the wind at high altitude was even stronger. Half an hour later, I took this kite, its wings and tail were torn into strips, but the nylon kite of foreigners was safe and sound. In order to solve this problem, we should consider applying new materials. Nylon yarn, nylon yarn, non-woven fabric and plastic film are all good materials here. 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 redundant edge is cut off, and a part of it is stuck and rolled up, 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