Arthur's Kite Tutorial! 🪁
Friends, our limited-edition pal Arthur Lamb has sold out in record time. We're shocked, and honored by such a warm welcome! We're currently working with our artisan partners in Nepal to restock Arthur as soon as possible, with an arrival date in mid-April at the earliest. Sign up for restock notifications at the bottom of Arthur's product page HERE.
In the meantime, Arthur Lamb has bestowed upon us his kite-making tutorial for your Village friends. This tutorial was suggested by one of our Hazelnut loyalty program members. Thank you, friend!
Click here for a quick video demonstrating the instructions below.
What you will need:
- Tissue paper
- Ruler
- Thin basswood sticks
- Wood glue
- Paste
- Thin cotton cord
- Thread
- Yarn
- Fabric or ribbon for the tail
- Spool
- Tape
The first step is locate light wooden sticks for your kite's base. The key is that the sticks are as light as possible. In this tutorial, Jane uses thin basswood sticks.
Cut down each of the sticks to 7 inches and 9 inches. Mark the center of the short stick with your ruler.
Get out your wood glue and glue the sticks into what feels like the most kite-like cross formation.
Next, take your thread. Secure your kite base by tying and overlapping thread over the center of the cross. You can add glue for extra reinforcement.
Cut off any excess thread. Your cross frame is secure! If your kite's cross is not centered, you can cut off an extra wood on the side.
Next, carefully cut little notches into each side the four ends of your cross.
Be sure to leave some time for your wood glue to dry!
Once your frame has dried, it's time to thread the base of your kite. Take your string and wrap it around the bottom notches of the cross. Wrap the string a couple of times to secure the frame.
Follow this step around each notch until you've reached the bottom of the cross again. Be sure to leave some string at the bottom for the kite's tail. Tie the string into a knot to secure!
Place your wooden kite frame on top of your tissue paper. Use your ruler to trace out the base of your kite.
Cut out your kite, and be sure to leave extra space around the lines you traced!
Fold the corners of the tissue paper down and secure them with paste. Do this for all four sides of the kite. Once glued down, place your wooden kite frame over the tissue paper.
Using a paintbrush, put paste on the tissue paper over the string frame. Fold the tissue over the string to secure the tissue base onto the frame.
Wait for your paste to dry. Our next step is to create the bridle to our kite.
Take an empty spool (or in our case, the most handsome of your vintage spools). Tie a knot with your string around the spool.
Wind the string around your spool until you have reached the desired length you'd like your kite to fly high!
Not pictured in the video, Jane ends up changing the way she initially ties the bridle. See the wonderful tutorial she uses HERE.
Apply clear tape to the corners of your kite to minimize snags!
Once you've tied a knot from your string from the kite spool to the kite's bridle, you're ready for our last step: the kite's tail!
With the leftover string hanging from the bottom of your kite's frame, tie a knot. We secured the yarn to the kite using a cow hitch knot.
And for our final embellishments, Arthur recommends taking your most fluttery of ribbon and tying them to your yarn tail. Excellent!
And with that, your kite is ready for flying! Thank you for joining us for Arthur's kite tutorial. What future crafts would you like to see for our woodland friends?
Did you make this craft at home? Send us a photo or tag us on social media @hazelvillage! For questions, please email us at hello@hazelvillage.com.
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