Tetrahedral Kite

This project will tell you how to build a tetrahedral kite out of cheap household materials.

Step 1: Gather your materials

You will need:
*A lot of bendy straws. You will need 12 per cell of kite, so for the 16-cell kite shown, you will need 12x16=192 straws. Best make it 200 for the ones you will mess up on.
*Plenty of good ol' Scotch Tape. You may get by with a roll, if you are awesome, but I bought a three-pack.
*Twist-ties. Get these from garbage bag packets, or bread bags- you should have some around. You will need a fair number.
*Lifting surface. This should be thin and light, yet durable. Grocery bags work, as do garbage bags, good tissue paper, wrapping paper, mylar, chip bags, you get the idea. This is where the colour will come from, so go all out here.
*Kite String. Salvage it from an older kite, or buy it. Don't bother getting the nice stuff, the kind you get with a $2 kite from Wal-Mart works great.
*Dowel (optional)- If you are building a very large kite, this can add some stability.
Tools you will need:
*Scissors

Comments

[dan]

wow! do you have a photo of it flying?

[bemdude]

Actually, not yet. This one was made as a sort of class project- hence the decorations- everyone made a cell. It hasn't been flown yet. But, rest assured, when it is, I will have pictures, and put them up. I should have pictures of some of the others I've made, but they are buried somewhere.

[imthatguy1125]

considering it is 3 year later and still no pics i asume you forgot

[bemdude]

Forgot? No. This kite got put on display, and someone ripped it down and vandalized it. I'm making another one soonish for a class I'm teaching- and that one will be flown first thing.

[dombeef]

 When?

[jbussé]

in three years =D lol

[Charles IV]

It's a Sierpinski triangle kite!

[Kiteman]

For a safe way to launch and land this kite, check this article I wrote for the BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A3641744

[kovessiz]

Hi, have a look at my site - http://kovessiz.atw.hu - and you will find step-by-step pix of how i built a collapsible tetrahedron.

Perhaps you're interested in a newspaper flowform kite, too. Step-by-step
Fair winds,

Zsolt KÖVESSI

[dhammy]

In a tetrahedron, wouldn't ANY two cells be adjacent? ;) BTW, cool kite!

[bemdude]

yes, in fact. the important bit is to cover only two.