Arthur's Kite Tutorial! 🪁

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Crafts
The finished kite craft is displayed in its full splendor amongst a grid work table.

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.

We are measuring out the length to cut our wooden dowel with a standard 12-inch ruler.

 

Cut down each of the sticks to 7 inches and 9 inches. Mark the center of the short stick with your ruler.

A hand assembles two wooden sticks in a cross shape to form the base structure of the kite.

 

Get out your wood glue and glue the sticks into what feels like the most kite-like cross formation.

Two hands secure the cross structure of the kite base while wood glue dries in the middle of the woods' intersection.

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.

 

The base wooden cross of the kite is being secured with yellow embroidery floss after the initial glue has dried.

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.

 

Scissors cut off excess yellow embroidery thread that secures the center of the cross kite formation.

Next, carefully cut little notches into each side the four ends of your cross. 

One hand secures the wooden cross formation while another hand has a sharp object to cut notches into the top part of each piece of the cross where string will be tied.

 

Be sure to leave some time for your wood glue to dry!

 

The cross formation lays flat to demonstrate the previous steps of instructions. There should be notches at the top of each point of the cross, as well as embroidery thread securing the center of the structure to hold the two dowels of wood together.

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.

 

Two hands thread the base of the kite, wrapping it around the bottom notches of the cross we just created.

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!

 

Two hands are tying off the now threaded kite at the top of the cross shape.

 

Place your wooden kite frame on top of your tissue paper. Use your ruler to trace out the base of your kite. 

 

One hand holds the base of the kite against delicate tissue paper, while the other hand traces around the base of the kite with a pencil.

Cut out your kite, and be sure to leave extra space around the lines you traced!

  

The tissue paper that was previously traced over is now being cut out by a pair of scissors, leaving about an inch of space around the tracing for a seam allowance of sorts.

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. 

 

A hand applies paste to the outside edges of the now cut out kite shaped tissue paper with a soft paint brush. The four corners of the kite are glued & folded over.

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.

 

Two hands continue to paint glue over the tissue while folding the tissue over the string of the kite base 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.

The frame of the DIY kite is now completely glued to the tissue paper.

Take an empty spool (or in our case, the most handsome of your vintage spools). Tie a knot with your string around the spool.

 

Two hands tie yellow embroidery thread onto a spool that connects to the tail of our DIY kite.

Wind the string around your spool until you have reached the desired length you'd like your kite to fly high!

Yellow embroidery thread now fills a wooden spool next to our kite.

 

Not pictured in the video, Jane ends up changing the way she initially ties the bridle. See the wonderful tutorial she uses HERE. 

Gwendolyn Raccoon holds her DIY kite over her head as it soars through a sprawling meadow sky.

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! 

The wooden spool filled with embroidery thread is now attached with a knot to our DIY kite.

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.

A closeup of the tail of our kite and the cow hitch knot.

And for our final embellishments, Arthur recommends taking your most fluttery of ribbon and tying them to your yarn tail. Excellent!

 

Gwendolyn Raccoon and Nicholas Bear Cub celebrate their DIY kite by proudly soaring it above them.

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? 

 

A small hand-drawn heart.

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. 

You might also like:

 

How to Make a Drum for Wake Up Day! 

How to Make a Wall Hanging with Sticks