The flute kite, also known as the bow kite, consists of two parts: the kite and the flute. This is a traditional Vietnamese kite with a beautiful design and melodious sound when the kite flies in the sky. Please join us to learn how to make flute kites for your children to play with, while preserving this culture.
Prepare material
To make a flute kite, you need to prepare some raw materials
- 1 bamboo stick about 1.4m long. You should use bamboo that is neither too old nor too young so that the kite frame is sturdy but still has appropriate flexibility.
- Reusing newspaper, notebooks or plastic bags to make kite shirts, you should prepare enough paper to assemble them into kite shirts with dimensions: 2m x 1.5m.
- Kite string: nylon thread or string is fine for kite flying.
- String for tying kites
- Set of at least 3 flutes. Depending on the size of the kite, you prepare a suitable flute. You should choose a light flute, a thin flute tube and a smaller ear flap than usual to make the kite fly easier.
- Some other tools such as: Scissors, knife, glue.
How to make a flute kite
Step 1: Split the bamboo stick lengthwise to form 8 smaller bamboo sticks (different sizes), use 2 sticks to make the kite frame.
Step 2: Sharpen 2 bamboo sticks gradually to 2 ends. You should bend each bamboo stick to ensure each stick has the same curvature. If they are still not similar, continue sharpening until the curvature of both bars is the same. This step is extremely important to make sure the kite is balanced when flying in the sky.
Step 3: Choose another bamboo stick to make the handle for the kite frame. This bamboo stick will be 2.5 times wider than the 2 bamboo sticks in step 1 but only ⅓ the length.
Step 4: Flatten the bamboo stick to make a handle, do not sharpen it too thin because it will not ensure the durability of the whole frame.
Step 5: Use string to tie the kite handle to the intersection of the two kite frames. Then continue tying the two ends of the kite frame together, finally we have the finished product as shown below.
Step 6: Use a thin bamboo stick from the remaining bamboo to make the tail of the kite if desired. In fact, the traditional way to make a flute kite does not have a kite tail, but you can bend the bamboo stick to shape the tail to make the flute kite more eye-catching.
Step 7: Take the material to make the kite shirt, put it on the kite frame and cut it so that the shirt part is larger than the frame and can cover the entire frame.
Step 8: Assemble the kite jacket with glue if using paper and tie it with string if using nylon.
Step 9: Tie the string to the kite. You need to tie it tightly to avoid losing the string when the kite is full of wind.
Step 10: Attach the kite flute to the bottom of the kite. You can refer to the gluing location depending on the type of kite below.
Making a flute kite is not difficult but requires you to be careful and meticulous from the step of choosing materials to the step of tying the string and gluing the kite's shirt. The flute kite with its melodious sound not only creates space for children to move, but also leaves beautiful memories of a traditional culture in Vietnam.
