After more than two decades working as a journalist, I’ve heard a lot of ways that people reuse their newspapers: lining a pet’s cage or litter box; cleaning a grill; shoving several pages into sneakers to help them dry after they get soaked during a hike with creek crossings.
I am a big advocate of repurposing items to keep them out of the landfill, and yet, I have never felt like any of these reuses celebrates the print medium for what it can provide beyond information.
That’s one reason I wanted The Times to publish a kite design in the Weekend section in coordination with the staff at Clockshop, a local community arts nonprofit, just in time for its annual kite festival, which is from 2 to 6 p.m. Saturday at Los Angeles State Historic Park, 1245 N. Spring St.
And now here’s your chance to make one.
In Sunday’s newspaper, you’ll find a colorful trapezoid kite along with printed instructions on how to build the kite as well as a QR code that links to a video of our team showing you how to build it. Regardless of whether you attend the kite festival, this edition of the Weekend section deserves to fly far beyond the confines of your recycling bin.
You can buy a copy of the Sunday newspaper at local newsstands and most 7-Eleven, Ralphs, Albertsons, Vons, Circle K and CVS locations.
If you aren’t able to snag a print newspaper, we’ve also included a digital download where you can print a version of our kite design. The instructions are also below.
Skip to instructions for:
Kite using newspaper | Kite using digital version
The look of our kite was designed by L.A. artist Ben Sanders, who said he drew inspiration from our local landscape.
“I kind of wanted it to look like gusts of wind,” said Sanders, who hadn’t previously illustrated a kite design, “and I was thinking about wind gusts on the beach and pink sunsets and the shoreline and … maybe a sun that’s being refracted.”
I have so many memories of flying kites, but I must admit: Several of them aren’t great. What’s more disappointing as a little kid than running outside with a kite in your arms, anticipating your moment of glory, only to watch it crash repeatedly?
I asked Yaeun Stevie Choi, an L.A.-based artist and kite maker, what some common reasons kites fail were.
“This is where the physics part of kites comes in,” they said. “Generally speaking, there are essential ingredients of how a kite flies, so if you don’t have those, perhaps it will fail.”
For example, kites need to be designed symmetrically to successfully catch the wind, which is often blowing horizontally, Choi said, adding that sometimes people don’t attach a kite’s tail properly, not realizing the tail helps the kite orient itself. Or the kite maker might have attached the string in a way that inhibits the kite’s ability to catch air pressure and rise.
And sometimes the ratio is just off. The area of the sail (in our case, the trapezoid shape in our newspaper) to the weight of the spars (the frame or rigid sticks that allow the kite to hold its shape) really matters. Heavier spars require a larger sail while people who build miniature kites sometimes don’t include a spar or will only use half a toothpick, Choi said.
Choi estimated that around six of their first kites failed. I asked them how someone can get over the embarrassment they might feel when their kite just doesn’t fly.
Choi produced a mischievous grin. “You wear a mask, like a monster mask [or] your favorite animal,” they said. “So you wear a penguin mask, so [onlookers] are like, ‘Oh, the penguin made a failing kite.’ They won’t be like, ‘Oh, a person embarrassed themselves.’”
In all seriousness, building and flying a kite is an opportunity to embrace a challenge rather than view a difficult task in binary terms, a point Choi and I discussed.
I also asked Sue Bell Yank, Clockshop’s executive director, how the kite festival began.
The organization wanted to celebrate the open sky above L.A. State Historic Park and reclaim what could be taken if the controversial electric aerial gondola system, first proposed in 2018 by a company funded by former Dodgers owner Frank McCourt, were built, as it would take passengers over the park on its way to Dodger Stadium.
Over the years, the festival has evolved into a celebration of the artistry of kite-making, although Clockshop still views it as a “joyful protest” that brings communities together on public lands, Yank said.
“There’s a sense of freedom in connecting yourself to the ground and the air and with the wind,” Yank said. “You’re working in concert with nature to get this kite off the ground.”
That’s the spirit that my colleagues and I had when we started this process.
The staff at Clockshop gave us a few kite designs they suggested we consider. Then Faith Stafford, a senior deputy design director, worked diligently to re-create one design out of newspaper. And because we’re journalists, we tested it since printing thousands of copies of a design that doesn’t work would require a historic and embarrassing correction none of us would fully recover from.
I procured kitchen twine from The Times’ Kitchen manager Luciana Momesso, and three of us — Stafford, deputy features editor Marques Harper and I — headed to The Times’ parking garage at our El Segundo office.
At the top of the garage, we asked one another: “Do you know how to fly a kite?” It was immediately clear we’d focused intensely on every detail of our kite-making process but that.
We wandered around the parking lot until we found the breeziest spot, although I was also Googling “How to fly a kite successfully.” Stafford bravely let our first newspaper prototype go, and there was a collective sigh of relief and joyous exclamation when our kite flew.
At the annual kite festival, The Times will have a booth where you can talk with us about our kite and snag a copy of the Weekend section that includes the kite design (while supplies last).
I am so eager to see our newspaper used in a tactical, whimsical way — a reuse option that’s been there all along.
How to build the L.A. Times kite (newspaper version)
Materials needed
- One May 3 edition of the L.A. Times’ Weekend section
- Two 17¼-inch bamboo spars, commonly found at grocery or gardening stores* (see notes)
- Kite line made of kitchen twine** and a winder***
- Scissors
- Transparent tape
1. Using your cellphone, take photos of the newspaper kite design on the L1 cover and on pages L6-7 and L10 before you start cutting so you have a reference point.
2. Now you’re ready to build our kite. First, leaving them in one large piece, cut out the trapezoid-shaped kite sail and the two thin triangles on these pages.
3. Cut out the trapezoidal vent in the middle of the sail, as indicated, and discard.
4. If you correctly followed Step 2 and left the kite sail and two triangles together in one large piece, skip to Step 6. If you mistakenly cut the triangles from the sail, follow this step: Tape the two triangular sections to the bottom of the sail, taping the base of the triangles (non-pointy ends) to the sail on both sides. You want the straight side of each triangle to face outward while both triangles’ angled sides face inward toward each other. (See images from your phone for reference.)
5. Now you’re ready to cut out and connect the strips to make the kite tail:
- Using the arrows as your guide, cut the portion below into six long strips. Make note of the letters on each end.
- Applying tape to both sides, tape A to A, B to B, C to C, etc., then tape all the strips until you have one long strip that starts and ends on yellow like the line below. The colors will match at each seam as the diagram below shows.
6. On the undecorated back side of the sail, tape the spars in place, as shown below.
7. Get the tail pieces you cut and assembled during Step 5. You will tape each end of the tail to where it matches the width of the triangular sections to make a connected long loop.
8. Turn the kite over so the front (decorated) side faces up. Tie your kite line securely around the spars, where they cross in the middle of the vent. Use two overhand (shoelace-style) knots.
9. If using a homemade winder,*** consider gluing or taping the string to the winder so that your string stays connected if you happen to use all of your string to fly the kite.
Notes:
* We tested our kite with bamboo spars, but if you don’t have those around your home, you could also try taping wooden coffee stirrers or other thin, lightweight wooden objects — although bamboo chopsticks might be too heavy. Some kitemakers have success with straws, but straws typically work better with diamond-shaped kites. A final option would be old wire hangers, but that could require a longer tail.
** We used kitchen twine, but other options are crochet thread as long as it isn’t too thick, or fishing line, although it can be difficult to see and tangles easily. You can also find string options at your local craft store. You want to have between 50 to 100 feet of string for the kite.
*** We tested our kite without a winder, but you can make one out of many household objects, including an empty toilet paper roll, a small, sturdy piece of cardboard or anything else around your home that will help you keep from tangling your line.
How to build the L.A. Times kite (digital version)
Materials needed
- One L.A. Times kite pattern printed on two 11-by-17-inch sheets of 20- to 24-pound paper* see notes
- Two 17¼-inch bamboo spars, commonly found at grocery or gardening stores** (see notes)
- Kite line made of kitchen twine** and a winder***
- Scissors
- Transparent tape
1. Print the pattern, ensuring the design is set to print on 11-by-17-inch (tabloid) size paper at 100% to scale. The design might not print correctly if your printer settings are set to “fit to page,” “fit to paper” or “fit to printable area.”
2. Cut out the trapezoid shape (your kite’s sail) on page 1 and the two triangular segments on the right and left side of the trapezoid shape.
3. Tape the two triangular sections to the bottom of the sail, taping the base of the triangles (non-pointy ends) to the sail on both sides. You want the straight side of each triangle to face outward while both triangles’ angled sides face inward toward each other (see below).
4. Cut the white space out of the middle of the trapezoid. This will be your kite’s vent. You don’t need this small white piece for your kite.
5. Now you’re ready to cut out and connect the strips (page 2) to make the kite tail:
- Using the arrows as your guide, cut the portion below into six long strips. Make note of the letters on each end.
- Applying tape to both sides, tape A to A, B to B, C to C, etc., then tape all the strips until you have one long strip that starts and ends on yellow like the line below. The colors will match at each seam as the diagram below shows.
6. On the undecorated back side of the sail, tape the spars in place, as shown below.
7. Get the tail pieces you cut and assembled during Step 5. You will tape each end of the tail to where it matches the width of the triangular sections to make a connected long loop.
8. Turn the kite over so the front (decorated) side faces up. Tie your kite line securely around the spars, where they cross in the middle of the vent. Use two overhand (shoelace-style) knots.
9. If using a homemade winder,*** consider gluing or taping the string to the winder so that your string stays connected if you happen to use all of your string to fly the kite.
10. Go have fun!
Notes:
* We recommend printing your design on an 11-by-17-inch, 20- or 24-pound piece of durable paper, like bond paper.
** We tested our kite with bamboo spars, but if you don’t have those around your home, you could also try taping wooden coffee stirrers or other thin, lightweight wooden objects — although bamboo chopsticks might be too heavy. Some kitemakers have success with straws, but straws typically work better with diamond-shaped kites.
*** We used kitchen twine, but other options are crochet thread as long as it isn’t too thick, or fishing line, although it can be difficult to see and tangles easily. You can also find string options at your local craft store. You want to have around 50 feet of string for the kite.
**** We tested our kite without a winder, but you can make one out of many household objects, including an empty toilet paper roll, a small, sturdy piece of cardboard or anything else around your home that will help you keep from tangling your line.
Sources: The Drachen Foundation; Trépanier Trapezoid kite design by Québec-based artist Robert Trépanier
The post For Clockshop’s Kite Festival, build a newspaper kite using The Times’ Weekend section appeared first on Los Angeles Times.
