Tuesday, April 5, 2011

How To Make a Malay Kite

This is a Malay Kite Fighting Competition. The idea is to cut off other participants' kite string. Whichever kite remains the last in the air will emerge as winner. Note that the kite string is standard, issued by the organizer.
This is a Malay Kite or known as Wau Kikik in Malay. It is a tailless diamond-shaped kite. History states that this is among the earliest kite design in the East. It is similar to Eddy Kite or Holland Kite. A Malay Kite is the easiest kite to make. It is an easy flyer provided that it is light, big enough and well balanced. Pictured above is a 3 feet Malay Kite. It is the standard used in the national Malay Kite Fighting Competition.



The vertical stick is the spine. It should be slightly stronger than the cross stick. The cross stick which is just slightly longer is attached to the spine (ensure the balance) by a string at a quarter distance from the top. Then tie the strings at the end of the spine and the cross stick to make the shape. Reinforce with another smaller diamond shaped in the center with a string to provide support to the sail and the frame. Glue on the sail. The sail could either be of kite paper, plastic sheet or the modern ripstop nylon fabric. Attach one point of the bridle where the sticks crossed and another point of the bridle slightly short of the bottom tip of the kite. Finally, attach a kite string and you are Ready To Fly (RTF).



1 comment:

  1. During my childhood era, this wau quiet famous bcoz easy to do it. We call it 'Wau Kemetet". Poor boy like me, we developed our Kemetet with bamboo and old news paper. It fly well. Weldone sir, wau kemetet with national logo.

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