Building a chicken coop out of shipping crates

I made a chicken coop out of mostly reclaimed material and two shipping crates. The coop can hold up to 10 birds, has a secure chicken run, and includes an attached compost bin. This is how I made it.

Build: frame, bridle, bowline

I finished my first suruga!

Three points along the bottom make ideal places to mount tails.

Suruga: hems

I couldn't figure out how to fold the hems without making at least two cuts in the sail. I hope the cuts don't rip in the wind. Perhaps some reinforcement will help.

Detail of kite sail showing beads of glue along the 2-cm hem.

First build of 2011: Suruga

It feels good to be in the process of building my first kite of the year. This suruga design has a unique bottom-heavy shape, which looks a bit like an arrow pointing down.

I'm finally using a sheet of the hand-made paper I bought from Jerry's Artarama back in March of 2010 (read "Purchase: Paper, silk and fabric"). I chose to use the yellow and green bamboo print paper, which matches the pale green color of the bamboo I'm using for the spars and spines.

Kites are on hold

I thought my kite studio would be a few weeks away when I last wrote. Make that a few months.

Since Denise and I bought our house in June, we've painted, improved the patio, reclaimed the overgrown yard and tore out the dingy carpet in the living room, dining area and hallway.

Our house:

Build: suruga

I've been reading the instructions for how to build a suruga kite. I love the wide-bottomed shape and its simplicity. I think this is the next kite I'll build.

I might have to buy some paper from Paper Source. Love the Japanese and Indian selections of hand-made paper.

Build: della porta

I picked this design because for it's simplicity and because the sail is a rectangle. It seemed to be a good match for the copper-square paper I bought a couple of weeks ago.

The cross spars, which are held together by a tiny horizontal spar, are made of bamboo. I think it took about 30 minutes to make. I hope it flies.

Build: Semi rigid double foil sled finished

I've finished the semi rigid double foil sled. I added the center bridle fin and the bridles. The three bridle lines are about a centimeter or two off in length from each other. It was difficult to make them all the same length since each end must be knotted. I hope the difference in line length doesn't affect flight too much.

 Lesson learned: don't let your cat lay on your kite. When she gets spooked, her claws leave puncture marks as she scampers away.

Build: Semi rigid double foil sled

Last night, between drinking a few beers to prepare for a night out and waiting for Denise to get ready, I built most of a semi rigid double foil sled, which measures nearly six feet wide by about three feet tall. It's the largest kite I've made.

I used three eighth-inch dowels, a sheet of drop cloth and some packing tape. I would like to buy some brass eyelets for the bridle fins, but a a few layers of tape should work.

This thing is really quick and easy to make. Probably the most interesting to me about the build was the fact that I could take drop off material to make the central bridle fin--it matched perfectly.

I also found that the drop cloth was the perfect width. All I had to do was measure, mark and trim out four triangles and four circles.

All that's left is to attach the bridle and see how she flies.

Project: Steamroller printmaking

Denise and I spent the day making steamroller prints at UT Austin.  The campus was busy because it was Explore UT Day, in which the public is invited to tour the campus. It may be for the best the kite festival was postponed-- I'm beat!

Step one, carve a design into wood.

Build: Yatko 3 -- bow line

I've got a bowline on Yatko 3. The 'Y' in the horizontal spar serves as an anchor so I can hook or unhook the bowline. I think it will work well.

The horizontal spar is thicker on the left side, which makes the curve a little lop sided. That will probably make the kite unstable and pull to one side.

The bridle looks balanced and should make the kite lean forward, encouraging lift. Can't wait to fly it!

Build: Yatko 3 -- glue and bridle

Today I'm gluing the final bits of the sail to the spars and adding bridles. Last step: tail. Here's a photo showing the paper's texture.

Not a good day to fly. It snowed most of they day today for a total of about two inches in Austin today. It mostly melted on contact with the ground. This is a view from my porch looking out over Walnut Creek Park.

Build: Yatko 3 -- sail and spars

I discovered I could not get two kites out of the blue hand-made Japanese paper I bought without scaling the kite's dimensions down. After scaling Yatko 3 up by 10 percent, I wound up with a 30-by-22-inch kite.

I'm using bamboo about twice as thick as previous Yatko kites I've built and switched to using a glue gun, which is dries much faster, but isn't always easier to use than a tube of liquid glue.

I also changed the horizontal spar from previous constructions: I've left a barb on one end in hopes of using it as an anchor for the bow line, which you can see below.

Yatkos use a tension line to bend the horizontal spar that creates a curved sail to act as an airfoil.

So far, I've cut the paper, sized the bamboo and tacked the spars in place. She's looking real good!

Here's a comparison of Yatko 2 and 3. I'm hoping the larger, more durable sail of Y3 will make for a more stable flight.

Since I've used traditional material, I think I should attach a silk or near-silk streamer to stabilize the kite.

Project: Dia de los Muertos calavera

It's not kite building, but it's building. Denise and I made paper mache skulls for the Mexic-Arte dia de los muertos procession. It was perfect weather. Next year I may consider making a decorative kite.

Build: Yatko 2

Started my second attempt at a Yatko. This one is slightly larger than yatko 1, mainly because I didn't want so much drop-off when I cut the sail. Same construction and materials, but this time I'll try not to break the spar when I wrap the bowline.

I might have used a different color than pink to distinguish it from my first attempt.

Build: Yatko kite bridle disaster

While testing the bridle on my yatko, I accidentally ripped the tissue. Packing tape to the rescue! I haven't even gotten this thing in the wind yet and it's already ripped.

Build: Yatko kite

I'm building a traditional Japanese kite. I picked the yatko because it's made of bamboo and paper and has a simple construction. It's about 24-by-18 inches.

Here are the kite plans.

I still need to make the bridle.

Build: butterfly kite, out of my league

I bit off more than I could chew. I tried to make a butterfly kite from these instructions. I have lots of bamboo and it looked simple enough. I used a candle to heat, then bend the bamboo to form the wings.

Everything looked great, until I covered it with tissue paper. It's not symmetrical, but worse, there isn't enough surface area on the sails. This one doesn't fly. I'll try again after I master some easier plans.

It's knot easy learning from a book

Ian helped me learn how to tie a knot. Note the look of confusion on my face. We're working on a butterfly-shaped kite frame.

Build: Tissue and dowels make a stable diamond

It took me about 20 minutes to make this kite: tissue paper, two hobby dowels, packing tape and dental floss for the bridle. Strips of plastic produce bags made for a light-weight trio of tails.

Winds blew at about 10-15 mph with the occasional strong gust.

I fixed the bridle at the wrong angle, which made the kite wobble uncontrollably. The face of the kite hit the wind head on at maybe a 80 degree angle. That tore the tissue along the spar. Easy fix with packing tape.

After I pulled the kite down and adjusted the bridle to give the face a shallower angle, the kite flew well. It was very stable and shot into the sky faster than I could believe.

It unwound my entire spool. Maximum height: 60 meters or 198 feet!