Bristol Kite Festival 2005

People who visit the Portsmouth Kite festival often also visit the Bristol Kite Festival. Since they are held only one week apart and it's only an hours drive away. We try to visit both but unfortunately we don't have a car (or a license for that matter). This year we made an return trip to Bristol by plane. It's sounds stupid but that's actually a lot cheaper than staying in England for the week.

Bristol is great when you haven't been able to take some pictures of kites you really liked in Portsmouth. The wind isn't as good but the people and atmosphere make up for it a great deal. Brilliant catering as well...

The next four kites have been made by two of my favourite kite builders. They have a very distinctive style. People tell me it's developed out of need because in the beginning they weren't able to get big enough pieces of kite fabric so they had to resort to using thin strips. Just try to imagine the amount of sewing involved... They might look small on screen, but belive me, they are not. The body of the lizard (without the tail) must be a good 3 to 4 metres in lenght.

This next beautiful kite has been featured on the promotion material for the 2005 festivel. I bought a great looking tee :-)

Beautiful detail in this kite. And the amazing thing is, it actually flies quite reasonably... once you get it airborne.

I rarely like these kind of kites. Although they must be very clever kite builders they are usually made by people who must be colorblind. Because I can't explain the choice and amount of colours any other way. But this one is really nice. The colour changes with the angle it makes towards the sun. And when the wheel turns your view on the triangles change to form all new shapes. 

That's about it for 2005. Time to make some new kites for 2006. Otto Vossen (the one with the silly hat) has been kind enough to send me a detailled plan for an Eiji Ohashi Edo. And Bas Vreeswijk send me some plans for a Fugu. I can't show up in Portsmouith without those kites :-)