Celestial Gardens Delta Kite

A Classic Series Kite

from . . .

Boreal Kites

About the kite:

The Celestial Gardens Delta is the second Variations delta we have made. These are produced by using printed triangular pieces (like quilt blocks), which can be combined and sewn together to produce a number of different sizes. The three sizes we make have subtle differences in the overall pattern due to the changes in arrangement and number of the building-block pieces.

This kite, while constructed using the same techniques, employs a very different design style. Using large geometrics more directly derived from the kite's quilt ancestors, the imagery is a stylized version of things found in our garden, on the north shore of Lake Erie., hummingbirds, Iris blossoms, and opther images from spring. The black and purple colour scheme was inspired by Amish quilts using the same colours, and the hexagons result from playing with home-made kaleidoscopes.

Our first Variations delta, Celtic Variations took first place in the Masters' Delta category at the 25th Smithsonian Kite Festival. Celestial Gardens won the same category at the 27th Smithsonian in 1993.

This kite, like its predecessor, is a wonderful soaring kite, very light on the line and stable, able to fly in a wide range of winds (3-4 mph and up). I've only found the upper limit on this kite once, ast approx. 45 mph, it flew briefly, but snapped the spreader. No other damage was done, however. We often get this kite up at a stable altitude, then tie it off to a dogstake, where it will still be happily flying, several hours later, when it is usually the last kite taken down at the end of the day.

Specifications:

Celestial Gardens comes in three sizes: Small - 66 inch wingspan, 66 inches from nose to tail-tips; Medium - 93 inch wingspan, 93 inches from nose to tail-tips; and Large - 11 foot wingspan, 11 feet from nose to tail-tips.

The sail fabric is Contender Nylite, made without the resin coating (this allows better dye uptake and stronger colours). The frame is spiral-wound epoxy tubing (solid fibreglass wing spars on the Small only.

This kite flies easily in any wind above 3-4 mph.

This kite is sold in a limited edition of 100.