The Penny Kite

Image Gallery The Penny Kite, also called the "one-cent plane." MOTHER EARTH NEWS STAFF

The phrase "it flies like a bird" has lost a lot of its impact through overuse, but this low-cost, do-it-yourself wind rider can restore some meaning to the old cliche — because it actually does "flap its wings" as it adjusts to differing air currents. And the airborne performer is decidedly low-tech. In fact, to make one, you'll need only a sheet of 8 1/2-by-11-inch paper, a few bits of tape, some thread, scissors, a pencil, a straightedge and a needle. If you return the spool of thread to your sewing basket after the flight is over, the total cost of expended materials really should be less than one cent. And if you use already-written-on paper, the cost will be lower still.

Begin the undertaking by folding the kite-to-be over upon itself and trimming off the bottom border to produce a square sheet that's creased on the diagonal, as in Fig. 1 in the Image Gallery (save the cutaway strip to make the kite's tail). Then fold each flap of the resulting triangle twice, "accordion pleat" style, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3 — so that three folds align on the long top side, and the two bottom creases are even with the paper's edges along the shorter side. (You may have to experiment a bit, but you'll find the process familiar if you ever made paper airplanes in study hall!) To complete the body of the kite, cut off a bit of the point where all of the creases converge (as illustrated in Fig. 4).

That done, take the leftover ribbon of paper and cut it into eight or ten strips of equal width (Fig. 5), fasten the bands together end to end using 3/8-inch-long pieces of tape (Fig. 6), and tape the tail securely to the rear of the aircraft. You can now mark, on each outer edge of the kite, a point about three-quarters of the way from the nose to the back corner. Reinforce the marked spots with 1/2-inch-long pieces of tape, then punch holes (one at each point) through both the tape and the paper.