Kite Lines - Vol.2 No. 4 - KiteLife

My first impression of Louise Crowleywas "Free Spirit ." She had it written allover her . She stood there, small, rumpled,about my age (middle), Conyne in hand .It was beautifully crafted and beautifullypainted with an Alaskan Indian design .We met in the Exhibition Hall ofSeattle's Pacific Science Center . The WashingtonKitefliers Association spring kiteexhibition was in full swing, the roomwas full of people viewing kites, floor toceiling, and making kites all over thetables and floor . There were a dozen importantthings needing doing but at themoment nothing was more importantthan to thoroughly examine this obviouslywell-constructed, well-designed kite .Where did she get the design? "Well, amajor in Anthropology should have taughtme something," was her reply ."Just wondered if you might want tohang it up somewhere in a corner," shecontinued, a little uncertainly, thumbshooked in rear pockets of well-worn jeans,managing a slouch while her squintingblue eyes searched upward to the ceiling .Of course we wanted to hang it up .In the middle .Over the next few months it came outpiecemeal that Louise had been flyingkites since she was a kid . Things had interfered,of course, like raising a family . Thechildren came all at once to Louise andGeorge : Roger, now 29, Bruce, 28, andKevin and Martin, 25 . Not much time forkites for some years . Things calmed downenough for making some kites with theboys . Then came more interruptions, theprotest meetings about this and that : thearboretum needed defending, the neighborhoodshielded from high-density highrisebuildings, the shopping district keptwithin bounds-that sort of thing .One day Louise came back to kiteswith a vengeance . She was in the localkite shop and mentioned wistfully thattwo bucks was a lot of money just to seea kite show (the one at the Pacific ScienceCenter) . The shop suggested she use oneof her kites to get in . "Take one in hand,act as if you belong there and just bargein ." She did-it worked-and Louise hasbeen busy ever since making kites .A Crowley principle is that her kitesshould be stable . Not everyone followsthis, and Louise admits, "Different strokesfor different folks ." Her preference is forConynes, double Conynes, deltas-kitesthat sit up there, kites that bring out thepatterns in the sky . She seeks the danceand play of the clouds, the good tug onthe line, the restful relaxation of floatingdesigns ."I'm lazy," she'll have you believe,"and fighter kites are too much work .They abuse the eye . Get tangled and bashthe earth . Bother others' kites ." Still, shelikes challenge .Louise reports on the phone that shehas finished a Russell Hall kite . Typical .She's not afraid to tackle anything-andit's a stable flier . Recently she made afine-flying Professor Waldof box kitewithnothing to guide her but a picture .Another part of the Crowley style isthat she names her kites, in the manner ofPat Hammond, San Antonio's Kite Lady,who was probably the first to claim thatnaming kites makes them fly better .Louise likes to "personalize the relationship"this way, using names like Pete (asin Peg-Leg) for her seagull, because itreminds her of a Seattle pet by that name .Characteristic was her approach toconstruction of her seagull kite . The patternjust didn't seem right to her . Shelooked up the facts about gulls and foundthat the average female herring gull is 22inches, beak to tail feathers . Scaling upthe pattern in mathematical proportion,she wound up with a seagull kite some 65inches from wing tip to wing tip . And itslong wings slow the flapping motion sothat the bird looks more natural-alive .Here are some of her other kites :"Nazgul," a character from Tolkien, is ablack plastic delta which found its wayhome after dangling its broken string forsix miles before being hauled down by anhonest man . A fiery colored Conyne is"Aries ." Another, of every color in therainbow, is "VIBGYOR" (an acronym forthe colors in spectrum order) . An octagonalflat kite had less-than-sufficient tailon its test flight, causing a sensationalcrash earthward, and came up dubbed"Venus," as mentioned in Velikovsky .Even the Great Dane papa-dog does well ;it's named "Pycho," a great Danish astronomer. But his son is plain "Rowdy,"because he is .Part of the Crowley philosophy is thatkiting need not be expensive. Her scroungingabilities are legend . She knows strategicdumpsters personally . "Unraveled plasticparty leis make the neatest tails ." AndOpposite page : LouiseCrowley assembles her handsewnnylon double Conyneat Seattle's Gasworks Park .She's seen clipping a low-windpanel into the kite (the sectionis removable for high winds) .Top, Crowley lifts herAlaskan Indian motif Conyne.Detail to the left shows theengineering of the center strut,which is wrapped at the joint.Above, Crowley's seagullkite, "Pete," scaled up andrefined .Right, "Venus," hermany-tailed star .small swatches of rip-stop nylon justnaturally look good when attached toeach other with her machine-fine handsewing. Given the materials, she couldmake 'most anything fly ."Line is a problem, though," shemourns . "There is just no substitute forgood kite line ."You can see that here in Seattle wehave learned a lot from Louise Crowleyand we're glad to have her-our beautifulperson, a Free Spirit of the skies . 0