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red dot #3

I found this sketch recently while sorting through kite memorabilia. It's from sometime in late 1985 or early 1986, and is probably the first fabric kite that I sewed myself.

Although the construction drawing shows the kite oriented as a square, I intended all along that it be flown on point - the sketch was done this way so I could use the graph squares as inch measurements. As I was drawing it, I knew the dot was in the wrong place (nothing Freudian about the original, huh?). When all the pieces were cut, I dry-assembled them on a wall with tape and moved the dot around until I found the spot I liked best.

Why "#3"? No particular reason, except perhaps a spoof on modern art titles.

Photo: Red Dot #3 kite being held by Mike Carroll at the Smithsonian Institute's Kite Festival, 1986. Photo by Jenny Williams.

Photo: Red Dot #3 kite in the air at the Washington State International Kite Festival, 1986. Photo by Mike Carroll.

The first photo was taken at the 1986 Smithsonian Institute's Kite Festival, probably held in March that year. I'm waiting in line to be judged. I didn't win anything, and in fact the only reason I was "competing" was to get a competitor's shoulder patch.

The other photo is from the 1986 Washington State International Kite Festival, held each year in Long Beach, Washington, during the third week of August.

red dot #3
mike carroll
1985-1986
28" each side
ripstop nylon, wooden dowels, nylon webbing, nylon line, metal rings

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