How to Make a Tetrahedral Kite (16-Cells)

This Instructable will teach you how to make a tetrahedral kite, a tetrahedral kite is a kit made of a bunch of smaller pyramids. This is a fairly simple build but can be very time consuming.

Thin Fabric with Colors of Choice

96 or more of Paper Straws

Spool of Fishing Line

Pencil

Ruler

Scissors

Spray Adhesive

Construction Paper

For the first step you will need your fishing line and paper straws. Run the fishing line through 3 straws and pull it into a triangle shape, make a tight knot at the top of the triangle and cut the excess string to about 1-2in. Once you do that you can put the extra line through the straws you already tied so it is not as visible.

For the second step you would have to run the line through the bottom straw in the triangle and add 2 more straws onto that line and make it into a diamond shape. Here you would cut and tie the line again to make a knot that would stay, make sure to again to hide the excess line again.

Run the line through either side of the diamond and add 1 straw to that line, bring that to the top of the other side of the diamond and tape down the line so it doesn't move and will stay tight. Tie the line at the top of the diamond and at the bottom of it and you will end with a pyramid. Now you will need to make 15 more pyramids and have 16 in total for the next step.

Once you have all 16 pyramids, take one of those pyramids and a sheet of construction paper and trace a triangle , turn the triangle to where the corners are in the middle of the sides, trace this too. Once you have the basic shape, mark off the area of 3 corners that wont be covered and folded, then mark where it folds on the other sides.Cut out the basic shape and then cut out the basic shape in the fabric. Then cut the details into the template, cut out the marked areas and one of the corners without the markings will be cut off.

Take the template you just made and place it on the fabric you have chosen to use, trace it onto the fabric and flip it but keep the flat side on the line you already traced from it, then cut it out to get the shape as shown.

Place the pyramid onto the fabric the way you made the template or how it is in the picture, first spray or apply glue onto the middle line and place your pyramid on top. Then put glue on the two flaps and fold them over so they will stick, turn the pyramid over and repeat the process to get one pyramid with two sides covered. Repeat this for all 16 pyramids, not all sides of the pyramid will be covered.

Run fishing line through the all 4 pyramids and tie them so they are together. Tie another pyramid on top of those, starting with the sides then the back knot. Repeat this step on the other side of the tetrahedral and you get 2, 4 cell pyramids.

Tie two pyramids along one side of the original, then add a third to finish the base. Create a fourth set of four pyramids on it's own and tie those together, once you have that tie it on top of the base you just made.

Once you completed all the steps you are now left with the tetrahedral kite and you are able to fly it around when you attach the kite string onto it.