Miniature Wanwan-Dako

Wanwan-Dako kites were made in the region of Naruto, Shikoku, Japan, for several hundred years, peaking in size in the 1930s - the kites were over 20 metres wide, weighed several tonnes, and took teams of dozens to fly.

Similar, but much smaller kites are still being made, but the true giants have not flown since before World War II.

I couldn't resist adding a wanwan-Dako to my collection of miniature kites.

By my rough calculation, this kite is 0.0005% the size of a full-size wanwan-dako.

I made this kite from tissue paper and a single bamboo skewer, using light cotton thread to bind the bamboo and as the flying line.

The skewer is far too long, thick, stiff and heavy to use for this kite.

Start by splitting it with a strong, sharp blade.

When you have split the bamboo, shave it with the sharp blade, then sand it smooth.

The easiest way to sand the bamboo turned out to be to use a pencil to press the bamboo into a sanding pad, and then pull the bamboo out.

When the bamboo is thin and smooth enough, curl and shape it into a circle.

Tie the bamboo in place, and add a drop of PVA glue to lock it in place.

When the glue is dry, trim the bamboo as close to the bindings as possible.

(The third image compares the final bamboo circle with an unused skewer - for scaling, each square of the cutting mat is 10mm across.)

I happened to have some tissue in my stash with a decorative print, but you could always use plain white tissue (the kind that comes layered in between clothing, or wrapping gifts) and decorate it to your taste (watercolours would be ideal).

Paint slightly watered-down PVA glue around the edge of the bamboo circle, then press and weight it onto the tissue.

When the glue is dry, trim the tissue flush with the bamboo using sharp, fine scissors.

Prepare a second fine bamboo strip, approximately twice as long as the sail is wide.

Fix the spine across the back of the sail, using tiny drops of PVA at each point where the spine touches the rim of the sail. Make sure about 2mm of spine projects out past the top of the kite sail.

Add weight to the spine and leave it to dry.

Cut a piece of thread roughly four times as long as the spine.

Fold the thread in half, and glue the tips of the cut ends to the tip of the spine.

Cut a second piece of thread, about one and a half times as long as the spine. Tie it to the small amount of spine you left sticking out of the top of the kite, and to the spine at the base of the sail. Add a tiny drop of glue to lock it, then trim off loose ends as closely as you can.

Full disclosure, this kite does not fly as well as a regular-sized kite - it needs a brisk breeze, and flutters quite unsteadily, but I've found that this is common with miniature kites, which are much more sensitive to turbulent air than my normal-sized kites, which are usually a hundred times larger.

Tie a bobbin of light cotton thread to the bridle with a tight, double-overhand knot. It should be tight enough that it won't work up and down the bridle by itself, but just loose enough that you can nudge it up and down the bridle to find the perfect flying angle for the conditions you are in (slide it closer to the top of the bridle in windier weather, slide it down as the wind drops).