12/28/08

Talk to us! & New Years Day fly

We hope you are having a good holiday time out there!
If you have any questions about the products we offer, special ordering, shipping, or random kite questions always feel free to ask!
If you are a text message person feel free to send us text messages @ 406.205.0432 and we can get right back to you (your normal text message fees apply from your wireless carriers)

If you happen to be in the Rhode Island area for New Years Day we will be out at Brenton Point State Park in Newport for the day!

Happy, Safe & Windy New Years to all of you!

12/11/08

The Holidays have arrived!

Remind your loved ones (whom ever they may be)
that you might like a cool one of a kind item from Windswept Kites!!!!

We accept checks, cash, and credit cards -via paypal no account needed!

Where else can you get such neat kites and banners from?

The offerings are getting slim so get them while you can!!!

We know that you want to see a long thin package with your name on it!

To all:
Have a Great and Safe Holiday Season!!!!!!!

WsK

11/5/08

Advertisements!

If you are active on the FracturedAxel.co.uk forum you might have seen our new banner ad!

Thanks goes to Andy (King of FA) & Craig , Frazer for starting the communications, & Sam (indigo_wolf) for design help on the banner!

Fractured Axel is not just a web forum though. There is a weird doppelganger effect going on. Where WsK is all about single line kites and banners, FA is all about the really nice dual line kites that are out there! Same spiel: the cool kites that are hard to find. For an Akuji, a Cosmic, a Blue Moon, or an Opera, you find Andy and Craig's web shop. As well as offering up some nice schwag, line, and parts, they keep the forum running smoothly and congenially.

So, take a wander over to FracturedAxel.co.uk and take a left into the store or a right into the forum and say hey!
You will find us in there as well*

Good Winds!

11/2/08

Requests from the "Great White North"?

Good afternoon!
It was-really. Good friends, wind, the sun, kites, the pups, lots of spectators all at Colt State Park this afternoon.
But, the sad part is that the last two Boreal Designs Two-Four Arches are now part of another person's collection. And yet the good part is that means:
ORDERING!
Any specific orders from Boreal Designs on your holiday want list? your significant others list? or just for the heck of having a really cool kite to fly? An order will be put in with Eric and Anne by the end of the week. So-if you are interested in a certain piece they have we can get it for you quickly! Please, drop an email to us and we can work out the particulars!

(a Brigid's Shield might have already been requested)

Good Fall Winds!
WsK

10/11/08

New Items, not kites though.

Okay, I will admit it. I have a thing for Rubber Duckies. Always have. I have no clue as to what started it. Our niece was staying with us, and I mentioned something about there being at least one rubber ducky in each room. Thanks to good suppliers-I mean friends we can actually say that, the bathroom alone has the smallest duck and the largest duck, and about 15 others.

A good friend was at the American Kite Association National Convention in 2006, I called him to see if there was anything in the auction I might be interested in. "A bunch of yellow ducky banners" Rob said. I immediately had to have them. Two weeks later a package of yellow ducky banners appeared at the house, and have since then spent a lot of time in the front yard-to the amusement of our neighbors!

2007 AKA National Convention comes around, but this time he called me to see if i wanted to add to the flock. "Of course!" Three weeks later our Ducky flock had doubled, but with a few new Duck species.

So, it is with much delight that I announce that Windswept Kites is only retailer carrying Mike and Cel Dallmer's Ducky banners! You might have seen them at a festival. Well now you can get them!

How big of a flock do you need?














Picture by a member of the Dallmer family

Out to the Park

Sunday Oct. 12th there will be a gathering of kiters at Brenton Point State Park in Newport RI. There just might happen to be a box of kites, banners and such headed down there for a few hours.

For those of you who might want to go but have not been to Brenton Point before here is a map for you:

View Larger Map

If there is something you want from WsK bring cash/check/or an internet accessible phone (for paypal at the field!) and you can walk away with it.
Look for the blue ute ( since our banner is back with Dave right now while he makes a 2nd one to match the first) to find us.

Hopefully everyone out there is enjoying a good holiday weekend!

10/9/08

Website Education (on my part)

Well I am learning out there.
There was an issue with the last time I updated the Aerial Art page.
I had lost the thumbnail images on the page,
but you were still able to click through on the link to see the larger view.
So, a bit of trouble shooting, and of time, and learned what might have been the problem (and fixed it-a bit of operator error). So check that pile of painted ripstop out.

I will admit that even though the images were not on that page some people found the viewable link and still purchased items! Quite determined!

Soon going up will be the Dallmer Duckies Flock.
Fun little ducky banners to add to the garden or the flying field.

So far there are only 3 of you using the feedburner email system.
Does that mean that lots more people are reading this directly?
Please feel free to drop me an email and let me know!

r

9/20/08

Good news and not as good news....

The website is being reloaded.

The Big Announcement pertaining to Aerial Art is that there are no more Cypods available. The next chance we get to acquire some will be 2009. Scott is taking time to work on some other more needed projects. So the last two Cypods that we have will be it until then. TriWings might fall into the same deal-although we are not certain yet.

The new Aerial Art page is up. There are problems with some of the small images but you can click through to big pictures easily enough.

Also coming is a Flock of Ducks-a Brace of ducks- what ever you call a big group of ducks. Mike Dallmer has signed up with us and shipped up a box of his rapidly becoming famous Ducky banners (and yes the box had air holes).

Just in time for fall: for those kitemakers out there there is going to be a plan for a new kite out of Belgium, designed by our new friend Christophe Tournay. Christophe made a Leaf kite for an outdoor education group in Belgium, and the kites were a hit. There are two bows on them and you can adjust them to be stable or be a fighter. Now this is not a kite made OUT of a leaf. This is a Chikara and Micro-carbon kite. This will test your hot cutting skills! Ready for a challenge?
Picture by Etienne from his Picasa page of Nieuwpoort 2008.
Here is a small Video that Etienne shot of the Leaf flying.
More info on the Leaf when the files hit our computer.
Bon vent everyone!!!!!

r

9/17/08

News from Windswept Kites

Not everyone is up to date on the latest technology. So, some people might be following changes to the WindsweptKites.com news by the rss feed. But now for those of you looking for an easier way to keep up to date with us, toss your email address in the box below. Feedburner will shoot any new blog post directly to your email inbox. Then you do not have to come here (unless you want to). This subscription option is also always just to the left at the top of that column.

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner




Good reading!

9/2/08

The Kite Yard Sale revisited



Well, we are back from our rainy wet vacation in Maine. It took us awhile to get all of our gear dried out and put away, but we did it.


So back to the grindstone!

The Yard Sale of kites has been updated. There is some stuff left. If there is something you see that you are interested in let me know. Any offer will be considered (if not accepted-we do need a trailer hitch on the Baja wink wink know a garage in our area?).

As for new stock-we are sorting items out. We received a box of Ducky banners from New Jersey-you know the yellow ones that are popping up at festivals around the country. All different types (they have different eyes-you will see soon enough). That page is being worked on.

There will soon be a plan for a really neat kite, designed by a new Belgian friend, that will tug at your Autumn dreams on the website as well. Get your hot cutters and ripstop ready for this one!

There will be more news coming very soon so get your rss readers ready and your paypal fingers warmed up!

8/7/08

Vacation!!!!

Yep, we are going on vacation!
We will be incommunicado starting Saturday evening until the following Sunday (August 9th-17th). This is an annual retreat so keep this in mind for the following years as well, okay?

Any orders received during that time period will be filled in the order they were received when we get back and get the Baja unpacked.

This applies also to any and all "Yard Sale" items.

Thanks

rob

8/4/08

the Yard Sale has been updated!

Yes, folks the yard sale is still going on.

With permission of Gone With The Wind Kites' owner Steve (permission granted via a cut of the sales-a huge forum is not free to run!), I posted the yard sale list up in his world wide kite forum's swap meet on Sunday. Monday morning I had 18 emails to respond to, and more came in throughout the day. It is now 11pm and I am done weighing all the items so that the customers can choose their method of shipping, with the weight of the packages known. Lots of email have been responded to, and all have been positive-no one upset at missing the item of their choice!

Here is a direct link to the forum thread over at GWTW-kites.com

That is the most up to date list there is. Some great deals are still there (well actually here in our closet).

I just got notification that a couple of boxes left the Home of Aerial Art (Scott Hampton) today enroute to our place! Keep checking back to see what we get!!!!

rob

7/30/08

Restocking!!!!

A box of items from Scott Hampton is going to be on its way very soon!

While talking with Scott he did announce that there will be no more cypods until 2009. Work is taking precedence, as is another wind related art project (remaking his own display banners).
We will be getting amounts of banners, both matched sets and single banners, for all of you who wish to add to your wind garden or start a new one.

But, a limited amounts of kites goes quickly.........so-

Keep an eye peeled (or click here to subscribe to the WindsweptKites Atom news feed) here for posts about what has arrived.

If all goes well there will be another kite maker announcement soon, a new friend in Belgium!

Good Winds

r

7/22/08

Searching.....Always searching......

So-
Do you know anyone who makes kites?  

Some neat and different kites? Banners? Spinners?

Would they want to make a few extra and make some money?
Send them onwards to us!


Windswept Kites is always looking to find new kite makers to bring out to the mainstream kiting world.

Please pass the word, and the word is:

Kites

rob

7/14/08

The UNfestival aftermath



Wow...what a good day out there on Saturday! Brenton Point State Park was full of flying fabric!
We usually do not make it down to Brenton Point because we at Colt State Park, but since there was a bunch of people going we thought it would be fun-and it was!

Good friends to hang out with. New friends to make. (Yes-more than a few asked where the pups were-they were hanging out at home in the cool shade).

A bunch of Bob's Yard Sale went to new owners-and so the online list is going to be updated in the next day.

The coolest thing (besides hanging with old friends) was that we got our new feather from Dave. Very neat!!!! What do you think? Readable? Striking? Let us know!!!!

The two most asked questions were:
"Can I have THAT CYPOD?"
&
"Can I have that Ducky?"

We hope to give more positive answers next time (read as-when I get more Cypods you can buy them and the same goes for the duckies!!!).

There was quite a bit of interest in Dave's banners-hopefully they will pan out into orders so that we will be able to show MORE of what Dave can do with banner cloth and a sewing machine!

That is it for now!

r

7/10/08

The 2008 Newport RI Kite UN-Festival

So when High Flyers Flight Co was open there was a great festival associated with us. Sue and Steve worked their tails off to get it running every year. Since HF shut down there was one UN-festival in 2006 (lots of people expect a kite festival so a fun fly evolved) and then in 2007 an online shop got a fest organized.
This year it is looking like the guy from last year is not around, so will there be an organized festival?
Not from the news on a couple of forums.

But, there will be an UN-festival this weekend. Brenton Point in Newport RI, out on Ocean Drive, will be filled with kites.
WindsweptKites will be out there with some parts of the Bob Adams Yard sale and of WsK offerings as well.
If you are interested in some of our items and do not feel like paying shipping and/or want to see the stuff in person first feel free to drop by and find us.
Cash and checks will be accepted (no paypal-unless you have a way to get online out there).

rob

7/7/08

a yard sale?

Yep
A good friend and local flyer has decided to get out of kite flying for other pursuits. He approached me about liquidating his collection. I said "Of course!".

Most of these kites and things I sold Bob, and I know that he takes care of his things.

There is some neat stuff on the list. There is some one-of-a-kind things, there is some mass produced items, there is a lot of line!

The list of items for sale is located here:
http://windsweptkites.com/BobAdamsyardsalelist.htm

Payment is only check/cash/money order (since these are not my kites). Shipping on your chosen items is the real shipping cost-contact me with your address before sending me $ and i will get a quote for you.



There are pictures of most of the items on a picasa web page. Some items pictured might be sold already-the most up to date list is the spreadsheet list with prices et al.

Feel free to drop an email with questions about anything there.

Good Winds!!!!
r

6/19/08

Karl Longbottom's workshop kite-The Swan


As a special order i got in a kit of Karl's swan kite. A popular workshop kite that he offers. Lots of parts for this fantastic kite! But at the time of this order there did not exist written instructions for it-previously you only got the kit at a workshop with Karl standing over your shoulder hollering out direction s (no not really-I hope). So Karl and Sara got me a disc with 23 photographs and 5 pages of written instructions and about 7 diagrams on how to assemble this kit. If you are interested-I can get more kits and all the instructions are found here:


Karl has been working on a neat kite lately- a reproduction of a Salmon 18 wing. About a 100 year old design. Want a neat one-of-a-kind kite? We do special requests!

rob

5/28/08

Deep Emptiness

There is emptiness deep in the area where Aerial Art usually is. The only thing we have from Mr. Hampton at this moment are feathers.

Hopefully, there will be a box of fun painted stuff on its way to us soon!
and the second it gets here you will know!
But
do not forget the other stuff still up there at Windsweptkites!!!!

4/28/08

Changing and updating

Wander on over to Windsweptkites.com and peruse the stuff. New makers have been added, pictures have been reformatted to load quickly, and Ripstop creations are up for sale!

4/17/08

One of OUR favorite things to fly:


An Arch.....
They are so very simple to fly-stake down one end and roll out the kites across the field and stake down the other end. They will settle down gently if the wind dies. They will relaunch themselves when the wind picks up. Keep them perpendicular to the wind for best flight.
You can create tunnels underneath a series of arches.
You can make a wall across an end of the flying field.
You can make giant arches by connecting the end of one arch to the next arch to make a HUGE arch across the field!
You can stack the arches-with care- to make them look like the Olympic rings as well (takes a bit of setup for that one ;) )
In our personal bags we have one arch that was made by Gary Sharp of NY, a big promotional New Tech Kites arch (it was a gift), and a Boreal Designs Arch. That last one is our favorite.

Eric and Anne make fantastic kites. Most incorporate celtic designs. The kites that they make are all limited series kites so you have to get them while you can!

Previously the Boreal Arch (the Two-Four "a Canuckism for a case of beer, or 24 bottles") was available only in red/white or black/white combinations.
But, Windswept Kites is very honored that Eric and Anne slaved away screenprinting like mad to make us very special arches-PURPLE/WHITE! Yeeha!

We are awaiting this box of arches, and will post them online as soon as they get here so- keep an eye peeled!

WsK

4/2/08

Email hiccup all gone

a tablespoon of sugar helped it all out ;)
r

Longbottom kites




Wow
We have a good amount of kites in our collection-but there are some kites that you come across sometimes that just make you stop and stare at it...
Our latest shipment includes kites just like that.
We are very happy to be working with Karl Longbottom from the UK-even more so because of his amazing and intriguing designs that fly so well.

I am in awe of these kites.

Simple as that-just amazing.....





3/20/08

CYPODS!!!!

Are all gone....
we have no more....
Hopefully we will be able to get some more in soon!
but keep checking here for our new product offerings from the United States, Canada, the UK and New Zealand!
r

3/17/08

email issues

I just want to post up here that we are having email issues....
Trying to get them fixed as soon as possible.....
thanks
rob

3/6/08

The Avian persuasion?

So we realized the other night that without meaning to we have offered/are going to be offering up a handful of bird banners.
Scott Hampton's Decoys
Robert Van Weers' Kiwi banners
Mike Dallmer Ducky banners (coming soon)
hmmmm....I swear that i did not mean that to happen....i just thought that they were cool in their own ways....

Please keep an eye peeled for this blog-there are things coming and changing that you just might really like!
r

3/2/08

The Boxes are arriving

A box from the UK and a box from New Zealand arrived at our door on Friday when we were both home sick with the flu-do not worry the kites and such are clean ;)
keep an eye peeled for the items on the website...

Decoys.....gotta love the little guys

well they are loved....so much so that there is only one left....those decoys were from Scott Hampton's tucked away group that he used every once in awhile for a art show/festival....
well....
i talked to Scott this evening....there are NO MORE......

If we are lucky we might get Scott to make some new ones (personally i am hoping for his fish decoys to come back-but we will see)....

There is one little birdy left in our tree
and he is saying "who will come buy me?"

but on the bright side we will be offering up another banner of a bird persuasion very very soon....(just as cool in my book -if only for the fact that these are like 2 or 3xlife size)....

r

2/22/08

Images and load times

Good morning on the second day!

It is good to hear all sorts of feedback about WsK!!!

The one that i am hearing most is about the time it takes to load pictures-especially Dave's page....
I am going to be reloading the pages over the next few days with a smaller file format for a faster load...

thanks for your input! and def. keep it coming!

2/12/08

the UPS man delivers!



The box has arrived......
Pictures will be taken....
there will be Ooooing and Aawwwing.......

r

2/8/08

add to the list!

So Windswept Kites is now the distributor of kites made by Karl Longbottom of the UK!
You might have seen a picture of a pair of Y-Fronts (whitey-tighties to us Yankees)
flying up in the air. Well those were Karl's-well hopefully not the ones that he had just been wearing? I guess the fact that he also has flying womens Panties does nto help that question. Well, none-the-less he does have lots of flying underwear/undergarments/skivvies what ever name you call the most personal of clothing. So, bring back the days of your teens (or jump into them if you are younger) and toss your under wear up into the air and watch em fly!


Karl and Sara modeling

Now, Karl does not JUST make underwear kites. We are also getting a few of his new Angel Kites. Keep checking in for a sneak peek of them too!

Check out Longbottom Kites for more of his offerings as well-anything that you ask for we can get!

rob

2/4/08

Box o' Hampton Goodness


Yep.
the first box of stock is on its way to me....all the way from Utah....lots of special painted ripstop in that box that is going to be the first offerings from Windswept Kites.....
keep your eyes peeled here for a post about when the site is up and running!
r

1/23/08

Indoor Deltas?


lost for a gift for an indoor kiteflier???

How about a neat indoor/sdul (super-duper-ultra-light) wind controllable delta????
a Jeff Howard designed kite that is a blast to fly!
i use a carbon rod as a control rod to fly ours-thread your flying line through the rod so that you can control how far the kite will fly....there is no keel on the kite...just a bridle; you can get this kite to flat spin (even with its tails ) easily!!!!

this kite and more coming!!!!
rob

1/21/08

The First day

Well the site is mine.....
now keep an eye peeled at
WindsweptKites.com for the offerings....
they will be limited....they will be special....
they can be yours.......
rob