Date: Sun, 5 Jun 1994 18:25:02 -1000 From: lthrall@netcom.com (Lee Thrall) Message-Id: Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest) Subject: (brief) Junction report The 6th annual Junction Kitemaker's Retreat was held over Memorial Day weekend in lovely Junction, Texas, pop. 2500 (2650 over Junction weekend!). This event attracts kitemaking enthusiasts from all over the US. This year's international attendees were from Japan, England, Wales, Bali, Holland, Guatemala, and Canada. I won't go into too much detail, but here are some impressions I think are worth passing on: One of the most popular workshops was given by Martin Lester, who taught the attendees how to make his new inflatable "bugs". Martin claimed that there was only about 1/2 hour of sewing needed to complete the project. Well...eight hours later the bugmakers emerged victorious from the sweatshop (the air conditioning was shut off at one point .. some suspected Martin did it to encourage people to hurry up & finish :-) . Some of the bugs had real personalities. Gail Lindsay appliqued a face on hers with kind of a "come hither" look to it; Dorrine Imbach's design was based on a pair of pants she claimed she owned back in the 60's (and actually WORE?) featuring pink polka dots on a day-glo green background - always a trend setter; Ed Wright went for the Executive Bug look with a snappy red gray & white stripe design; Bonnie Wright responded with a kind of Black Widow spider design (grin); Dawn Williams went disco with purple lame'. Out on the flying field, Dan Kurahashi good-naturedly ribbed Scott Skinner on his adaptation of the traditional Japanese Sode kite; Dan was heard to mutter something about Scott messing with hundreds of years of Japanese kitemaking tradition. In response, Scott bridled his Sode to fly upside-down. I am told Dan was speechless. The auction had some really great offerings. The showstopper was contributed by the four members of the Junction Kite Club (Bill Lockhart, Betty Street, Scott Skinner and Bob Mosier) who got together to build a cooperative box kite (in the Jose-Randy-Stretch et.al. tradition), each contributing two beautiful patchwork panels to the final product. Bidding was fierce, and in the end it was between Mrs. Tokuko Sato >From Japan and Carol Kimberly. As the bidding went up, Carol's husband Stretch Tucker sunk lower under the table. Finally Mrs. Sato won out, much to Stretch's relief. Other rec.kiters in attendance besides myself (gcijrp@class.org) and Lee (lthrall@netcom.com) were Anne Rock (rock@netcom.com) and the now-famous Karen "like we care" Gustavson (takogus@aol.com) and Dick Bell (dickbell@netcom.com) - if I forgot anyone I appologise. This is the third year Lee and I have attended this event. It's a really great place to go and learn about kitemaking, make new friends and have an allaround great time in a relaxed, non-competitive setting. That's all for now. Looking forward to Fano! - Joanne (who is weasling in on Lee's account) = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =