Twenty Mojo 9912′s are available for order. Price is $289, including a $50 deposit to hold your place on the build list. I’ll be building at about 8 a month, starting 3rd week of February.  In the event that all 20 are not sold by March 1st, orders will be closed at that time.  No discounts or specials apply.

You can use the button below to reserve your place on the build list. If you have a favorite number between 1 and 20, please let me know. I can’t guarantee it, but I’ll try. Once you’ve reserved your Mojo, I’ll be in touch with an estimated build date. I’ll send an invoice for the balance a few days before your kite is ready to ship.

Click the image at the right to visit the Mojo page for specifications and more info.

Available numbers -
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

request a number (if avail.)

I’m not sure what demand will be, so let’s put it this way – I’ll take orders for 20 kites or leave availability open for 30 days, whichever comes first.  After that, the patterns will go back into the “vault”.  Only a UL version will be available.

I’m currently finishing up prototypes and will have details, specs, and pictures up in the next couple days.  Price will be $289, including a $50 deposit.  I would expect building to start in 2-3 weeks, at a rate of about 2 kites a week.  I’ll publish a build list and schedule online.

There may be some limitations on fabric availability.  There is currently no black Icarex available, and stock of dark gray, yellow and reg. orange is very, very limited.  This can change at any time, and I’ll try to keep availability posted.  Fortunately, I guess, white is a very popular UL color, and stock on white looks good for now.  If you’re heart-set on black, or one of the other colors that aren’t available, request a place at the bottom of the list.  I’ll do what I can, but be prepared with a 1st and 2nd choice color combination.

More soon…

The are artisan cheeses, beers and breads, most made and marketed by dubiously distinct divisions of mega-companies.  Last weekend, we ordered pizza from Domino’s, and among their offerings were the new “artisan” pizzas.  Suddenly, I can’t get past the use of the word artisan to market something thought up in a conference room and developed in a soulless test kitchen.  It was pretty good, but nothing to make a life-change over.   In fairness, I’ll probably get it again, especially if the price stays at $7.99

So, I need a new word.  I need one that not only distinguishes me from the factories (more on factories and such soon), but also from the hobbyist builder (which is a whole other post, possibly also coming soon ).  What do you think?

When I first wrote about this, I left the door open for a few special kites, or “artist’s proofs”. Now that I’m wrapping it up, I can tell you that the only kites beyond the main 20 will be one for myself and one special, the proceeds of which will be donated to charity. I think this one is already gone, but if that changes, I’ll post it here.

Thanks again, have fun out there!

Over the last couple years, it’s become increasingly difficult to nail down a firm schedule.  Life always seems to get in the way of plans and schedules – just as it should, I guess.  Work on the stairwell leading to my studio, and I can’t get access – there goes half a day.  A cat needs to go to the vet – well, you get the idea.  Add to this the hard fact that working until the middle of the night or getting up at 0-dark-thirty just doesn’t have the same appeal it did 15-20 years ago.

Please don’t think this is an indication that I don’t appreciate your business and cherish the relationships that have come my way through BMK and Aerie.   In large part, it’s an indication of getting a little older, and wanting a little me time, as well as family time.  I’m also hoping to spend more time working on stuff that has little or no direct connection to my job.

I’ll do my best to give a realistic time estimate, but please don’t be too concerned if the schedule is a little relaxed.  Maybe we should just think of it as “Carolina time”. 

The latest addition to the “Moonie” series is coming soon. The Moonie Mongoose will be silver, slate, royal blue and black. I’ll have pictures soon, but the image at the right will give you a good idea. You can see this combo in the sky here.

20 Moonie Mongooses are available for order, with an additional 5 as “artist’s proofs”. Price is $359, for Nitro or UL, with a $60 deposit to hold your place on the build list. I’ll be building at about 8 a month, starting 3rd week of April. This will be the last of the “Moonie” stunt kite series. Sorry, no discounts or specials apply.

You can use the button below to reserve your place on the build list. If you have a favorite number between 1 and 20, please let me know. I can’t guarantee it, but I’ll try. Once you’ve reserved your Moonie Mongoose, I’ll be in touch with an estimated build date. I’ll send an invoice for the balance a few days before your kite is ready to ship.

Reserve your Moonie Mongoose -
You can find a list of available numbers here

Frame choice

Nitro UL

request a number (if avail.)

 

Effective today, I’m passing that saved time back on to you.  When you order two or more “substantially identical” kites, you can take 10% off the your total.  That’s $60 on a $600 order.  That’s enough to take your sweetheart out for a nice dinner (at least in Lenoir, NC).  I’m thinking this will be on-going, but let’s try it for 6 months and see how it goes.  That’s 9/23/11, for those that are counting.

What is “substantially identical?”, you ask.  Well, for our purposes, it means you can change one thing between the kites.  For example, one sail color.   It also means that if your sails are identical, you can change framing – a std. and UL with the same sail pattern.

There may be excluded kites in the future, but for now, this offer is good for any Blue Moon kite.

Please let me know if you have any questions, or if I can get your new pairs kites on the schedule!

This kite never really had a name, but had collected the nickname “The Beast”.  We called it the beast not because of its size or pull, but because of an overly complicated framing scheme, and a propensity towards breaking fittings, sometimes when it was just sitting on the ground.

This is the kite that became the Ichiban.  The current framing is a simplification of the original plan.  I’ve uploaded a couple pictures.  You might notice that I switched the tail around between shots.  The angled picture is the way it was originally planned, but I got it wrong in my haste to get on the road last fall.

No video (yet), but a great set of images from Stephen Versteegh at DesignKites.  Check the set out here, and don’t be too embarrassed if you drool just a bit, I know I did.