Once DF Executive Director Ali Fujino learned that Ralf Maserski would be heading to the West Coast of the United States to teach at the Oregon Kitemakers Retreat, she decided to lure him first to the Study Center for a few days of volunteer work. As past vice-president of the German Kitefliers Association, and past editor of Hochhinaus, the club magazine, Ralf has the broad familiarity with a range of kiting topics to cast a judicious eye over the contents of the Skinner Snoek archive. After three full days of work, Ralf had reviewed just one file drawer of twelve; discussion can now take place on how to proceed with the rest of it. As the grateful Fujino explained, “Ralf could review in three days what it might have taken me, with my rusty German, three months to assess.” Most satisfying for Ralf? To be honest, probably neither the DF Study Center nor the Kitemakers Retreat; rather, on his way home to Germany, back-to-back concerts in New York by the Rolling Stones.
On the same front, two other volunteers are making invaluable contributions to DF’s Paper in Flight project. Videographer Matthew Stubbs volunteered his services for a whirlwind trip to Colorado, to record the making and flying of the 42-inch Lesley Dill kites [link to Paper in Flight Part II posting]. Since the ten-foot Divide Light that Dill and MICA students will construct in Baltimore at the end of February will not be flown, this weekend represented the one-and-only opportunity to capture images of Divide Light in flight. The wind-and-weather gods played their parts, but Matt, you’re the DF hero of the hour!
And the intrepid Jack Masashi Fujino, after counting every kite pin he could find on the shelves of the Study Center, has taken on the job of stuffing 2100 tiny glassine envelopes with Lesley Dill’s drawing of a miniature kite. The kite, to be included in copies of the twentieth anniversary edition of the journal, Hand Papermaking, is printed in red ink (via computer) on handmade paper. The journal will include careful instructions on how to cut out the image and assemble it as a kite, flyable indoors. Thank you, Jack.