My Dear Readers,
Shortly after publishing my instructions on how to build your very own space kayak…
I was deluged with requests for instruction on how to fly those little aircrafts…
This is a bit more tricky, but I will do my best to explain it.
Hmmmm. Hmmmmm. Well…it is a little hard to explain. There is a special poem we use on our planet of Little Wave, and that poem is essential to flying. It is really hard to translate into most of the Earth’s languages…although, of course, the bird language has something quite similar…
Well, let me try.
Once, shortly after I first came to Earth, I saw a beautiful program on Public Television. Unfortunately, I don’t remember the name of the program or who made it, because it was quite a while ago. My friend Tabasco explained to me at length about plagerism & copyright fringes & other such things. (This was something new to me, because on our planet, we freely share all good ideas, & we simply put our really bad ideas into something like a compost bin, so they can decompose into something nourishing & useful after some time has passed.) So…
I am very sorry I cannot give credit to the creators of this program I am about to tell you about, but maybe someone out there will recognize it & please let me know!
But it is essential that I tell you about it, in order to share the secret of flying!
If I remember correctly, the show starts out with a storyteller from Africa, telling the ancient stories of Anansi the Spider…later on in time, the same storyteller travels to the United States, during the time of slavery, and he sees a young woman with a downcast face, working with sadness & misery in a field. He says to her these words, “Listen My Daughter…
The young woman looks up at him, & hope begins to dawn in her eyes. Slowly she straightens herself, & spreads her arms up, rising up into the sky, flying to her freedom…
…although I am not able to quite translate our ancient flying poetry into your language, those words above are the closest I have heard here on Earth…
I hope that helps a little bit!
Now, just start out with tiny flights, & you will see what works well & soon be able to go a bit farther! That is how all the young clay balls start out, when they first begin to fly!
love,
Clay Ball
Just lately, many of my dear readers throughout the world–as well as a few readers from other planets–have been writing & asking, “Clay Ball, can you please show us how to build a space kayak?!?”
And today is the perfect day to show you how!
Somehow the Earth’s atmosphere really does a number on our space kayaks…maybe from all the particles in the air, compared to nearly frictionless space travel! (The run-in with the birch tree was probably no help at all!)
As a big surprise last week, my tiny niece Joy & her Dad, Thor, washed my old kayak, until it was sparkling clean & bright!
I was amazed how beautiful my trusty old kayak looked, just like the day it was first built!
I decided that I would build a new kayak, using materials found here on Earth, & from now on, I will only use my old kayak for very special space outings… So, here is how it is done…
First, you will need a piece of thin, smooth, flexible cardboard, similar in thickness to a manila folder or perhaps a yellow hanging file folder, if you happen to have a bunch of them lying around somewhere in a closet…maybe some thin, colorful poster board or a Kleenex or pasta box would work as welll…
You can see a (larger-than) life-sized template in the first picture above…
…but these rulers will help give you an estimate of the size of the kayak in both metric & the English system…
The keel of the kayak measures about 7-1/2 cm in length…after cutting out the kayak, you can just fold the kayak in half lengthwise to form its keel…
…and then you can make two folds, about a centimeter to either side of the keel, so the kayak will have a flatter bottom. It is more comfortable for long-distance space travel that way!
For short trips & a sleeker silhouette, you may just like to omit the extra folds…
Then, there are some super adhesives I found here on Earth…2 small pieces of scotch tape are just used to attach the two halves of the bow & stern together…
To tape, just curve the ends up a bit, & place the tape along the inside edge of the bow, taping the two sides together…& do the same for the stern…
…Finally, something I found here on Earth called decoupage medium is optional, but will add a protective glossy finish to your kayak. This might be a good idea if you are travelling here within the Earth’s atmosphere, what with all the nitrogen, oxygen, argon, birch trees, & so on, floating about everywhere…
(If you are using a pasta box or some material with its own glossy finish, this final touch may not be necessary…or if you plan on travelling mostly in a low-friction, outer space environment!)
And there you have it…your very own beautiful new space kayak!
Enjoy!
love,
Clay Ball
