FOR Marvin Cole, Easter isn’t just about flying kites but it is also about finding something for the youths to do and keeping them occupied with a worthwhile pastime, such as learning to make kites.

This 41-year-old who resides at Vigilance, East Coast Demerara, for the past few years has been sharing his skills of kite-making from scratch with the youths of Buxton where he has set up a tent on the roadside just off Church of God Road, Buxton.
This is a tradition for Marvin Cole who would ensure the young men of Buxton engage in the meaningful activity of kite-making.
Cole told the Pepperpot Magazine that he set up his tent since February 23 and that he has made about 1,200 kites of varying colours and sizes to date.

THE ART OF KITE-MAKING
The youths, who are under his watch, would get a stipend for their work and everyone has a job they specialise in. For example, Joshua Nurse, 19, would only cut the frills for the kites because he is good at it.

All materials such as kite paper are sourced from Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago and Brazil since they are of good quality and they have a wide variety of colours.

He said the wood used for the kite frames are locally acquired from a furniture store.

The kite-maker added that nylon twine is used to frame kites that are two and a half to three feet and bag twine are used to frame kites that are two feet and smaller.

PATIENCE NEEDED
Cole told the Pepperpot Magazine that kite-making is a tedious task and it takes time and patience to get it right.

He explained that they test-fly all kites made at their tent before they go on sale so when a customer makes a purchase it is a proper kite they are taking away. Cole said the small kites are harder to get up while the bigger kites would go up very easily.

He noted that to frame a kite such as the star-point would take about 30 minutes because of its detailed design while kites made from a template take about 15 minutes to frame in which the kite paper is pasted onto the kite frame.

Cole said that a diamond kite is not easy to design and would take about one and a half hours, while a box kite takes about five to 10 minutes to fully complete.

He stated that the kite-making process is straight-forward and the youths would build the kite frames from scratch and he would do the more intricate designs such as the star-point, ‘hassar’ back and diamond designs of the kites.

Cole has made a very large kite which is six feet tall and costs $15,000. He calls it a masterpiece, with its bright colours of blue and red.

EARLY BEGINNINGS
Cole started kite-making involving the youths in 1989 as a side-hustle near Benjamin’s Bakery in Buxton but later moved to the road front to make kites for wholesale purposes.

Cole said last year they made 2,000 kites and it was not enough for customers so this year they are hoping to make about 3,000 kites in total.

He pointed out that the demand is great so they have a lot of kites to complete and will be making kites up until Easter Monday.

Cole said he makes his bulk purchases of 3,000 kite papers early in the year and all other materials in preparation for the Easter season.

A well-made kite costs $1,200 and Cole guarantees that his kites will fly and are of good quality.

Every day the camp is filled with children of the community who would visit to either assist in kite-making or flying kites and Cole would usually accommodate them because he doesn’t want to disappoint them.

Cole said he will start delivering kites on Wednesday to his bulk customers but stated that walk-ins are welcome and customers can even visit his camp and get a first-hand look at how their kite is being made.

For Cole this season isn’t about making money but to get the youths to do something with their time.