Kite Personalities - Charlie Sotich

"King of the Minis" and "The Scientist" are Sotich nicknames, reflecting the esteemed position he holds in the kite world. Born, reared and educated in Chicago, he took a master's degree at the Illinois Institute of Technology and had a twenty-five-year career as a mechanical engineer. Early on he built and flew rubberband-powered balsa model airplanes for recreation and won many trophies with his creations, racking up a 33-minute flight in a blimp hangar. When he turned to kites in 1973, he used the light-weight technology he had mastered to make miniature kites.

Technical innovations are Sotich's forte, among them a machine to blow bubbles that visually show the direction and turbulence of wind; the device won top prize in accessories at the AKA'S 1982 nationals. Sotich has made all the classics, including a "flip-flop rokkaku" whose Samurai image smiles flying upright, then frowns when flipped.

Miniatures, though, are his passion: "They are easy to build, cheap-pennies apiece-and I can give them away. My friends are happy and I'm happy they're happy. Little is better, more efficient." Self-effacing Charlie would never blow his own horn, but he has donated kites to hundreds of kite events and has raised untold amounts of money to keep them alive. Using delicate split bamboo for spars, mylar or cocktail napkins for sails, Christmas tinsel for tails and thread for line, Sotich makes two-inch mini kites that look charming and fly beautifully. They weigh as little as 3/10-thousandth of an ounce. "But you really have to watch the weight making them," he says. "It's a challenge." One advantage to minis: they don't require a large workshop. Sotich puts a board over washtubs in his basement and that's his work space. Festival kite fliers are envious, dragging their airline-legal 50-pound bags onto kite fields everywhere - Charlie packs hundreds of kites into a briefcase!

Link here and click on the image for a look at Charlie’s miniature kites.

Adapted from an article in 1991 Kite Pin Invitational, a Drachen Foundation publication (1995)