String Figures And How To Make Them

Diagrams and text illustrate the steps involved in creating over one hundred string figures while providing information on their origin and cultural background

Rooted in tribal customs and cultural traditions from around the world, making string figures is an ancient pastime that continues to charm people of all ages. This compilation of projects from String Figure Magazine presents easy-to-follow photographs and simple, step-by-step directions for creating more than two dozen captivating string figures that can jump, flip, and perform other tricks. In addition to basic instructions on how to get started, this guide features brief accounts of each figure's historical background. They include "Kidnapped Baby" and "Broken Home, Mended Home" from Hawaii, "A Flock of Birds" and "Old Man Chewing" from the Solomon Islands, and the Australian "Setting Sun." From the Congo come "Leopard's Mouth," "Rubber Band" from Tibet, and from India, "Scissors." Other figures spotlight the traditions of North America's Navajo and Kwakiutl peoples and natives of Brazil, Guyana, and Argentina. A great travel pastime and on-the-go activity, making string figures is a delightful, inexpensive, and easily acquired hobby.

Collects instructions drawn from the pages of String Figure Magazine explaining how to create such string "sculptures" as "Twinkling star," "Polar Bear," "Erupting volcano," and "Andromeda galaxy"

This book may be regarded as an introduction to the study of String Figures—games which are widespread among primitive peoples, and played by weaving on the hands a single loop of string in order to produce intricate patterns supposed to represent certain familiar objects. I have gathered together the facts already known concerning these games, and, adding my own studies and the unpublished records of other observers, I have here described and illustrated the methods whereby about one hundred string figures are made. My purpose has been twofold: to interest other students in the subject, in order that additional figures and their methods may be collected among various tribes and races; and to reach a still larger public, that more people may share in the fascinations of the games themselves. The games are certainly fascinating, appealing as they do to young and to old, and to those debarred from all pastimes demanding physical exertion. Moreover, they are not unduly difficult; and, capable as they are of infinite variations, their charm ought to be inexhaustible.

Provides directions, illustrated with photographs, for making many different string figures-- from the fairly simple Jacob's Ladder to more complex Mt. Fuji-- along with information about their history and meaning.

Finger string games are a wonderful opportunity for today's children to practice meaningful movement, explore space, interact with others, and exercise their creative spirits. They are also great fun String games can be especially useful to children who struggle at school or are dyslexic, and for those who are learning the concepts of "left and right" and "up and down." Finger Strings contains games that will delight all children, from the very young to those with greater dexterity. Michael Taylor has many years of experience working with children and has shared his string figures at schools and camps throughout the world. Finger Strings contains more than eighty inventive, imaginative string games and stories, all clearly illustrated with step-by-step, color diagrams. This book is designed especially to require minimal page-turning while making string shapes. Ringbound to lie flat. Includes two brightly colored strings to get you started.

This is a new release of the original 1962 edition.