String Figure Magazine

Table of Contents - Volume 1, number 3 (September 1996) - 24 pages

• Getting Started - fingers, loops, strings, and commands (pages 1-4) - an introduction to words and symbols commonly used in string figure instructions.

• Spectacles for your Nose (pages 5-7) - invented by Udo Engelhardt, Berlin, Germany.

  

• "Taro String Game" (pages 8-10) - collected by A. Kramer from the people of the Truk Islands, Micronesia. A song is sung as the maker alternates between "Taro" (left) and "Boat" (right).

  

• Predicting the Sex of an Unborn Child (pages 11-13) - collected by George Foster from the Wailaki people of California. The outcome of this figure varies each time you make it. Sometimes you get a "girl" (left) and sometimes you get a "boy" (right).

  

• Two Islands Joined by a Log (pages 14-16) - collected by W.E. Roth from the Warrau people of Guyana (left). View the figure from above to see the log (right).

  

• Andromeda Galaxy (pages 17-20) - invented by Felix Paturi, Rodenbach, Germany. This spectacular figure is a variation of "Sacred Circle," a Native American design. Mr. Paturi has invented over thirty additional variations, all equally as beautiful.

  

• The Fox and The Whale (pages 21-24) - collected by G.B. Gordon from the Inuit people of King Island, Alaska. Drawing by Joseph D'Antoni, Queens, New York. The "fox" is on the right, his tail high in the air. The "whale" (actually, his carcass) is on the left. The fox has just finished nibbling on the whale's carcass and is running away because someone is coming.

  

• Resources (inside back cover) - learning more about the string figures in this issue.

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