Small Amwangiyo adds one diamond to either side of a central motif. Each diamond is bisected by a horizontal loop that emanates from the central motif and wraps around the palmar knot.
Small Amwangiyo is often used in place of Amwangiyo-Nauru Ending whenever a simpler and more stable design is desired. For example, when Ijauwe showed Honor Maude how to make Jayne fig. 835, he finished with Small Amwangiyo rather than Amwangiyo-Nauru Ending. As a result, the central motif of his figure was flanked on either side by one diamond rather than two as illustrated by Jayne. Others used Eongatubabo to finish the figure. All three versions were said to represent the same thing: a man and his two wives!
Amwangiyo adds one and a half diamonds to either side of the central design motif. Amwangiyo means “branched” in Nauruan, perhaps referring to the long horizontal loops that emanate from the center of the figure.
The Nauru Ending serves several purposes. First, it converts the short double 2 and double 5 loops to long single loops so that the Caroline Extension can be applied. Second, it creates palmar knots that can be pushed or pulled before the extension to shorten the frame lines and expand the design. Third, it converts the half diamond found at either end of the parent figure, into a whole diamond so that two bisected diamonds flank the central motif on either side. Three of the fifteen Nauruan figures in the back of Jayne’s book (figs. 829, 832, and 835) have central designs that are flanked by 2 bisected diamonds, suggesting that each was finished using the Amwangiyo-Nauru Ending sequence.
Fig. 836 in the back of Jayne’s book is one of the fifteen intricate string figures that Ernst Stephen collected at Nauru over 100 years ago. The figures are referred to as “unsolved” because Mr. Stephen failed to record how they are made.
Fig. 836, which represents a floor mat made from plaited palm fronds, was reconstructed by Honor Maude. Remarkably, it is nothing more than a simple variation of the figure shown on the previous page!
Here’s the figure you get upon completing the Amwangiyo sequence.
Upon completing the Nauru Ending, you might get four double-walled diamonds instead of a mesh.
If so, arrange the pattern so that the strings are evenly spaced along the upper and lower frame lines. You now have Jayne 836.
