LLX > Neil Parker > String Figures > Jayne
1. Point left thumb horizontally to the right. Pick up the loop with the right hand, and drape it over the left thumb, back to front, so that a long loop hangs down behind the thumb (on the far side), and a short loop hangs down in front (on the near side).
2. With the right middle, ring, and little fingers, grasp the long hanging loop (the two far left thumb strings) near the end.
3. Insert the right thumb and index away from you into the short hanging loop (formed by the two left near thumb strings). Continuing the motion, pass the right thumb below (to the left of) the lower left far thumb string, and the right index above (to the right of) the upper left far thumb string. Then touch the tips of the right thumb and index together, and bring them back toward you between the two far thumb strings and the near hanging loop. Straighten the right thumb and index (which should now be carrying the far left thumb strings on their backs) and the left thumb.
4. Give the left thumb loops a full twist away from you.
5. Pass the left little finger toward you over all strings, and then into the right thumb loop from below, from the near side. Pick up the right near thumb string, and return. Release right thumb, and turning the left little finger a half-turn away and down, clasp its loop against the left palm.
6. Insert the left thumb into the right index loop from above, and pick up the right index loop, removing it from the right index.
7. With the thumb and index of the right hand, take the two lower loops on the back of the left thumb, and lift them off the thumb, past the upper loop.
To make the figure look like the illustration, turn it over by rotating both hands a half-turn toward you.
These instructions are taken from [Jenness 1924] (figure XXVI, "The Rabbit"). A careful inspection shows that the string crossings don't quite match the string crossings of Jayne's figure - Jayne's figure appears to be wrong, and may be impossible. The instructions produce a figure that differs from Jayne's in only two string crossings.
The hand positions in the illustration, which Jayne copied from [Boas 1888], appear to be completely artificial.
LLX > Neil Parker > String Figures > Jayne