LLX > Neil Parker > String Figures > Jayne
[Jayne 1906] and [Gordon 1906] describe this figure but provide no illustrations. Jayne directs readers to her figure "Mouth," which has the same final pattern but upside down. The method is completely different from Jayne's, but essentially the same as [Jenness 1924]'s figure XV ("The Little Finger", second method).
1. Pick up loop on thumbs and indexes.
2. Pass little fingers toward you over all strings, and close them down over far index string and near thumb string.
3. With right thumb, pick up left thumb-index string from below and return, and release left thumb. Similarly, with left thumb, pick up right thumb-index string from below and return, releasing this string (but not the new right thumb loop) from the right thumb. Release index loops.
4. Transfer thumb loops to indexes.
5. Insert thumbs from above into index loops, and pull down near index strings. Then pass thumbs away from you into little finger loops, and pick up both near little finger strings, returning through index loops. Release index loops.
6. Insert indexes from above into thumb loops, and give them a half-turn away from you and up, picking up the loops that hook around far thumb strings. Release thumbs and little fingers.
7. Insert middle, ring, and little fingers from below into index loops. Close them over near index strings, and release indexes, and re-insert them toward you through middle-ring-little finger loops.
To demonstrate the action of the trap, a second player inserts a finger into the triangle in the middle, and the first player tightens the loop around the finger by rotating the wrists toward each other.
To free the trapped finger: An inspection of the strings directly underneath the trapped finger will reveal two sets of strings, an "inner" set going to one of the first player's fists, passing between an "outer" set, going to the other fist. The second player bends the trapped finger toward the fist holding the outer set, and inserts it down between the two strings of the outer set. Next, the trapped finger is bent in the opposite direction, toward the other fist, and up over the inner set, and back down. The trapped finger can now easily be removed from between the outer set.
LLX > Neil Parker > String Figures > Jayne