LLX > Neil Parker > String Figures > Jayne
Have patience...this figure has a lot of steps. It can be broken down into three stages, of which the first is making the fox.
1. Opening C.
2. Pass right thumb from above behind left thumb-index string, and hook it to the right, and release left thumb. Then pass left thumb from above behind right thumb-index string, and hook it to the left, and release lower (original) right thumb loop. Straighten thumbs by giving them a quarter-turn up and toward you. If ring fingers are holding down any strings, release them now.
3. Pass left thumb between the left palm and the string that runs from left little finger to left index finger, below the loop that hooks around it. Pick up this string by turning the left thumb to the right and toward you, letting the original left thumb loop slip off.
4. Insert left little finger into left thumb loop from below, and hook it down over the left near thumb string. Release left thumb and right index.
5. Insert left thumb from below into right thumb loop, and hook to the left the string that loops over the top straight string and goes down to become the right near little finger string.
6. Repeat steps 3 and 4 (ignoring the part about releasing the right index: there is no right index loop this time).
7. There is now a double-walled triangular shape near the left hand. Insert left thumb away from you into this triangle, and pickup the two strings that form its upper right side.
8. Insert left thumb from below into left index loop. Pull the left near index string forward though the original left thumb loops (which slip off). Release left index loop.
9. After leaving the left thumb, the top straight string has a single loop hooked over it, and then a double loop. Insert right index toward you below the top straight string into the space between these two loops. Hook the top straight string to the right.
10. Release right thumb and left little finger. Insert left little finger from above into left thumb loop, and hook down left far thumb string.
The fox is now finished. As you separate your hands, it will want to slide to the right...pinch the fingers of your right hand together so that it doesn't slide all the way to the right (about two thirds of the way is a good place to stop).
Next the whale is made.
11. Insert right thumb into right index loop from above, and pick up right far index string (the top straight string). Release right index.
12. Pass right index to the left behind all strings, and then toward you between left palm and left thumb-little-finger string, and hook this string all the way to the right.
13. Insert left index from above into left thumb loop, and pick up left near thumb string (the top straight string). Release left thumb.
14. Pass left index to the right in front of all strings, and bring it tip-to-tip with the right index, between the right palm and the fox's body. Transfer right index loop to left index, and hook the new left index loop all the way back to the left.
15. Insert left index finger toward you into the left little finger loop, and transfer left little finger loop to left index.
16. There are now three loops being hooked by the left index finger. Pass left thumb away from you through the two upper loops, and above (to the radial side of) the lower near (radial) index string (the one that runs straight across to the right hand). Turning the right thumb down, toward you and up, catch this string on the back of the thumb and pull it toward you through the other two loops.
17. Pass left little finger toward you through lower and middle left index loops, and under (to the ulnar side of) the upper far (ulnar) left index string (the one that runs straight across to the right hand). Pick up this string, and pull it away from you through the other two left index loops. Release left index.
The whale's body is now finished, but its tail fins are tangled around the fox (which is probably no longer recognizable). The final stage of the figure is to untangle the whale and the fox from each other.
18. Without turning it over, place the figure on your lap or a table, and withdraw all fingers.
19. Near the right side of the figure, wrapped around the tangled mass of the fox's body, two loops can be seen coming from the large lozenge of the whale's body. One has a twist in it, and one doesn't. Pick up the far right loop (the former right index loop), and carefully thread it toward you through the whale-loop that has a twist in it, and lay it back down where you picked it up from.
20. Similarly, pick up the right near loop (former right little finger loop), and carefully thread it away from you through the other whale-loop (the one without a twist), and lay it back down where you picked it up from.
21. Pick up the figure on the thumbs and indexes.
A little gentle shaking will now separate the whale and the fox. As you separate your hands, the fox runs away.
LLX > Neil Parker > String Figures > Jayne