LLX > Neil Parker > String Figures > Jayne
1. Pick up the loop on the thumbs.
2. Pass little fingers into thumb loop from above, and return with near thumb string.
3. With right thumb, pick up left palmar string.
4. With teeth, grab lower right thumb loop, and lift it off right thumb. Keep it held by the teeth until step 9.
5. With right thumb and index, grab left far thumb string and left near little finger string. Release left little finger loop, letting it dangle from right thumb and index, and then pass left little finger toward you through its former loop, and up into thumb loop. Release strings held by right thumb and index, letting them drop on far side of left little finger.
6. Repeat step 5 on other hand.
7. Insert indexes into little finger loops from above, and return with near little finger string by turning indexes a half-turn toward you and up.
8. Insert middle, ring, and little fingers into index loops from below. Keep former far index string near tips of little fingers.
9. Release loop held by teeth.
These instructions are from [Stanley 1926]. I've make a couple of changes to make the final result look more like Roth's drawing - Stanley's original method picks up the near little finger string from below in step 7, and skips step 8.
In the absence of a native Australian method, a previous version of this page offered a (slightly modified) figure from New Caledonia ([Maude 1984], figure 33, "The Moon"), which gives more or less the same final result. I changed this page after finding the Stanley article - obviously, for a figure advertised as Australian, an Australian method is preferable.
The New Caledonian method, though essentially the same, differs in a few details:
1. Pick up the loop on the thumbs, so that the near thumb string is a short straight string, and the far thumb string is a long loop hanging down. Do not pull the loop tight.
2. Pass indexes into thumb loop from above, and pick up near thumb string. Do not pull strings tight.
3. Pass right thumb under left thumb-index string and pick it up. Then pass left thumb over new upper right thumb loop, and under right thumb-index string, and pick it the latter. Draw the strings tight.
4. With the teeth, grab the near thumb string that runs straight from one thumb to the other. Lift this loop entirely off of both thumbs, letting other thumb loops remain.
5. Insert little fingers into index loops from above, and into thumb loops from below. Return with near index strings and far thumb strings.
6. Release index loops.
7. Insert indexes into little finger loops from above, and by turning indexes a half-twist toward you and up, pick up near little finger strings (not the palmar strings).
8. Release loop held by teeth.
9. Pick up far index string with little fingers.
(The New Caledonian method omits steps 6 and 9 - again, I've added them to make the figure look more like Roth's illustration.)
LLX > Neil Parker > String Figures > Jayne