Editing String figure (section)

{{Short description|Artistic design made with string}}
[[File:String Figures and How to Make Them.djvu|thumb|right|page=5|Photograph of a boy having made "Lightning", from Jayne's ''String Figures and How to Make Them''.]]
[[File:Osage Two Diamonds Jayne Fig 56.jpg|thumb|right|"Osage Two Diamonds".]]
[[File:String Figures and How to Make Them.djvu|thumb|right|page=44|Illustrations from Jayne's ''String Figures and How to Make Them''.]]

A '''string figure'''  is a [[design]] formed by manipulating [[twine|string]] on, around, and using one's [[finger]]s or sometimes between the fingers of multiple people. String figures may also involve the use of the mouth, wrist, and feet. They may consist of singular images or be created and altered as a [[game]], known as a '''string game''', or as part of a [[narrative|story]] involving various figures made in sequence ('''string story'''). String figures have also been used for [[divination]], such as to predict the sex of an unborn child.<ref>{{cite journal  | last = Foster Jr.| first = George M.  | title = String-Figure Divination  | journal = American Anthropologist |series=New Series  | volume = 43  | issue = 1  | pages = 126–127  | year = 1941  | doi = 10.1525/aa.1941.43.1.02a00300| doi-access = free  }}</ref>

A popular string game is [[cat's cradle]], but many string figures are known in many places under different names,<ref>Jayne (1962), p.340. Also Elffers & Schuyt (1979), p.44-5.</ref> and string figures are well distributed throughout the world.<ref name="HawaiianStringFigures">{{cite web |url= http://www.stringfigure.com/ |title= The Ancient Art of Hawaiian String Figures |author= Lois & Earl W. Stokes |work= Web of Life International, a project of Aloha International |quote= }}</ref><ref name="E&M">Elffers, Joost and Schuyt, Michael (1978/1979). ''Cat's Cradles and Other String Figures'', p.197. {{ISBN|0-14-005201-1}}.</ref>