String figures are designs that are formed by manipulating string using your hands and fingers or more if the figure requires multiple people.

They also accompany story telling as they consist of singular images which can be sequenced together. You also may have heard of cats cradle which for me was a game played in school by mainly girls. But anyone can create string figures.

They exist all around the world in many cultures and have different names, techniqes and meanings.

ISFA

(international string figure association)

is a good place to start.

Hopefully I can add all the figures I know with instructions in shorthand form, and how to understand all the moves names and how to perform them.

I always get people asking me what are these things with string I do all the time. It’s an ancient game by human kind which I want to keep alive and pass on to future generations.