Elephant No. 356: String Art

I was in a discount store a few days ago, and saw some inexpensive metal rings. Although I've never tried any kind of string art, I thought I'd try it for today's elephant, using one of these rings.

String art usually involves running lines of thread between nails or other points on a black velvet board to create abstract designs. Although each line is straight, because of the angles at which some lines intersect, Bézier curves are often created, creating the illusion of curved shapes.

String art was originally created by Mary Boole at the end of the nineteenth century—originally as a way of making mathematical concepts easier for children to grasp. She called her version "curve stitching", using something like the method seen here.

Chi Ball by John Eichinger.
This string mandala measures almost a metre in diameter. It has 180 nail points
and 15 layers of thread.
Source: http://www.stringmandalas.com/Mandalas/ChiBall/ChiBallIndex.html

During the late 1960s, string art became something of a fad. Kits were produced for all age levels, featuring purely geometric patterns as well as simple representational images of sails, owls and butterflies.

Simple butterfly string art pattern.
Source: http://www.stringartfun.com/product.php/8/butterfly

Today, string art has been embraced by a number of visual artists. Some create elaborate abstracts and mandalas; others create detailed representations of birds, insects, and even film characters. Computer programs have also been developed to produce elaborate string-art emulations and patterns.

Star Wars string art by JJR.
Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bonniegrrl/1055953262/

For today's elephant, I pretty much had this ring, a big cone of black thread, and no idea what I was doing. Most of the instructions I've seen involve pounding a series of nails into a black velvet board first. I didn't want to do that. At all.

So I decided that I would simply start winding and tying thread onto my ring, and hope that I ended up with something that, if you squinted, might look like an elephant.

I started with the black thread, making a trunk, then the start of the ears. As I went, however, I found that the thread was just too slippery to work with the ring, and all the lines kept sliding around.

I switched instead to a variegated cotton-silk yarn I had lying around. It was just a small ball left over from a knitting project, so I decided to try using it on the ring instead.

This worked much better. I started again with the trunk, then the ears. 

Next, I wrapped a lot of yarn over the trunk and forehead area, to give it some dimensionality. I also started adding knots along the ring in the spaces between the ear "veins". I did this to fill in the space, and to add a sort of edge for the ears.

 

To finish up, I added two long wraps for tusks, and pulled two small loops of yarn through the face area for eyes.

The final result is a bit too rough-looking for me to love it, and it only barely squeaks into the category of actual string art. But it does look like an elephant if you squint. Or Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man.

Elephant Lore of the Day
Elephants often "hear" through their feet, assessing the vibrations they feel to determine what might be coming their way.

This particular skill stands them in good stead when marauding bands of poachers approach by jeep. It also means that they know exactly when safari groups are in the area, allowing them to either flee or remain, depending on their previous experiences.

One of the more interesting examples of elephants hearing through their feet comes from researcher Caitlin O'Connell. During her fieldwork in Namibia over a decade ago, O'Connell watched as a large female elephant nicknamed Broken Ear—the matriarch of her herd—suddenly began scanning the horizon. She did this repeatedly, sometimes with her ears out, and sometimes with her ears pulled in, but one foot tipped gently forward, so that only her toenails were touching the ground.

The rest of her herd soon followed suit, balancing one foot in exactly the same way. Suddenly a large bull elephant loomed into view nearly a kilometre (a half-mile) away.

O'Connell appears to have been the first researcher to realize that elephants hear through their feet and legs. Since then, she has worked tirelessly to find ways in which to help elephants and humans co-exist—perhaps someday using vibrations as a way of reducing human-elephant conflict.

This African elephant appears to be listening for something
it can't yet see. Its foot is tipped and touching the ground with its
toenails, and its trunk is up, indicating that it's alert and
waiting for something to happen.
Source: http://www.stevescottsite.com/how-to-chain-an-elephant

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