Ekawada, now available

Ekawada is now available! Carry an entire string figure reference on your iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad. The application itself is free, and includes eight figures to keep you occupied, as well as nine tutorials to get you up to speed with the notation used.

If you like what you see, you can purchase additional sets of figures for $0.99 each, in-app!

So, head on over to the App Store and download Ekawada. Let me know what you think!

The Labyrinth of Cat's Cradle

I'm trying to identify all the paths between the different figures in Cat's Cradle (for inclusion in Ekawada). So far, here's what I've got.

Am I missing any? What a maze!

(edit, 2 Nov: I added a transition from Manger to Cradle.)

"Ekawada" is almost ready

I've been quiet on this blog for an entire year, I see! Time does fly.

I've been busy, though. Still doing string figures, of course, but also working on an iOS (e.g. iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad) application. It's a string figure catalog and reference, and it will be called Ekawada.

It's almost ready, and I'm super excited.

The app itself will be free, and will come with eight figures of varying difficulties (including the widely known ones, like Cat's Cradle, A Fish Spear, Cup and Saucer, and others). The app also includes eight tutorials to introduce you to the ISFA string figure notation if you're unfamiliar with it.

If the eight bundled figures aren't enough for you, Ekawada will also feature an in-app store where you can purchase additional packs of figures. Initially, five packs will be available, each with 19 or 20 figures, and each costing only $0.99.

Almost all of the figures from this first release are from Caroline Furness Jayne's "String Figures and How to Make Them", mostly because it's in the public domain, so I didn't have to redraw all the illustrations myself. I do intend to add additional packs down the road (hopefully including Maude's Nauru book, and Sherman's Kwakiutl book), but those will require significant work on my part, since I'll need to provide my own illustrations. I've been practicing though: most of the illustrations in the tutorials in Ekawada are hand-drawn by me, so I think I'm up to the challenge!

Ekawada will be available "soon"; keep your eyes on this space for the announcement! I'll also post to the ISFA email list. Hopefully Ekawada can be a vehicle for introducing a wider audience to the joys of string figures!