Bracelet
The origins of this design are obscure, but it is known that the same lock (but made from a longer strip) was used by poor children in the East End of London early this century to make large floor mats out of old sweet wrappers.
This version locks only in a line and will not expand widthways to form a mat.
Use small 8 x 1 oblongs of thin paper or foil, about 10 x 1.25cm (4 x 1/2 in). Begin with a number of 8 x 1 oblongs of two colours, as described above…
Paul Jackson, British/Israeli
PROFILE
Paul Jackson is from England and has been a professional paper artist, paper engineer, writer and teacher since 1983, specializing in origami and the folded arts.
He has written more than 40 books, the first of which were origami books for adults and children. His more recent books have been about the application of folding techniques into design, a subject he has taught in more than 80 Universities and Colleges.
He lives in Israel.
Main Research Source
What have we learnt?Some notes:
- Paul Jackson makes the link between ‘Folded Link Chain’ and what is possibly Windmill Loop weave. If this is the case, it is the earliest record of this technique I have found to date.
- I mentioned this anecdote to my kids and their response was ‘we hope the poor children got to eat the sweets, not just make mats from the wrappers’!
UPDATE
I emailed Paul to ask him if he knew any more. His rely:
I wrote that paragraph in my book because many years ago I ran a class at a Day Centre for the elderly in Chalk farm, at which a lady became very animated when we made the bracelet. She suddenly remembered that she knew a similar technique that wove strips together to create planar mats, not just linear bracelets. Sadly. Fifty years on, she couldn’t remember the specifics of how the strips were woven.
This prompted me to use what I though was a large collection of toffee wrappers to make a mat – but it turned out quite small! Read more here.