Word: twines
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Francis A. Johnson, a bachelor and retired carpenter from Darwin, Minn., appeared on television's I've Got a Secret and stumped the panel -with good reason. Johnson's secret: a 2,490-lb. ball of twine, the result of eight years' scrounging around his neighborhood. Today the ball weighs close to five tons, is 11 ft. high and is so unwieldy that a railroad jack must be used to wind on new string. Its bulk attests to Johnson's private war on discarded string...
Until 1960, when a few artists began to move into its lofts, SoHo was entirely given to light industry -twine manufacturers, nut-and-bolt shops, metal platers, rag wholesalers, lumberyards and dealers in new and used cardboard boxes. The floor rent was low; ten years ago, 3,500 sq. ft. cost $75 a month. But because SoHo was strictly zoned for light industry, nobody could legally live there...
...13th century, Arab weavers are said to have discovered that instead of snipping unneeded lengths of twine from finished products, they could braid it into an attractive, decorative fringe with a series of simple knots. Slowly the technique spread north to Europe. In 1689 when William of Orange became King of England, his wife, Queen Mary, introduced the fascinating art of macramé (from the Arab rnigrarmah, meaning ornamental braid or fringe) to palace circles. The Incas and American Indians had their own versions. Sometimes widely popular, sometimes kept alive only by seamen to whom knotting was both work...
...rejuvenation are clear enough: it is simple, cheap, attractive and practical. "It's easy to learn," says Eileen Bernard, a California macramé artist. "I can easily teach anyone the basics in just one or two hours." All that is really needed is enough string or twine of the desired color and degree of strength, some hefty pins and a soft board. The strands are pinned to the board at one end, then the loose ends are knotted together repeatedly in either clove hitches or square knots. Any reasonably adept amateur can quickly create belts, bracelets and necklaces...
...checks for expenditures by close associates and occasionally even by his servants. Above all, he knew how to be specific about small items and convincingly vague about the big ones. Or, as Kitman puts it, how to "describe in some depth the purchase of a ball of twine but casually throw in the line, 'Dinner for one army...