One primary pivot point, a first circle, then another two arcs using the same pivot to guide the smaller circles. Pre-measured string to make the smaller circles, or just looping the string to make it shorter. Piece o' cake.

Now, the knotted stalks. That's pretty cool, and I've some ideas, but have not yet taken the time to experiment with them in a real life setting. There's some tall grass out back, one of these days...

In case you want to try these ideas on your own:

Place two people in a field with a length of rope or cord held tight between them, say maybe 10 feet (it could be any length, but the longer it gets the more torque it will take.) A "ten foot pole" could also work. The two people would then circle around a center point with the rope held at a height that is about mid-way up the stalks. By rotating around each other several times, the stalks would be broken and woven into a spiral pattern. Rinse and repeat.

The other thing I want to try is using a broomstick to create the smaller weave. Holding it downward into a group of stalks, I would swing it in a way that catches several stalks, and keep swirling until it "knotted" the stalks together in a spiral pattern. Look closely at the pictures and you can see this technique might just work, and be pretty quick to do.

(.......Ten Minutes Later.......)

Okay, I grabbed a broomstick and went out to the tall grass out back where they caught the mountain lions. It's about three feet tall with seed. Using the technique described above, I was able to weave stalks like the smaller ones in the pictures. Each weave took about 10 seconds. It's really easy, and once you get going, you could create all kinds of crazy patterns. This could be fun; thanks Lindy! (I'll make some more and send a picture via HZnet, manyana.)

What will they think of next? Sprinkling magnetite to throw off your magnetometers?

(and thanks for the beautiful pictures of the sand circles - now that's art!)