# Do you know the name for this? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 26, 2007, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-name-for-this/393736 "2007-02-26T16:38:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2007, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-name-for-this/393736/21 "2007-02-28T21:33:52Z")
[QUOTE=h.sapiens] I think the paper version is called “catstairs”. I learned it as a kid, maybe in Brownies. Somehow, I remembered all these years later. The only image I could find with google is this [duck](http://www.geocities.com/theartkids/artlessons/kinders/duckcollage.html). Specifically the legs. [/QUOTE] Thanks. First I’ve heard the term. The picture looks similar at least. Did my OP description match how you folded yours? ---
**Author:** ![h.sapiens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e0b2c6/32.png) [@h.sapiens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/h.sapiens)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2007, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-name-for-this/393736/22 "2007-02-28T22:10:04Z")
[QUOTE=Zeldar] Thanks. First I’ve heard the term. The picture looks similar at least. Did my OP description match how you folded yours? [/QUOTE] Yes, as far as I can tell, that’s the method. The term might be local, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2007, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-name-for-this/393736/23 "2007-02-28T22:21:33Z")
[QUOTE=h.sapiens] Yes, as far as I can tell, that’s the method. The term might be local, of course. [/QUOTE] Good. I did a bit of searching for “catstairs” and ran across some Celtic tying of corn shucks. No pictures to speak of, but the method seems to have features in common, namely building up a vertical chain effect by forming locking folds. Thanks for your input. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2007, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-name-for-this/393736/24 "2007-03-01T01:59:23Z")
Not macrame, but does [this page](http://www.bcpl.net/~hutmanpr/harvest.html) help at all? ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2007, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-name-for-this/393736/25 "2007-03-01T14:32:28Z")
[QUOTE=tomndebb] Not macrame, but does [this page](http://www.bcpl.net/~hutmanpr/harvest.html) help at all? [/QUOTE] Yes, **tomndebb** , that’s one of the Celtic pages I ran across in my search for “catstairs” and it does help to clear up something that’s been nagging at me ever since the link to the snake that **Eureka** posted the other day. The nag has to do with the idea that there are at least two ways of folding that reduce a long strand of paper or some other foldable material (or maybe two (or more) strands of differents colors or textures) into a little box shape than can then be stretched to yield a spiral or “stairs” effect. The descriptions (and the one diagram) indicate the folding is just right-angled folds back and forth over the same basic square shape. That’s not what I have tried to describe in the OP, nor is it the way the macrame piece is/was built. The OP description is meant to show that the folds in this yet-to-be-named thing are _around_ a center point, as opposed to back and forth over each other. Regretably, the only picture of what I’m trying to describe, that I have been able to find, is in the macrame booklet that’s in the EBay link. It doesn’t show the piece, but just indicates the piece is described in the booklet. The best I know thus far is that “catstairs” and those associated Celtic foldings of corn shucks and such are for a _similar_ folding technique, but not the one I’m drawing a blank on. But, thanks for your help, everybody. This may be one of those arcane things that is rare enough not to have a commonly recognized name. That’s how it’s looking so far. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-name-for-this/393736.md?page=1)