In 2017, I made a neon sculpture at The Crucible in Oakland, CA. After it accidentally broke in 2020, I memorialized it with a stick and poke tattoo: a line of dots that mimicked the “beads” of purple argon that, through a quirk of manufacture, appeared to constantly pulse throughout. The ambiguity of the sign’s absence and presence in my life inspired these works made from unused practice tubing and black ball chain, as did Harry Smith’s investigation into string figures. While suggestive of neon, these not-really cat’s cradles pose questions through a kind of language, a jazz riff composed from available light and shadow.