Customer Reviews

Netted Beadwork (Beadwork How-To)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Truth in reviewing: I am a bead junkie. I have many, many books on beading, jewelry making, design, and bead histories. And yet I am glad I bought Diane Fitzgerald's Netted Beadwork. Netting is often swept under the carpet of more complicated off-loom weaving, but it has great possibilities and this book proves it.
Netted Beadwork starts with a brief history of netting and some great pictures. That's commendable, as is the brevity of that section. This is a how-to book, and most of the book focuses on that. There is a tool and technique section that is brief, to-the-point and useful without slowing you down.
For the rest of the book, there are beautiful color pictures and clear diagrams of how to make the pieces, along with instructions in writing. The diagrams are clear for the most part, and the thread path instructions show variations immediately. That means that once you understand how netting works and begin to wonder "could I do it this way . . .?" you'll see the answer. A nice touch, indeed.
Then there are the netting instructions for those of us who are wild at heart--freeform netting, layered netting, and projects for those of us who mix beads in a palette and love to wear them that way.
For the formal and traditional beaders, there are many projects, from ornaments to pouches, and yes, the never-say-die amulet bag. But the misers' pouch, also in the book, has more visual interest and appeal.
The gallery is as it should be--full color, one project per page so you can soak in the color and design elements, and generous in scope and amount.
Also nice is the index, which so many books don't have any more. It makes projects and techniques easy to find.
So why are there only four stars? The book leans a little too heavily on the standard netting projects and less on the adventuresome that I expected. I would have liked to see a few really difficult, detailed projects mixed in (there are some in the gallery). And perhaps a few less of the same style and a few more that explore new directions.
But that's no reason not to buy and enjoy the book. You won't be able to browse without starting a project, and that's reason enought to buy it.

Netted Beadwork provides a cursory introduction to the history of netted beadwork, with descriptions and photographic examples of netting from around the world. You won't find many dates and several major types of netting are omitted. After the overview, Diane gives instructions and projects for irregular, vertical, and horizontal netting. The final section of the book is a gallery of inspirational netted beadwork, using the three techniques described in the text. The projects include beaded beads, netted flowers, necklaces, bracelets, small purses, and using netting for covering eggs and bottles. The written instructions, diagrams, and photographs are very clear. Diane provides great directions for increasing and decreasing and developing your own style.

I would target this book for a beginner or perhaps intermediate beader. A true novice may have trouble figuring out how to relate the instructions to the photos of the projects. There are no bead counts or specific material lists. You won't find detailed instructions for making your project look just like the example.

I think that an advanced beader will be disappointed by the simplicity of the projects and the limited scope of the techniques. The book is restricted to irregular, vertical, and horizontal netting. You won't find information about incorporating other stitches into the work. I'm okay with that - it's a book about netting, after all. However, I really would have enjoyed seeing examples of other forms of netting, such as the more complicated thread paths commonly seen in Ukrainian work or any of the American (e.g., Ecuadorian) styles. Even if these techniques were beyond the scope of the instructions, they could have been included in the gallery.

Overall, a very nice book. Diane does an excellent job covering *basic* netting techniques. This a good introduction/reference for a beginner and one of very few books that focuses on netting. It's more of a technique book than a project book.

i looked forward to this book. i subscribe to a couple of very good beadwork magazines, and both have published netted projects i'm interested in. while i have done some forms of netted beadwork in the past, i was hoping that this book would give me a better, more complete grounding in netted beading so that i would have more confidence in beginning these projects. i was disappointed.

firstly, the good points: some of the historic illustrations are inspirational--and amazing. the historical background is, for my taste, a bit sketchy, but its there. there are some well-thought-out terms in the basic instructions, but there is at least one diagram that is doesn't match the written information. there are several projects i would like to try. as so often in the beadwork books, the gallery is absolutely mindboggling. how i wish my level of creativity was that high.

now, the drawbacks: the number of historic photos is very small. the diagrams for some of the projects fall into the what-in-heaven's-name-is-that-supposed-to-be category? in a couple, the photos of the finished project don't make matters any clearer. in the group photo of the beaders, at least two beaders are wearing what is sometimes called ogalala lace, but there are no instructions for this work in the book. unlike the other books in the beadwork magazine library i have (peyote and brick stitch, to name two), there are no full page blank graphs for personal use--there is one less-than-quarter page sized graph for a short drop net.

basically, i would say this book is worth buying, expecially if you don't have an embarrassing large number of beading magazine back issues, or, say, horace goodhue's book, _indian beadweaving patterns_. i think my real objection to it is that it isn't up to the standards of the other beadwork titles.

All her stuff is fabulous, but I have to say this is one of her best yet. You are not just getting instructions, but the illustrations actually open your mind to new color combinations, textures and possibilities. Highly recommend

I've tried other method of "beaded beads" but the method outlined in this book is the simplest yet. I've been carrying a small container of beads with me on airplanes and make one beaded bead in about an hour. I haven't tried anything else in the book, but Diane offers plenty of inspiration.

I've been a fan of Diane Fitzgerald's almost since I started beading, and so it came as no surprise that this book was really fantastic, inspiring, and gorgeous. What did surprise me was how inspiring it was. It starts with a lovely gallery and history of netted beadwork around the world. From China to Egypt with beautiful pictures and text to explain a bit about the pictures.
From there it goes into a project section with well written, and beautiful projects. It never fails to amaze me what all can be done in netting, and this book has such wonderful examples and instructions. It explains the different forms netting can take, and shows very well the possibilities within this fast working technique. There are projects to inspire anyone, and the diagrams are clear and easy to understand, it's a great book for beginners just learning how to bead, and an inspiring book for more advanced beaders who want to learn a few more techniques to add to the repertoire. The great thing about netting for new beaders is that it's fairly simple to learn, for more advanced reader, the great thing is the nearly instant gratification of a netted project.
I think what inspires me the most is the very loose, very organic looking random netting,it's a lot like freeform peyote in the manner it's constructed.It's shown in a few different ways so you can really get an idea of how you can use it in your own designs to create something completely new.
I'm so impressed with this book, it's definately in my personal top 5 books list.

this book was cool, a good use of some beads i had collected and had close to no idea how i was going to use. i have yet to tackle one as a project but this book gives me hope!

I ordered the book and it will be great for new beader's. It's worth buying. It shows you how to net the rows and then use your own iders.

This is another of Diane's excellent teaching books. She is so thorough with her instructions that anyone who can thread and hold an needle can BEAD. The projects lead one to follow a trail of learning from the historical aspects of netting, from the Egyptians to a modern pathway of design. Thank you Diane for giving us another book with outstanding projects, great historical background, and a excellent knowledge of Netting.

Very detailed directions for all sorts of netting; if you can't learn from this book, you won't learn at all. However, there are only a few specific projects included so you need to be able to take the basics from this book and use your own imagination and creativity to actually produce jewelry, home decor objects and the like. The photos of netted objects from all cultures are facinating; there is even a netted window valance!