ABC's of Creativity - N is Netting

Netting is a beadweaving technique used in cultures around the world and for many centuries.

Here is a piece from 680-670 BCE, it uses blue faience beads to make a beaded shroud. The arms of the net are tubular faience beads.

Bead Shroud of Tabakenkhonsu @ Met

The mesh like structure of beads makes it this an easy to identify beading technique. The challenge is to know if it is horizontal or vertical netting. 

diagram of horizontal netting (from about.com)

diagram of vertical netting worked from a base row of beads (from about.com)

This Lemko collar was made by the bride for her wedding. Anna Harhay Kryza used a bead loomwoven band as the base for the vertical lower netting.

from the collection of Diane Melnyk

a selection for vertical netted collars with geometric designs

This vertical netted collar is Maria's version of the traditional Ukrainian netted collars with their geometric patterns, appeared in the Jan/Feb 2006 issue of Step by Step Beads.

Rypan Designs Netted Diamonds Collar

When commissioned by Vesniwka, a renown Ukrainian women's choir in Toronto, to make collars  for the singers she used red, gunmetal and gold.

Vesniwka collar protype

The depth and style of the design reminded many people of the beaded collars from ancient Egypt. So Maria reworked the colors to turquoise and gold.

Rypan Designs Egyptian Collar

This netted collar is not a deep as the Egyptian but the placement of the beads creates a beautiful zigzag pattern. Here Maria has used just simple size 10 seed beads.

Rypan Design Netted ZigZag

Taking the netted zigzag collar, changing some of the seed beads to mini rondelles, hi-lighting the zigzag with silver seed beads and adding large rondelles to some of the picots has changed the traditional collar into a fashion forward design. This design is in the current (Aug/Sep 2013) issue of Beadwork.

Rypan Designs Chic Chevron Collar

Here again in the zigzag pattern, but deeper and some of the seed beads have been replaced with bugle beads. A few rows of netting are worked into matching earrings.

Rosey's Zigzag

These next two netted items are very different from the collar style of beadwork. Here the netting forms a rectangle with is connect to a long netted band with stringers of beads and bugle. The Indigo Kilim appeared in the Jun 2003 issue of Bead & Button.

Rypan Designs Indigo Kilim

The Sedona Kilim below was made for the Toronto Bead Society Bag of Beads challenge 2000. It appears in the gallery in Diane Fitzgerald's book Netted Beadwork.

Sedona Kilim, beaded by M. Rypan

For most of the previous projects the main netting was done with seed beads, here twist bugle for the major part of the netted design. Seed beads are used for the fringing.

Rypan Designs Twig Willow Twist

Netting can also be used for projects other that necklaces. Here are some beaded pysanky. Many different techniques are used for beaded pysanky. The two front eggs are done using netting. Maria's article about bead pysanky appeared in the Spring 2011 issue of A Needle Pulling Thread.

From pysanky,info

I have also used netting to make small circular netted snowflakes. Here seed bead and Swarovski crystals create a sparkly snowflake ornament.

Winter Wonderland Snowflake, designed and beaded by J. Woolverton

I hope that you will try the easy and versatile stitch to create something wonderful.

Happy Beading!