Netting takes center stage at last!

Q" (Glendale, AZ, USA) - )

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.

Good for beginners, otherwise you may be disappointed

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 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.

or maybe four stars--no, three...no, four...oh dear

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.