Beauty African Beads Tutorial

The oldest known beads have been found in the Kalahari desert, Sudan and Libya. The earliest beads were made of eggshell, clay, twigs, stones, ivory and bone – glass beads were introduced later by traders from Europe, India and the Middle East. Beads were used in various parts of Africa as adornment or works of art.Nov 14, 2008

African Net Collar Necklace
African netting beadwork forms a beautiful lacy beading pattern that looks fragile, but is, in fact, very strong and supple. The beadwork is a complex weave of beads that comes together in diagonal lines forming diamond shapes and peaks and valleys at the ends of each column.

African Net Beadwork Section
This tutorial will teach you to make the section of African Net beadwork in the picture. To make it simple, the instructions divide the section of African Net into four columns of beadwork, a left section which has the first loop drop, a center section which ends in a 3 bead picot, a right section that mirrors the left one in shape and a connector bridge which is a small swag that joins each three column shape together.

African Net Beading Materials
African netting beadwork can be made with a wide variety of beads. The effect of the collar will be slightly different depending on the beads you choose. Japanese beads that are very even in size will give more precise results. Uneven glass beads will give a more organic, less even look to your beadwork.

To help you make additional sections of the African netting beadwork more quickly, except for the turns, you are always skipping the same number of beads that you're adding for the stitch. So, you pick up five beads and stitch into the 6th bead (skipping five beads).

Keep stitching and adding sections until your beadwork is long enough. You can choose to make a African netting that only covers a section of the entire necklace and use a chain of beads or beaded rope stitch to make the rest of the necklace.