Part 3 Stage 2 Workshop 1

Netting techniques

A net is:

an open-meshed fabric twisted, knotted, or woven together at regular intervals

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/net

It's some time since I got my Knotting Badge at Brownies and it seems I've forgotten everything I once knew anyway.  I can't even remember how to do Cat's Cradle and I've never tried macrame. 

The task here is to establish some dexterity in making nets; the necessary knots being a clove hitch and a sheet bend.

Once I got going it was OK but my real difficulty was tightening up the knots and keeping a consistent tension.  My knots were anything but regular.

My first material was a 3 ply jute.  This was tricky to manage because it didn't slide. I changed to cotton string and this was better and it was easier to get my knots neater although they wouldn't stand close inspection.  Because the string was smooth I thought I'd go a bit further down that line and try polypropylene string.  It was indeed smooth but an absolute nightmare to work with because it just didn't bend.

Set up and ready to go

After a few rows I found I was getting an unwanted twist
(and on the red I'd missed a loop)

After a row or two I noticed a twist had developed (see above).  I overcame this by changing my knotting from a left hand bias to a right hand one as I started a new row.

Completed using jute, cotton string and polyprop

I had no idea how to finish my work so I did something along the same lines as the beginning but it isn't very tidy.

I've been thinking about nets whilst I've been working and it seems almost as though it's just connected space.  There's more "hole" than yarn.  The comparative strength is quite remarkable; it has been used for millennia for catching large fish (and some drift nets are huge) yet a butterfly net is delicate. 

The net shopping bag is connected at fixed points so that it can move to accommodate whatever stress it is exposed to but then it can collapse and be put into a pocket.  LED lights can be supported in a near invisible net structure and look wonderful.  Remarkable.

I'm going to try some different materials to use this in a decorative way.  I love sari silk so I'll try that and I've some thoughts about cutting up carrier bags as well.


Later....
I looked again at my net and inspected the knots closely and found they were quite wrong.  I began again with a different yarn and while I got the knots right the tension was all over the place.  I'm going to leave this alone for a time and maybe come back to it later - right now it's just too frustrating.

I'm disappointed with my nets.

 A week later....
I hate to be beaten so I decided to return to this for another try.  I made frames from split bamboo (an old table mat) and filled the space with net made from just one ply of blue jute.  It was more successful than the work I did last week probably because there was the boundary provided by the frame.

I tried to taper the size of the net according to the taper on the frame.

I have a  lovely, useful book called "Three dimensional embroidery" by Janet Edmonds" (2009).  On page 66 there is a photo of a basic form coated with paper pulp so I thought I'd give it a try.  This really is becoming materials led.

Just dipped - quite revolting

The pulp dried to a hard coating that clung to the jute

The dried pulp was really very stable and looked like a well used fishing net.  I decided to do another frame in a different yarn and I chose a blue/green chenille.

Blue/green chenille

I laid one frame over the other:

...and then turned it over for a completely different effect.  Then I held it up to the light (I put tracing paper on the window):

The colour disappeared but the shapes intensified.  I decided to try a third frame using cut up carrier bags.

Using blue plastic bag

There are two major things I've learned from this; never offer to make anyone a fishing net and avoid making nets with plastic bags.  However, when I added the third frame to the pile (now 1.5 cm high) it changed the look of the whole thing.  I took photos of all the permutations I could think of and some were better than others.

This looks like a tangled mass of seaside netting and is far from beautiful.  But it is interesting - particularly in the way the three pieces can be combined to create different effects.

Against a tracing paper covered window

Without tracing paper

I don't feel that this is fully resolved and I may come back to some parts of the idea at some point.
Books I have found useful are Ruth Lee's "Three dimensional textiles" Janet Edmund's Three dimensional embroidery" and Stitch and structure by Jean Draper.

Draper J. 2013. Stitch and structure.  Batsford, London
Edmunds J. 2009. Three dimensional embroidery. Batsford, London
Lee R. ??? Three dimensional textiles. Batsford, London