Making shapes out of white space

[ayersart]

I have an image of a lacrosse stick that is one color -black, and there are lots of holes in the black- the netting in the stick. What I want to do is grab those white spaces(theres no shapes there now, it is just transparent) and make them new shapes. How can I do this?

 

[blueark]

Try selecting the object, then go to Object > Compound Path > Release. It may look like they disappear (they take on the color of the parent object), but if you go to View > Outline you'll be able to see them.

 

[ayersart]

No, it's not a compound shape, I just double checked. There are many many many pieces of the black that make the holes in the netting. I dont know how else to explain it. It seems like there should be a way to do this, but I cant figure out how

 

[blueark]

Are the many pieces of black filled shapes, or strokes?
Can you expand them (Object > Expand) or use the Pathfinder palette to create a single compound shape from them?