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Gold Embroidery Needles and Other Things
Jun. 13th, 2022 11:34 pmA little while ago, as I've been resting my hands with cross stitch between projects (it seems the thing I've been doing that's least intent on destroying my fingernails at least), I decided to purchase some gold embroidery needles. If you don't actually do embroidery, this probably sounds insane, but you can often find them sold alongside normal embroidery needles for a couple dollars more a pack, though you don't get quite so many of them. They're not solid gold, of course -- some only have gold on the inside of the eyes, while some are covered in an incredibly thin layer of gold plating all over. Anyway, I wanted to be fancy and got some all-gold ones. They aren't prohibitively expensive given the hobby and I had just gotten paid, so, you know, treat yo' self, right?
Gold is considered to be superior to other needles if you have a nickel allergy, and also that the thin coating of soft metal can somehow make the process of punching the needle through fabric smoother, or in the case of the eyes, the threading easier. I don't have a significant nickel allergy -- I've had issues with earrings but never with just holding sewing needles, even for extended periods, so I have been thinking on the smoothness, and when they are fresh, they are extremely smooth. However I've used a single gold needle for something like a thousand stitches at this point and... the gold has almost entirely worn off! The gold in the eye is still there, and curiously some at the tip, but the part of the needle I hold is so pale, it's been stripped by use! I guess the gold at the tip is what matters most, but I did not know it would show so much wear without even a full finished project.
I've done a little research on gold needles and replacement needles in general and it sounds like a lot of serious embroiderers will grab a new needle for every project. Even though doing so, even if I did choose to use exclusively gold needles, would not be prohibitively expensive as I don't embroider that much, it's... just so strange to think about! Though I do have packs of needles that even if I started this practice today, I probably would not run out of needles for the next few years (though I would certainly run out of gold). It's one of those things that feels very wasteful but in the greater scheme of trash, probably wouldn't be, especially if one were not an avid embroiderer? compared to plastic bottles, paper products, etc... and there are apparently good reasons to switch out needles so often, because the oils of your fingers strip off the outer metals that run smoothly against the fabric and then the metal underneath can start snagging.
I don't know, it feels a lot like what I was thinking when I started buying fountain pens. It's not that I wasn't always a pen addict, but I didn't have any fountain pens -- I preferred gel pens, but with the number of pens I went through I always felt bad throwing so many away. And it was strange, because I was actually one of the few people using them until they completely ran out of ink! People are a bit irrational when it comes to this stuff, I guess.
Anyway, website is... currently on pause. I have a lot of shoelaces I need to make for a Pride booth later this month, and besides that I have the feeling that a lot of the Frankenstein stuff might be better in a book (?), but am also trying to get my writing brain for writing fiction back on track (???), also my AC is broken and it's like 100 degrees so I'm trying not to fry in my own home in the meanwhile. Too much going on, too little brain function, etc.
Gold is considered to be superior to other needles if you have a nickel allergy, and also that the thin coating of soft metal can somehow make the process of punching the needle through fabric smoother, or in the case of the eyes, the threading easier. I don't have a significant nickel allergy -- I've had issues with earrings but never with just holding sewing needles, even for extended periods, so I have been thinking on the smoothness, and when they are fresh, they are extremely smooth. However I've used a single gold needle for something like a thousand stitches at this point and... the gold has almost entirely worn off! The gold in the eye is still there, and curiously some at the tip, but the part of the needle I hold is so pale, it's been stripped by use! I guess the gold at the tip is what matters most, but I did not know it would show so much wear without even a full finished project.
I've done a little research on gold needles and replacement needles in general and it sounds like a lot of serious embroiderers will grab a new needle for every project. Even though doing so, even if I did choose to use exclusively gold needles, would not be prohibitively expensive as I don't embroider that much, it's... just so strange to think about! Though I do have packs of needles that even if I started this practice today, I probably would not run out of needles for the next few years (though I would certainly run out of gold). It's one of those things that feels very wasteful but in the greater scheme of trash, probably wouldn't be, especially if one were not an avid embroiderer? compared to plastic bottles, paper products, etc... and there are apparently good reasons to switch out needles so often, because the oils of your fingers strip off the outer metals that run smoothly against the fabric and then the metal underneath can start snagging.
I don't know, it feels a lot like what I was thinking when I started buying fountain pens. It's not that I wasn't always a pen addict, but I didn't have any fountain pens -- I preferred gel pens, but with the number of pens I went through I always felt bad throwing so many away. And it was strange, because I was actually one of the few people using them until they completely ran out of ink! People are a bit irrational when it comes to this stuff, I guess.
Anyway, website is... currently on pause. I have a lot of shoelaces I need to make for a Pride booth later this month, and besides that I have the feeling that a lot of the Frankenstein stuff might be better in a book (?), but am also trying to get my writing brain for writing fiction back on track (???), also my AC is broken and it's like 100 degrees so I'm trying not to fry in my own home in the meanwhile. Too much going on, too little brain function, etc.
