Be on your guard when purchasing your beading needles!

                                                  



I know that many of us are creatures of habit, especially in the studio.  For years, I have purchased only John James beading needles made in England due to their superior quality workmanship.  I usually purchase the " longs" and for bead embroidery I prefer the # 10's.  I always buy several packages at a time and take them out of their wrappers and put them into a special little case I have for them.  In working, when I bend a needle totally out of shape , break one on occasion or just simply wear one out, I  deposit it in a little box for rejects and open up my nifty case and pop out a new one.  It's an easy routine that I am comfortable with and I never keep the wrappers the needles originally came in.

When I was working on "Love You to the Moon and Back", I was frustrated due to constant needle breakage and the difficulty I had threading them too.  For a brief moment, I began to question at my vintage, if my eyes and hands had started to play tricks on me but I can usually slip a piece of silamide through the small eye of a beadng needle in a jiffy - it's second nature -  so sanity prevailed and I rather felt that something else was the culprit!  Upon close examination holding a needle up to a light source, I could see the eyes were not punched out properly and some eyes were extremely distorted. Several eyes snapped right off once they did get threaded and/or in the attempt to do so.  When stitching, the slightest bend would result in a quickly snapped needle and I am used to bending the heck out of a needle for some time before it cries for mercy.  I always use a light fusible on the back of my bead stitching and have used the John James through those layers for a considerable number of years without any problem so the fusible was ruled out.

 It seems I was not alone in my dilemma and several other beaders have been experiencing similar frustrations.  Hence, a discussion ensued via the good old internet grapevine. I discovered the answer to my problem and want to share it with you so you can be on your guard when purchasing John James beading needles.   I did find one older packet of needles to show you.  This packet is clearly marked " Made in England".

               BUT

some of the packages are marked as follows:

You will note the packaging looks the same as is the price but the needles are not produced in England and in fact, have been outsourced to China.  Of course, everything looks the same and we do not read the fine print on a product we know and rely on, so we pick them up thinking we are buying the same good old reliable English product. On closer examination, the paper package for the Chinese needles is thinner and cheaper looking than the English packaging. These needles bend and break like never before and are quite inferior. The second package shown above was purchased just a month ago from one of my reliable American suppliers.

 Entaco, who is the manufacturer of John James needles say they were losing their craftsmen to aging and retirement and younger people were not entering their workforce etc., etc.  They said they thought they could have the needles manufactured in China to their specs but now they are saying they have changed their minds and manufacturing has returned to England.  Whether or not this is fact or not remains to be seen and a delegate from the beading community is currently approaching Entaco on that very subject.  We are now awaiting their reply.  I am sure too, it is not just their beading needles that have been affected, so I would advise that any range of their needle products you consider buying be closely examined before purchase.

On a brighter note, I have just purchased some new Japanese beading needles that have come highly recommended and are now available in North American markets.  I will be giving them a good workout in the near future and will give you a review on them once I give them a fair run.  I will also keep you posted on any further info I receive re the manufacture of the John James line.  In the meantime, be vigilant.