Japanese Hand-made Needle Range from Leon Conrad Designs

Japanese Hand-made Needle Range
(Click on the picture above for a close-up view of these items.)

These needles are the very best I’ve ever used.
They make a real difference to the finished quality of a piece of embroidery without my having to do anything different!

These needles are ideal to use with silk thread and I really noticed a difference when working with gold passing thread.

The reasons are:

1. The eyes are wider and rounder than standard machine made needles.
2. The inside of the eye is hand-sanded, making the surface much smoother and far less abrasive on thread.
3. The heads are larger than those of standard machine made needles, making a larger hole for the thread to go through.
It is the needle that takes the friction, not the thread.
4. The tips are hand-ground and much sharper than standard machine-made needles, making accuracy in stitching much easier to achieve.
Use them with care!

The needles come in 7 sizes.
In the picture on the left, I have added a No 10 Sharp standard machine made needle at the top and bottom for the purposes of comparison.
At the bottom of the page is a close-up picture of the difference between the eye of a No 10 Sharp needle (top) and that of a Kiritsuke needle (bottom).
The needles are listed below going from the smallest to the largest hole size, illustrated from top to bottom in the picture on the left:

1. Kiritsuke Needle - c. 27mm long; c. 1/3 mm diameter eye.
Traditionally used for ˝ a strand of Japanese flat floss silk.
Ideal for Thread Nos 30 and 60 in the Ebony Collection and other fine threads
such as fine Japan threads, blending filaments used singly, or unwrapped, etc. - Ref N01 - Ł8.25/$13.25

2. Ten-boso Needle - c. 28mm long; c. ˝ mm diameter eye.
Traditionally used for 1 strand of Japanese flat floss silk.
Ideal for Thread No 130 in the Ebony Collection - Ref N02 - Ł8.25/$13.25

3. Ai-boso Needle - c. 28mm long; c. 3/5 mm diameter eye.
Traditionally used for 2 to 3 strands of Japanese flat floss silk.
Ideal for Thread No 210 in the Ebony Collection - Ref N03 - Ł8.25/$13.25

4. Ai-chuu Needle - c. 28mm long; c. ľ mm diameter eye.
Traditionally used for 4 strands of Japanese flat floss silk.
Ideal for Thread No 270 in the Ebony Collection - Ref N04 - Ł8.25/$13.25

5. Cyuu-buto Needle - c. 28mm long; c. 4/5mm diameter eye.
Traditionally used for 5 strands of Japanese flat floss silk.
Ideal for Thread No 330 in the Ebony Collection - Ref N05 - Ł9.87/$15.75

6. Oo-buto Needle - c. 28mm long; c. 1mm diameter eye.
Traditionally used for 6 strands of Japanese flat floss silk.
Ideal for Thread Nos 540 and P12 in the Ebony Collection - Ref N06 - Ł9.87/$15.75

7. Long Cyuu-buto Needle - c. 33mm long; c. 4/5mm diameter eye.
Traditionally used for 5 strands of Japanese flat floss silk.
Ideal for Thread No 330 in the Ebony Collection. - Ł9.87/$15.75

For Goldwork, with a standard passing thread, and especially when working stitches such as Ceylon, Plaited Braid, Braid, etc., I recommend the Oo-buto Needle (No 6 above).

If you wish to go for ONE of the above needles, I would recommend Nos 5 or 6. You can fit a finer thread into a larger hole, but you can’t fit a thick thread into a small hole!

Japanese Hand-made Needle Range

from Leon Conrad Designs