I've Been Enticed

Entice in Many Colors

Have you tried Rainbow Gallery's new Entice yet?  Entice is a rayon thread with a bit of matching metallic woven into the strand.  Here are the available colors.  The photo above doesn't have them all, just the first set that Rainbow Gallery kindly sent me for review.  Note there are many shades of gold, blue, green, and purple plus several reds and pinks as well as black and white and cream.
http://www.rainbowgallery.com/detail.cfm?id=1347

I don't really like rayon threads much so I am not that experienced with them.  Therefore I enlisted Pat Miller of the Needleart Nut blog to help me with this review.  My first thought was how does Entice differ from Twinkle and Silk Lame Braid?  Pat's used Twinkle, a similar rayon-metallic thread from Gone Stitching.  She says Twinkle has only one strand of sparkle so that the metallic isn't always on top when you are stitching.  There are 37 colors of Twinkle and only 23 of Entice right now.  (I'm writing this in July 2015.)  Twinkle doesn't unravel much at the cut end (Entice does that Big Time) , the metallic doesn't unwind, and Twinkle is about the same diameter as size 8 perle cotton.  I think Entice is a bit fatter, sort of larger than size 8 perle but smaller than size 5 perle cotton.  Twinkle has good coverage on 18 count and isn't hard to pull through the holes.  It doesn't snag on dry hands either.
http://www.gonestitching.net/new/index.php/supplies/threads/twinkle-threads.html

Close Up of Pat's Fiery Brazil

Pat says that Twinkle has less metallic than Entice does.  She used both on one of Leigh Designs' Jungle Heat pieces and loaned me a photograph that shows both of them.  The green stems and caps are Entice and the black leaves are in Twinkle. Pat says Twinkle does twinkle in the light but Entice is more generally shiny.  By the way, the bits of light pink flower petal in the upper left are Silk Lame Braid so you can see all three threads in Pat's photograph.  Here's a larger version from the Leigh Designs' website.
http://www.leighdesigns.com/Mdl6303.html

Speaking of Silk Lame Braid, it is similar to Entice when it comes to the bits of metallic but the rayon of Entice is shinier than the silk in Silk Lame Braid.  Of course Silk Lame Braid comes in three sizes and Entice only one.  Entice is a bit fat for 18 count but if you use Silk Lame Braid you can choose a size. I imagine you can pull out a strand from both threads to make it smaller but I don't like to do that personally as the thread becomes unruly in my hands. (Other people do this successfully.  I am just clumsy I think.)   I discovered on 13 count Entice works very well, with little snagging and less unraveling at the cut end.  On 18 count I had more trouble with the unraveling.  I've not used my Thread Zapper to burn the end to see if that helps the fraying as mine died and I just replaced it, but if you use a large needle (size 18 or 20 are best) and short lengths, the fraying and unraveling of Entice as you work with it is minimized.  It's perfect for 13 count, though a larger needle helps here, too.

When it comes to sparkle, Entice looks like a softer version of Kreinik metallic.  On the sparkle spectrum, Kreinik has the most bling, Entice is next, with Twinkle and Silk Lame Braid bringing up the rear with a slight edge to Twinkle as the rayon is a little shinier than the silk in Silk Lame Braid (although there is more metallic showing in Silk Lame Braid).

I like Entice although I like it better for 13 count than 18 count.  I don't have any experience with Twinkle but hopefully Pat's experience and photographs will help you choose between these threads and Silk Lame Braid and Kreinik so you can find just the right amount of sparkle for your next project.

Many thanks to Pat Miller for her help with this review!  Do visit Pat's blog for more stitching fun!
http://needleartnut.blogspot.com

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright July 14, 2015 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Tentakulatum UPDATED

From Leigh Designs' Jungle Heat:  Sultry Outback

Vicky DeAngelis shows off the huge range of overdyed products available from Tentakulatum on her blog.  I absolutely adore their Painters Thread overdyed ribbon floss, but most of the rest I've never seen except for the gimp, which is amazing for couching a thin line around a flower petal, say.  You can see their gimp in action in the photo above, outlining my flowers.
http://mostlyneedlepoint.com/shimmer-and-floss-and-buttons-oh-my/

From Leigh Designs' Lil Goblins:  Katie

Here's their overdyed ribbon floss as hair.  You can't see the gold flecks (cameras are blind to metallics) but the yellow shading into golden brown is just one thread with many colors.  Take a browse through this website and see what other fun things you can find for your canvas.
https://www.artisticartifacts.com/category/ten.html

UPDATE:  Here's another shop that carries these threads, highly recommended by Tess.
http://shop.threadnut.com

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright May 6, 2015 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Tricks for the Tricky Background

Sultry Outback, unstitched and showing all that "broken" background

I've been busy stitching a model for Leigh Designs called "Sultry Outback," one of Leigh's Jungle Heat series.  This piece has a lot of "broken" background--in other words, there are lots of bits of background here and there behind all the flowers and foliage.  So naturally I chose a rather complicated background and am having to use all my tricks to make sure that the flow of the background stitch is perfect from one area to the next.

Closeup of Temporary Stitches Across Stem

I'm not the world's greatest counting machine at the best of times, and since I normally stitch after supper when I am pretty tired from a very busy day, I need help making sure that the stitches line up correctly.  My favorite way to make sure things run properly is to stitch the background first, then work a row of brightly colored stitches across areas that are not background so that I keep track of the pattern flow.  That's what you see in the photo above--those yellow stitches are a ply of DMC floss in a bright color that continue the stitch sequence across the flower stem so that I can make sure the rows on either side of the stem line up.

Lots of folks use quilting thread for this in a, shall we say, LOUD color so that it's easy to stitch with and easy to rip out later.  I'm using a ply of floss because I had that on my stitching table.  I was using it to attach beads earlier and had this left over.  You would think that I'd be able to figure out the stitch sequence over such a short distance properly but I pulled out the stitches three times before I used my yellow floss to get things right.  (See "pretty tired" and "not the world's greatest counting machine" above.)

More Temporary Rows

Of course some areas are quite large but the same principle applies.  Above you see the temporary rows (in another color of thread when my yellow ran out) across a broad leaf and flower to make sure the interlocking diagonals meet up properly.  You can sort of see the black stitches in the bottom half of the broad black leaf.  It is always wise to not stitch an area you have to cross to get to more background so you can add temporary stitches.  I stopped the black when I realized I needed temporary guidelines.  I've now ripped out the yellow stitches and am busy with the top two-thirds of that black leaf.

You may be a better counter than me but anyone can use this trick to line up background stitch patterns.  So the next time you see a skein of hot pink or neon orange floss in the sale bin, take it home.  You can use it to establish a pattern in your background even if you wouldn't be caught dead stitching with these colors normally.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright March 6, 2015 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Blinding You and Other Blog News

This is what was plastered all over the background.

I wanted to remind Blog's readers that new items are still popping up several times a day under the "TNNA Winter 2015 Phoenix" ta.  Designers who haven't updated their website now have time to do so and the shops are posting new canvases that they ordered from the show on their website, blog or Facebook page.  Just click on the tab to check on the latest, which will be on top and highlighted in red.

As you probably can't help noticing (since you have to wear sunglasses to look at Blog!) I've also updated the background image.  This is a closeup from my current piece for Leigh Designs--Sultry Outback from her brand new Jungle Heat series.
http://www.leighdesigns.com/Grp630x.html

The pictures aren't there to blind you--they are there to show off a new thread I've been playing with. If you look at the three yellow flowers, you'll notice that two are outlined and one isn't.  The couched outline is Painters Threads' gimp, which is a rayon cord a little smaller in diameter than size 5 cotton perle.  It looks a bit like DMC's memory thread, but smaller and it isn't bendable wire. It's just slightly stiff to bend.  It comes in all the usual Painters Thread colors which are a mix of overdyes.  I used the orangish MaryC.
http://www.shop.tentakulum.com/epages/Tentakulum.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/Tentakulum/Categories/Garne/Andere/Viskose/Gimpe

This Etsy shop has some nice closeups where you can see what the thread looks like.  I think it would make awesome surface stitches (French knots, oyster stitch, cast on stitches, or lazy daisy stitches).
https://www.etsy.com/listing/157881209/painters-rayon-gimp-gimpe-frida-thread

It also made my yellow flowers look like appliquéd fabric, which is the look I was going for.  Thank you, Painters Threads!

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright February 4, 2015 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.