🎨 Colors with a core
the world of
Tentakulum Painters Threads
Welcome to the world of Tentakulum Painters Threads
created using a very special dyeing technique,
developed exclusively in the Tentakulum Painters Threads Manufactory.
Our dye baths are famous for their vibrant variety –
with surprising nuances and subtle variations.
Each thread, each fabric is individually dyed,
creating a new, unique interplay of colors with each batch.
Embroidered areas show no repeating patterns,
but rather a continuous, gentle blend –
making each project a truly unique piece.
Our over 40 harmoniously coordinated colors
offer enormous creative freedom.
Please note:
Due to our special hand-dyeing process and the different color representations on screens, there may be deviations between the photo and the original color.
Our color charts serve for general orientation and show the basic tones contained in each color in Pearl Cotton 3 quality. Different threads always accept the color differently!
🔍 More insights into our dyeing secrets can be found in the Painters Secrets.
📥 You can find the color charts for download directly here –
for an exact overview of the entire color palette.
For more information about the life and work of the artists,
who inspired us to create our Glory series color compositions,
please click anywhere in the respective Box.
Below the name of the color you will find the color number,
under which you can order all our threads.
Please note: the colors shown are snapshots! (see above)
🎨 on this page you will find
the Tentakulum Painters Threads color gallery
Painters Glory
🖌️Colors, conceived as art. 🖼️
The Painters Glorys are our most expressive color palette.
At the beginning of each Glory series is a work of art –
or rather: an artist*in, whose color world has captivated us.
We take a close look:
Which colors appear again and again?
Which color moods are typical?
Which tones are iconic for certain works?
From this research, we develop an own color spectrum,
that does not copy, but interprets.
The colors themselves are inspired by the typical color moods of the respective artists*inside –
Colors that they have used particularly often or that are inextricably linked to a work.
🧶Every meter a unique piece
With the Glorys, practically every meter, every square centimeter is dyed individually.
This means: no clean repetitions, no predictable patterns, no “repeats.”
Instead, irregular color sequences are created, in which the colors meet again and again,
react with each other, reinforce or withdraw.
This is exactly what makes this series so appealing – lively, surprising, never boring.
🌈 From powerful to harmonious
The Painters Glorys move in the color range strong to medium dark,
with very different characters:
What they all have in common is: They tell a color story – but leave enough room for your own interpretation.
✨ Textile art to think further
The Glorys are not “well-behaved” threads.
They challenge, react sensitively to technique, material and neighborhood –
and that’s exactly why they are perfect for works,
where color can be more than just decoration.
Or in short:
This is painting with needle and thread. 🪡🎨
inge meta zimber
130
🎨 The story behind color 130: Inge Meta
Ich möchte euch gerne die bewegende Geschichte hinter diesem Namen erzählen –
denn sie ist eng mit dem Leben der “Erfinderin” der Tentakulum Painters Threads (BIZ) verbunden.
🌱 A “life artist”
Ein Mensch, der unter schwierigen Bedingungen den Mut fand, weiterzugehen – und dabei vielen anderen Licht und Wärme schenkte.
Inge Meta war BIZ’ Mutter.
Und sie fand ihren Weg durch den Schmerz mithilfe der Aquarellmalerei, nachdem ihr Mann sehr plötzlich und viel zu früh verstarb.
Mit 60 Jahren Witwe zu werden, ist vielleicht nicht ungewöhnlich – doch sie blieb zurück mit zwei Kindern im Haus und einem Sohn im Studium.
BIZ’ Schwester und BIZ selbst lebten weit entfernt, beruflich gebunden, konnten nur aus der Ferne begleiten.
Dabei hatten die Eltern sich gerade das erste Mal im Leben ein kleines bisschen Wohlstand erarbeitet.
Und dann kam der Bruch.
Das Leben ist nicht immer leicht zu verstehen.
🎨 From darkness to light
Doch mit jedem Bild kehrte ihr Lebensgeist ein kleines Stück zurück.
Die Farben wurden heller, lebendiger, mutiger. Jedes ihrer fünf Kinder durfte sich ein Bild aussuchen.
BIZ wählte eines, das für sie aussah wie eine Tür. Eine Tür in eine Welt voller Licht und Farbe.
Und sie wusste: Diese Farben möchte ich in einem Garn festhalten.
🧪 Two years of color, feeling & experimentation
That was easier said than done. There were so many tones in the picture –
even those that, according to the textbook, “should not be mixed”.
So it took almost two years until the color sound could be composed in such a way
that it was reminiscent of this picture.
On Inge Meta’s 85th birthday – in 2015 –
BIZ ann presented her mother with the color “die IngeMeta”.
With a small certificate that captured this moment.
And the wish that her courage would spill over through this color to everyone who works with it.
And yes – it works.
Inge Meta is now one of the best-selling colors.
Although (or perhaps precisely because) it is also the most unreliable:
Eight colors dance with each other in this mixture –
each time a little different.
Just like in real life.
Painters Pastels
🌸 The Light Side of Color – Our Pastels
In 2015, inspired by numerous customer requests, we began to develop a new color world:
soft pastels that would complement our vibrant Painters Glory colors.
But as so often with our dyeing technique, it quickly turned out: It’s not that simple.
Because pastel is not the same as pastel – and we wanted to create tones
that are clearly different from conventional hand-dyed pastel threads.
Although we wanted to produce them in the “regular” technique for multicolor colors.
🎨 Delicate – but not ordinary
Our aim was to create soft tones with character:
pastel nuances that retain clarity and depth instead of blurring into the arbitrary.
The result is impressive –
and is also received with great enthusiasm by our customers.
Many say:
“If you work with Glorys and Pastels, you actually hardly need anything else.”
And we are of course thrilled about this trust.
🌿 Names that evoke images
Our pastel shades bear names that tell stories –
of landscapes, plants, cities, animals.
Sometimes inspired by a place, sometimes by a feeling.
Because as with all Painters Threads colors, intuition and emotion flow into every nuance.
Iceland
301
Aruba
302
Riesling
103
Pomelo
104
Suricata
105
Peony
106
Agave
107
Koala
108
Longan
109
Syringa
110
Painters Almost Solids
🎨 Strong colors. Big impact.
With Painters Almost Solids, we are expanding our color gallery with a series
that is deliberately restrained – and that is exactly where its strength lies.
Here we dye selected threads with only a single color,
implemented in classic vat dyeing.
Sounds easy? It is not.
Because here too, the following applies: hand dyeing remains hand dyeing.
🧶 Hand-dyed – and you can see that
The color is not one hundred percent evenly distributed in the thread –
and that is not a mistake, but the character of this series.
Fine nuances, minimal irregularities and the peculiarities of the respective thread qualities
are even more pronounced here.
Almost Solid: calm, but lively.
✋ Carefully selected
Only threads are dyed
that are specially made for Tentakulum Painters Threads.
And for which there is no own solid color collection from the thread suppliers.
We are not allowed to dye anything else for legal reasons – and do not want to.
It’s that clear.
🌱 In progress – thoughtfully designed
We are continuously working to complete the first ten colors in this series by 2026.
Currently available are:
The names already reveal a lot – images will follow shortly.
✨ An assortment that stands for itself
With Painters Glorys, Painters Pastels and now also Painters Almost Solids, the color world is completely thought out:
Colors for accents, colors for areas, colors for depth, calm and transitions.
And now the time has really come: