Tentakulum Painters Threads Secrets
✨ Revised version:
Tentakulum Painters Threads Secrets
Of course, we won’t tell you all our dyeing secrets – after all, a little magic has to remain.
But we will give you some insights here that will help you to better understand the special features of hand-dyed threads.
🧬 Two fiber worlds – two color worlds
Plant fibers – i.e. all cellulose-based fibers such as cotton or linen – are alkaline-fixed.
Animal fibers – such as silk or protein-based wool – on the other hand, are acid-fixed.
This basic principle of hand dyeing leads to very different color characteristics, depending on which fiber is dyed. And it is precisely these differences that make our threads so exciting – because at Tentakulum they are even enhanced by our special “hand-painting” technique.
🎨 Color that reacts
Our Tentakulum Painters Threads are lovingly handcrafted in our small dye factory.
We use reactive fiber dyes that – as the name suggests – chemically react with the fiber. This means that the dye bonds permanently with the thread, which enables good wash resistance and color fixation.
But – and this is important:
What happens in the industry with high pressure and chemicals is achieved in hand dyeing with feeling and patience – but without aggressive fixing additives.
☝️ And now comes the honest part
In industrial dyeing, the dye is literally shot into the fiber in order to penetrate as deeply as possible and persuade many fiber atoms to bond. With hand dyeing, on the other hand, people apply the dye with the pressure that their hands can generate. The result? Some color molecules always remain on the surface – not quite as deeply anchored.
These molecules are sometimes a little… unfaithful. They come loose during washing – similar to people who simply leave when it gets too hot for them 😉
Incidentally, light-colored embroidery backgrounds and white T-shirts in the same wash cycle don’t find this funny at all.
💡 Our tip:
It is best to wash embroidery pieces separately – or even better: only after Stitching and only very carefully.
Because every color that remains is a sign of real handiwork.
🎨 Why colors look different depending on the material
The chemical reaction that occurs during dyeing also explains why one and the same color appears completely different on different yarns.
🐑 Animal fibers such as silk or wool (i.e. protein fibers), for example, often reproduce brown with a reddish undertone.
🌿 Plant fibers such as cotton (cellulose fibers) tend to appear lighter in brown – and Rayon again shows a different, often more intense color image.
🧪 A little color magic
We deliberately chose a brown in our color example – because brown is a fascinating mixed color and not at all boring!
If you sprinkle the color powder on a white cloth and dissolve it with water (as happened when creating the color solution), it quickly becomes apparent:
This color consists of many individual color pigments that become visible in the solution – small particles in a wide variety of shades that react with each other.
If we now mix this color with another one, new, often unpredictable shades are created – every mixture is a little adventure!
🧵 And then the material comes into play…
The thread itself also influences how the color is absorbed.
Not only the type of fiber – e.g. cotton or silk – plays a role, but also the processing of the fiber:
Filament yarn or spun fibers
twisted threads or smooth yarns
→ All this has an influence on how the color breaks, glows or shines.
In short:
Each strand is unique – and that is exactly what makes hand-dyed threads so lively.
A practical example
Color 129 Friedrich
Cotton – Mouliné
Cotton – Cotton á Broder
Silk – Soie d’Alger
Wool – Crewel Wool
Rayon – Shimmer
Rayon – SingleLoop
Cupro polyester
Metallics Braided #4
brown color powder slightly moistened
🎨 What distinguishes hand dyeing from industrial dyeing
The difference between industrially and hand-dyed thread becomes particularly clear when you look at a cross-section of a skein:
With hand-dyed yarns – especially thicker qualities – the core often remains lighter because the dye liquid does not penetrate deep into all the fibers. The color usually lies on the surface – and that is what makes these threads so appealing.
🤲 No human being is a machine – fortunately!
Humans can never achieve the same precision as machines.
But isn’t that exactly what inspires us?
When a new, vibrant nuance suddenly emerges from a familiar shade?
When every strand holds a little surprise?
The internationally renowned textile artist Heide Stoll-Weber, owner of “farbstoff”, once summed it up wonderfully:
“It’s so exciting every time you wait in front of the washing machine and don’t know how the fabric will come out this time.”
🎨 Colors dance with each other
When applying color, a lot can be planned – but not everything can be controlled.
When I apply three colors to a thread, for example, I try to keep the distances even.
But as soon as yellow suddenly comes into contact with blue, a surprising green emerges.
Red mixes with yellow – and a rich orange is created.
And it is precisely these random color gradients that make hand-dyed threads lively, unique and full of character.
🌱 Diversity instead of uniformity
Hand dyers are artists – just like the people who work with our yarns.
We don’t love sameness, but expression, change, playing with colors.
And we want to encourage all creative textile designers to embrace this diversity.
Because what results is as individual as the person who works with it.
💫 Individuality in a uniform world
At a time when you can always find the same McDonald’s, H&M or Aldi logos even in the remotest corner of the world, it’s a gift to be able to reflect on your own.
Working with hand-dyed yarns is one way to achieve this – full of color, feeling and personality.
Various “manifestations” of the color 101 Macke (shown in silk – Soie d’Alger). This is one of the most difficult colors because it contains yellow as well as red and blue. A fact that every book on hand dyeing warns against putting together…
🎨 What distinguishes hand dyeing from industrial dyeing
The difference between industrially and hand-dyed thread becomes particularly clear when you look at a cross-section of a skein:
With hand-dyed yarns – especially thicker qualities – the core often remains lighter because the dye liquid does not penetrate deep into all the fibers. The color usually lies on the surface – and that is what makes these threads so appealing.
🤲 No human being is a machine – fortunately!
Humans can never achieve the same precision as machines.
But isn’t that exactly what inspires us?
When a new, vibrant nuance suddenly emerges from a familiar shade?
When every strand holds a little surprise?
The internationally renowned textile artist Heide Stoll-Weber, owner of “farbstoff”, once summed it up wonderfully:
“It’s so exciting every time you wait in front of the washing machine and don’t know how the fabric will come out this time.”
🎨 Colors dance with each other
When applying color, a lot can be planned – but not everything can be controlled.
When I apply three colors to a thread, for example, I try to keep the distances even.
But as soon as yellow suddenly comes into contact with blue, a surprising green emerges.
Red mixes with yellow – and a rich orange is created.
And it is precisely these random color gradients that make hand-dyed threads lively, unique and full of character.
🌱 Diversity instead of uniformity
Hand dyers are artists – just like the people who work with our yarns.
We don’t love sameness, but expression, change, playing with colors.
And we want to encourage all creative textile designers to embrace this diversity.
Because what results is as individual as the person who works with it.
💫 Individuality in a uniform world
At a time when you can always find the same McDonald’s, H&M or Aldi logos even in the remotest corner of the world, it’s a gift to be able to reflect on your own.
Working with hand-dyed yarns is one way to achieve this – full of color, feeling and personality.
109 Picasso in Pearl Cotton #8 – sometimes light – sometimes dark – although the mixture of the dyeing liquid has not changed
115 GrandmaMoses
top: Pearl Thread #8 (mercerized cotton)
bottom: Matt yarn (non-mercerized cotton)
🌦️ When it’s not just people who determine the color
Sometimes it’s not even down to the artistic creativity of the dyer – but to things that can hardly be influenced.
The result of a dyeing process depends on many factors that are beyond our control – and yet have a major influence:
Water quality: Soft water makes for stronger colors, hard water can make them appear duller.
Humidity: If the air is too humid, this makes it more difficult for the paint to penetrate thread.
Pre-treatment of threads: The mercerizing liquor content can vary, especially with cotton, and thus influence the color result.
Cosmic influences (yes, really!): According to our intensive observations, so-called flower days have a favorable effect on cotton, fruit days on silk – and root days are… let’s say: unfavorable. 🌱🌕🌸
I have been testing this for months – with quite astonishing results.
🧪 Colors – a living material
Even the color powders that we use are subject to natural fluctuations.
The color “jade” can sometimes tend towards green, sometimes towards blue.
“Lemon” is sometimes bright yellow, sometimes slightly greenish. And sometimes… it is simply no longer available. Then it’s back to the coloring table, a new mixture, new tests – often with no chance of matching the old shade exactly.
The saying “Change is the only constant in life” is nowhere more fitting than in a dyeing workshop.
⚖️ Of spoons, powders and normal madness
The behavior of the color powders themselves also varies from delivery to delivery.
What was fine-grained like sand yesterday is suddenly as fine as flour today – and barely soluble.
Many hand dyers (including us!) do not work with grams, but with spoonfuls – because this is more practical in everyday life.
But: A spoonful of sand weighs more than a spoonful of flour.
And if the flour doesn’t want to dissolve, then…
sometimes all the previous tests have been for nothing. 😅
This color powder is one of our most important primary colors: Green.
On the left a delivery, on the right the previous delivery. In addition to the color, the consistency has also changed (see above), mealy on the left, sandy on the right.
Sometimes you are lucky and the coloration looks similar. Unfortunately, this was not the case here. What was previously blue-green is now yellow-green.
As you can imagine, we would now have to retest all mixtures containing this color. ….
This is how different the color 121 Cezanne now looks, using the green shown above as the base color…
above: old color powder – below: new color powder
🧪 Procion MX – and why “MX” sometimes stands for magic
Many people are familiar with the popular “Procion MX” reactive fiber paints .
The “MX” stands for mixture, as only a few colors in this series are actually pure. Most shades consist of several components – and although they are produced industrially, there can be differences from batch to batch.
🎨 Mixing from mixed colors – welcome to the color lab
To get our very own shades, we mix our favorites from these predetermined mixing colors. Sounds complicated? Sometimes it is 😅
Imagine we combine two sand-colored tones – both from different pigment mixtures.
Suddenly, a delivery arrives in which one of the two shades is floury instead of sandy.
What happens? The mixture settles differently, the heavier pigments sink faster – and the original ratio is no longer correct.
👁️ Same to the eye – but different in result
Even if we shake the colors well, the heavier component can collect at the bottom.
To our eyes, the powder in the can looks completely familiar.
But when coloring, it becomes clear:
The mixture is no longer exactly the same – and the result differs, often very slightly, but sometimes surprisingly significantly.
And that is exactly what everyday life is like in a dye factory: a game of knowledge, experience, experimentation – and a good dose of patience.
A few more examples of difficult colors, which sometimes look one way and sometimes another...
Braided Cotton color 117 Niki
Silk ribbon color 102 Kandinsky
Shimmer color 115 GrandmaMoses