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The Dyer's Guide. Chapter VI. On Dyeing Cotton And Silk. On dyeing silk of a Prussian blue colour.
Linen, Cotton, Silk, Wool, Muslin, Dresses, Furniture, &c. &c.
Scouring Wool, Bleaching Cotton, &c.
Directions for Ungumming Silk, And For Whitening And Sulphuring Silk And Wool.
An Inttroductory Epitome of The Leading Facts in Chemistry, As Connected With The Art of Dyeing.
"Cet arte est un des plus utiles et des plus merveilleux qu'on connoisse."
"There is no art which depends so much on chemistry as dyeing."
The application of colours derived from the mineral kingdom to dyeing is one of the most striking modern improvements in our art. Mr. Raymond received from the French government in 1801, eight thousand francs, (more than three hundred pounds sterling,) as a reward for communicating to the public his process for dyeing silk of a uniform fast and bright Prussian-blue colour by the application of that well known pigment. His process is as follows.
He first converts, by a gentle calcination, sulphate of iron into a red sulphate of iron: this he dissolves in sixteen times its weight of warm water and filters. The silk, prepared as for indigo dye, is put into the solution of iron, and left there for a shorter or longer time, according to the shade of blue that is wanted; it is then taken out and wrung very dry over a pole placed above the vat. It is then thoroughly cleansed by being twice beetled, plunging and agitating it each time in. running water. Dissolve in pure water heated to 167°, and put into a deal vat, one ounce oi ferroprussiate of potash, for every twelve ounces of silk to be dyed. When the prussiate is dissolved add one part, or even rather more, of muriatic acid, stirring the mixture well. When the liquor has acquired a greenish colour, and about 144° of heat, the silk must be immediately plunged into it and stirred about for some minutes. The silk having received the dye in an equal manner, it is taken out of the vat, well wrung on a pole above the vat, and then taken to the stream to receive two or three beetlings, and be plunged and agitated in the water, in order that it may be entirely freed from any portion of the prussiate of iron not truly combined with it.
Lastly, the silk being well washed in the stream, and thoroughly wrung, is to be placed loosely on the poles, as in the preceding operations; after which it must be well agitated in a large vessel three-fourths filled with cold water, to which must be added, for a hundred pounds of silk, two pounds of water of ammonia. The blue colour immediately becomes many shades deeper, of a much richer and brighter tint, and at the same time is fixed more perfectly in the silks. This change is effected in a few minutes. The silk must then be wrung by the hand and rinsed in the running water without beating. After this, it is dried on the poles in the same manner as other dyed silks. It need not be left on the poles more than twenty-four hours: but, nevertheless, this colour so far from fading in the drying, as is the case with many colours, is improved by it.
The solution of a little soap added cold to the ammonia bath, improves it, giving also softness to the silk, and rendering it more easy to separate. The soap should be uniformly dissolved.
For the substance of the above process, we are indebted to Dr. Ure's notes on Berthollet, vol. ii. p. 422. The prussiate of potash is now to be obtained as a regular article of trade from the dry-salters in this country.
Woollen cloth takes also the above dye, but it must be left longer than silk in the iron mordant.
The Dyer's Guide. Chapter VI. On Dyeing Cotton And Silk. Iron-grey.
For iron-grey it is necessary to boil the same as for blues: this colour is much more beautiful when laid on a very white ground.
By having the drugs made into decoctions before-hand, greys either in woollen, silk, or cotton, may be dyed at a heat not much above what the hand will bear; and in a rotation of shades from light to dark, and varied, blue, red, yellow, brown, &c. with ease and with pleasure; so may, likewise, many stone-drabs, and other light brown drabs, as the mixture of yellow, fawn, and black, produces nut-browns, &c.
The Dyer's Guide. Chapter VI. On Dyeing Cotton And Silk. Black-greys.
These are alumed and welded as for yellow, and, when the liquor is exhausted, part of it is thrown away, and some logwood is added; when the logwood is exhausted, sulphate of iron is added, sufficient to blacken the colour, the silk is then washed, wrung, and finished in the usual way.
The Dyer's Guide. Chapter VI. On Dyeing Cotton And Silk. Nut grey.
The fustic decoction, archil, and a little logwood are put into water moderately hot, the silk is then returned, and when the liquor is exhausted, the silk is taken out, and to soften the colour the solution of sulphate of iron, or the black vat, is used. The silk is then returned once more, and if the colour does not appear sufficiently even, some red spots still remaining, it may be concluded that it requires a little more sulphate of iron.
Observe that, as sulphate of iron is the general base of all greys, if this be deficient in quantity, the colour is apt to change in dyeing, and to become rough and uneven.
To know whether the colour be sufficiently softened, it should be examined, and if it wet easily, after having been wrung on the peg, it wants sulphate of iron. On the contrary, if it wets with a little difficulty, the colour is sufficiently softened.
Too much sulphate of iron stiffens the silk considerably, making it harsh, and even depriving it of a part of its lustre; to remedy this it must be extra washed and wrung at the peg; this process carries off the sulphate of iron.
The Dyer's Guide. Chapter VI. On Dyeing Cotton And Silk. On dyeing silk grey.
All the greys, namely, nut-greys, thorn-greys, black and iron-greys, and others of the same hue, black-grey excepted, are produced without aluming. The silk being washed from the soap and drained on the peg, a liquor is made of fustic, archil, logwood and sulphate of iron: fustic gives the ground, archil the red, logwood darkens, and the sulphate of iron softens all these colours, turns them grey, and, at the same time, serves instead of alum as a mordant.
As there is an infinite variety of greys, without any positive names, produced by the same methods, it would be endless to enter into details, which would prolong this treatise to little purpose.
For reddish-grey the archil should predominate; for those more grey, the logwood; and for those rather greenish, the fustic.
Care should be taken not to use the logwood too much, as with the sulphate of iron it darkens more than most drugs: therefore the black vat, made either with alderbark, or the other preparation mentioned in dyeing cotton, is preferable to the sulphate of iron.
The Dyer's Guide. Chapter VI. On Dyeing Cotton And Silk. Olives.
Proceed in aluming, &c. the same as for other colours; the weld liquor being stronger, some logwood must be added. When the weld and logwood are exhausted a very small quantity of each must be added, which green the liquor, when the silk being passed through, a greenish olive is produced.
A reddish olive requires fustic, instead of logwood and pearl-ash, both of these being omitted.
Fustic gives a colour commonly called drab-olive upon cloth, because generally made to match with olive, this is commonly redder than the preceding.
The Dyer's Guide. Chapter VI. On Dyeing Cotton And Silk. On dyeing silk green.
This colour is composed of blue and yellow. It is with difficulty produced on silk, because the blue vat is liable to spot and give a party colour, an inconvenience to which green is more liable than blue, and more perceptible. The boiling of silk for greens is the same as for common colours.
The silk being alumed as usual rather strongly, is washed off and divided on the sticks into small hanks of about four or five ounces, that it may be equally and easily managed in the working, from the yellow to green, in the blueing from the blue vat.
Weld is then boiled as stated in the article concerning yellow; when boiled, a liquor of it is prepared strong enough to give a lemon ground; the silk is then turned with all the expedition, care, and caution possible, that it may be even. When it appears full enough, some of the threads are to be separated and dipped in the vat, to determine this. If not full enough, more of the weld liquor must be added to the dye bath, and the silk returned and tried again, and so on; when the colour is right, the silk is washed off and beetled. It is then wrung and formed into hanks, and dipped skein by skein in the blue vat, the same as the blue and the purple should be; it must be wrung with equal care and dispatch.
This green is a kind of sea-green, of which there are upwards of twenty shades. The lighter shades, when taken out of the vat, are not washed but the silk must be worked in the hands by clapping it between them, and then be carefully opened and aired. A few threads are then washed, or rinsed; if the colour be right the whole is washed.
For the dark shades, when the weld is exhausted a little logwood is added to the liquor; in some cases, old fustic, in some annatto.
For very dark-wing or bottle-green shades, a little sulphate of iron is required.
The Dyer's Guide. Chapter VI. On Dyeing Cotton And Silk. Observations on crimson and scarlet upon silk.
Crimson upon silk is produced at Norwich, London, and many other places, by using a much larger quantity of cochineal than that which is directed by Macquer: for in some cases, as much as a guinea a pound, has, it is said, been paid for dyeing silk crimson at Norwich. Archil has been used, likewise, in crimson, and the time of boiling is not so long. In some shades a little of the composition and tartar may be admitted, but in a small degree. It should be stated, however, that scarlet upon silk, is often done by annatto and safflower.
Take of fine muriatic acid, of the specific gravity of 1.120, two quarts; add by degrees, one ounce at a time, of feathered tin, for twenty-four hours. Put the vessel in a sand heat and bring it gently to boil, observing to add more tin as that in the acid becomes dissolved. There should be some tin left undissolved when the liquor is cold, thus indicating that the acid is perfectly neutralized by the tin. Bottle for use.
The Dyer's Guide. Chapter VI. On Dyeing Cotton And Silk. Of fine violet.
For this colour the common boiling is enough, the silk is alumed the same as for fine scarlet, washed and twice beetled. Thus prepared, two ounces of cochineal are given to it, with the same precaution as usual, but no composition nor tartar. Being worked moderately warm, in working it must be expeditiously turned; after a quarter of an hour the liquor should be brought to boil, when the turning need not be so expeditious, but it should, nevertheless, be continued for two hours. After being washed the silk is dipped in the vat, more or less strong, according to the shade required.
Washing and drying are done in the same manner as for blues and greens, and in general for all colours dipped in the vat, namely, a small quantity at a time, in order that the silk may be kept open to the air, and that the greening of the vat may pass correctly and equally to blue. For some shades archil forms a part of this dye. For other violets on silk see Chapter III.
The silk should be first alumed, and then passed through a strong decoction of Brazil wood, half a pail to a pound of silk, which is to be worked, and put through an additional and strengthened dye of Brazil wood, and then washed off: if in hard water this will generally crimson the Brazil wood sufficiently; but if in soft water a little pearl-ash must be added; about one pound of the clear solution of pearl-ash, or rather the clear solution of a pound of pearl-ash, as one pound of water will not, we believe, dissolve a pound of pearl-ash: this is enough for forty pounds of silk.
The decoction of Brazil wood is prepared thus: one hundred and fifty pounds of Brazil wood chips are put into a copper which holds about sixty buckets of water; the copper is then filled with water and boiled for three hours, the waste by evaporation being occasionally supplied. The fire is now damped, the clear liquor drawn off, the copper filled again, and again boiled for three hours more. This process is repeated four times in all, when the dye of the wood will be fully extracted.
Logwood and old fustic are treated in the same manner, but only two boilings are required for these.
In regard to crimson generally, see forward, observations on dyeing silk crimson and scarlet, and also some observations on the dyeing of wool scarlet, page 85.
The Dyer's Guide. Chapter VI. On Dyeing Cotton And Silk. Another process for crimson.
When the silk is boiling in the soap-liquor, add one ounce of annatto, for every pound of silk, working it through the colander as directed, (page 136.) but without the composition or tartar: in some shades, however, both composition and tartar are admitted. The solution applied to cochineal with worsted has a considerable effect, changing it from a crimson, its natural colour, to a very bright fire colour; but it produces only a crimson when applied to silk; its gives, however, this colour a very beautiful tint; for, uniting with the tartar, it increases the effect without impoverishing the colour, and saving the annatto ground. Macquer.
The Dyer's Guide. Chapter VI. On Dyeing Cotton And Silk. On dyeing silk a fine crimson. Composition for dyeing silk scarlet or crimson with cochineal.
Silk intended for the crimson of cochineal should have only twenty pounds of soap to one hundred pounds of silk, and no azure, because the natural yellow of the silk which remains is favourable to the intended colour.
The silk is to be strongly alumed and left in the alum from seven to eight hours, then washed and twice beetled at the river. Remember how the alum is to be worked, as to the manual part.
Composition for dyeing silk scarlet or crimson with cochineal.
Take one pound of nitric acid, two ounces of muriate of ammonia, six ounces of fine tin, prepared as mentioned under dyeing wool scarlet, water twelve ounces.
The muriate of ammonia, the prepared tin, and the water, are put into a stone jar, to which the nitric acid is added, and the whole left to dissolve.
This composition contains much more tin and sal-ammoniac than is used for the scarlet of cochineal upon wool; it is, however, absolutely necessary.
An ounce of this composition, for every pound of silk, is to be added to the galls and cochineal when boiling. The boiler is then cooled down a little, the fire-door thrown open, the silk put in and worked from five to seven times, when the silk will have become pretty even as far as it is dyed. The copper is now again to be brought to boil; it should continue boiling, and the silk kept turning, for two hours; the fire is then taken from under the copper, and the silk is immersed entirely and left all night, or for seven or eight hours at least; it thus takes a full half shade. In the morning it is washed, twice beetled, wrung as usual, and hung up to dry.
The least tincture of sulphate of iron in the water saddens the crimsons, takes off their yellow, and gives the violet cast; but if too much of the yellow is carried off, it may be restored by fustic. Nothing but sulphate of iron will sadden grain scarlets, logwood being quite useless for this purpose; sulphate of iron darkens greatly with galls. Macquer.
The Dyer's Guide. Chapter VI. On Dyeing Cotton And Silk. A cheaper poppy with annatto and Brazil wood.
The silk is to be grounded with annatto as before; when well washed off it must be alumed and washed off again; then passed through the decoction of Brazil wood, washed off again, again passed through a fresh decoction of Brazil wood; and every time that goods are passed through the dye, as has been before stated, they must be worked from end to end of the skeins, from five to seven times, to have them even, and to give them a full opportunity of combining with the colouring materials of the dye.
These repetitions must of course be in number proportionate to the slightness or intensity of the colour wanted. With the Brazil decoction it is necessary to mix well a little soap liquor, about five quarts to thirty pounds of silk. This keeps the alum used to receive the Brazil decoction not only from producing a stiffness, but, on the contrary, preserves the silk soft and pliant.
The above poppy serves for a ground for brown red colours, by the addition of logwood. A decoction of logwood, Brazil wood, and old fustic, as has been before observed, should always be kept ready boiled.
The Dyer's Guide. Chapter VI. On Dyeing Cotton And Silk. To dye silk poppy or coquelicot.
When the silk has received the annatto ground three shades less than for auroa, the safflower preparation must be ready, and turned by the solution of tartar as before described; the silk must also be well washed from the annatto ground, that the alkali used with the annatto may not counteract the tartar of the safflower, a bath of which must be prepared as strong as possible, through which the silk must be worked six or seven times: for a full poppy it is necessary to pass the silk through four or five such liquors. Poppy is the deepest colour which can be done vidth the safflower. It has been before observed, that the liquors from the poppy, if used directly, will serve for orange, cherry, flesh, &c.
Archil, as described for crimson, with cochineal for wools as before described, is to be used on some occasions. In other cases some patterns have no ground of annatto.
The Dyer's Guide. Chapter VI. On Dyeing Cotton And Silk. Process for orange (silk).
After dyeing aurora with annatto, it is necessary to redden the annatto ground with vinegar, alum or lemon juice.
For the brightest oranges, and up to scarlets and poppy, &c. silk should have an annatto ground three or four shades under that of aurora. There is no occasion for alum when the silk has been grounded and washed off. If for orange a liquor which has been used for poppy will be sufficiently strong to finish it, or for light cherry, rose, &c. For flesh, the lightest of these colours is so delicate that a little of the soap water used for boiling should be added to the liquor, to prevent the silk from taking the colour too quickly or unevenly.
Liquors having safflower or weld in their composition, require to be immediately worked, as by keeping they lose their colour, that is, the safflower and its compounds, and are entirely spoiled. They are also always used cold, as the safflower cannot bear heat.
The saffloiver preparation has been before described in Chapter II. where the process of cotton pink is performed by its solution.
The Dyer's Guide. Chapter VI. On Dyeing Cotton And Silk. To dye moidore.
As fustic and logwood are to form part of this dye upon the annatto ground, the silk must be alumed, then washed from the alum, in order that the superflux of the alum may not render the dye uneven. A fresh liquor is then prepared, rather hot, to which must be added a little of the decoction of logwood, and of the decoction of young fustic. The silk is returned in this liquor, but if apparently too red, you may put in a very little of solution of sulphate of iron, which will make it sufficiently yellow.
When the silk is dyed with the gum, in the raw state, the annatto must be used nearly cold, or the elasticity of the silk will be destroyed.
The Dyer's Guide. Chapter VI. On Dyeing Cotton And Silk. To dye silk aurora or orange.
These require but twenty pounds of soap for boiling white. To dye aurora the silk must be prepared the same as for yellow.
Annatto prepared (as directed in the last article) and settled, is then put into a copper of hot water, in quantity according to the shade required; having mixed it well, the liquor being as hot as the hand will bear, put the silk into it; when one hank is tried, as in the yellow, if it be not full enough, the liquor must be strengthened till the colour is brought to the shade required. When finished the whole must be washed twice and beetled. The aurora serves as a ground for moidore.
The Dyer's Guide. Chapter VI. On Dyeing Cotton And Silk. Preparation of annatto for aurora, orange, moidore, gold colour, and chamois.
You must have a colander proportioned to the size of the copper in which you boil the annatto. To every pound of annatto put from twelve ounces to one pound of pearl-ashes, which last dissolve in water, and add the solution, by degrees, to the solution of annatto as it boils and dissolves, for which purpose the annatto must be suspended in the colander over the copper by a flat stick about six inches broad, run through a flat handle on each side of the colander, by which means the colander is kept sunk in the water with the annatto in it, till it is all dissolved, except some little foreign matters. The holes in the colander should be moderately small.
Dissolved in this manner the annatto, if kept clean, will keep as long as you please.
The Dyer's Guide. Chapter VI. On Dyeing Cotton And Silk. Skein silk for yellow.
This is to be boiled with about twenty pounds of soap for every hundred pounds of silk. When boiled it is to be washed and alumed, and again washed, dressed, and put on the rod, seven or eight ounces to a rod, and then dipped and returned in the yellow liquor, in the proportion of two pounds of weld to one pound of silk.
The liquor is not to be hotter than the hand can bear while the silk is in it. The silk, when in the vessel for dyeing, should cause the liquor to float within two inches of the edge. The silk must be taken out and the liquor strengthened, if the pattern is to be very full; when full enough, one pound of pearl-ash for every twenty pounds of silk must be dissolved in some warm water; about a quarter of this liquor is put into the dye bath: take the silk out while you put in the liquor, stir the mixture well. Put in the silk and work it, turning and returning it as at first. After seven or eight returns, one of the hanks is to be taken out, wrung, and tried at the peg, and, if sufficiently full and bright, all is well; if not enough so, some more pearl-ash liquor must be added, and the silk worked as before, till the shade required is obtained.
For jonquil it may be necessary to add some annatto when you put in the pearl-ash.
To make the light shades, such as canary or lemon, perfectly white, they must be boiled with thirty pounds of soap to a hundred of silk; and if these be not azured to be dyed, they must have a little of the blue vat, and a little of the weld liquor in water, (the whole mixture being as hot, but no hotter than the hand will bear,) and the silk ready on rods, must be quickly worked through and out. For deeper lemons the same process must be used as for the fuller yellows; only less weld, and twenty pounds of soap will do for a hundred pounds of silk in whitening it.
The blue of the vat is only used for such articles as are to have a green cast, and that extremely light; the aluraing also should be in a weaker alum liquor: for light lemons it should be prepared in a separate liquor.
The Dyer's Guide. Chapter VI. On Dyeing Cotton And Silk. On aluming silk.
We have treated of this before at the commencement of the third Chapter , but a few more observations may be useful.
The silk being first well washed and beetled, and the hanks tied loose so that every thread may take alike, should be turned and returned in the alum liquor and worked, cooled in it, at intervals, from morning till night, afterwards taken out, beetled, and rinsed.
The above proportion of alum will do for a hundred and fifty pounds of silk, before you need replenish it; when this is necessary add twenty-five pounds more of aJLum, as at first directed in Chapter III., and so continue to replenish it till it gets a bad smell. When this is the case you may dip for browns, maroons, &c.; and afterwards throw the liquor away; the trough is then to be rinsed for a fresh liquor.
Remember always to alum cold or you will spoil the lustre of the silk.
The Dyer's Guide. Chapter VI. On Dyeing Cotton And Silk. Sulphuring (silk).
The hanks, being upon poles seven or eight feet from the ground, in an appropriate room, one pound and a half or two pounds of roll brimstone will sulphur a hundred weight of silk.
Put the brimstone, coarsely powdered, into an earthen pipkin with a little charcoal or small coal at bottom. Light one of the bits with a candle, which will kindle all the rest.
The room should be close, the chimney, if any, being closed up; the sulphur should burn under the silk all night. The next morning the windows should be opened to let out the smoke and admit the air, which, in summer, will be sufficient to dry the silk; but in winter, as soon as the sulphurous fumes are dissipated, the windows must be shut and a fire kindled in the stove or stoves to dry the silk.
Observe, if the room for sulphuring does not admit of openings sufficient for the dissipation of the sulphuric fumes, the work-people will be in danger of suffocation.
When the sulphur is consumed it leaves a black crust which will light the future sulphur like spirit of wine.
If, in dressing, the silk sticks together, it is not sufficiently dry.
Silk, which has been sulphured, has a rustling, which, for some things, is esteemed; but this would not do for silk to be watered. If silk, which has been sulphured is to be dyed, it must, for many colours, be unsulphured.
Silks for lace, gauze, &c. are neither boiled nor ungummed; silks which are naturally the whitest are the best for those articles. It is sufficient to dip the silks in warm water, and wring them; then sulphur them, afterwards azure them, again wring them, sulphur them a second time, or soak them in soap and water, those for whitening hot enough to bear the hand, adding azure, if necessary, and turning and re-turning the silk in this liquor.
The fine silk of Nankin requires no whitening.
The Dyer's Guide. Chapter VI. On Dyeing Cotton And Silk. Whitening (silk).
Put into a copper with thirty pails of water half a pound of soap; when it boils, and the soap dissolved, add for China white a little prepared annatto, (of which hereafter.) The silk, being on rods, is now to be put into the copper and kept turning end for end without intermission till the shade is uniform. For India white a little azure is added, to give the blue shade: for thread white and others a Uttle azure is also to be added.
Observe, the liquor should be very hot, but not boiling; the turnings five times repeated, by which the shade is made even. When finished it is taken out, wrung, spread on poles to dry, and that part of it required for sulphuring must be pat upon rods or slight poles.
The Dyer's Guide. Chapter VI. On Dyeing Cotton And Silk. Observations on silk. On ungumming and boiling silk.
Silk, as it is obtained from the cocoons of the worm, is generally of an orange or yellow colour, more or less dark; in the South of France it is generally very dark: its natural shade is unfavourable to almost all other colours. It is also imbued with a kind of varnish or gum, which makes it stiff and hard; this stiffness is improper in the fabrication of most silk stuff, it is therefore ungummed, as it is called, by the following processes.
On ungumming and boiling silk.
Observe, that throughout the following processes for silk white soap is directed to be used; and, generally speaking, we believe it will be found the best, more especially for the more delicate operations. Yet Mr. M'Kernan, in his process for ungumming silk, directs yellow soap and soft soap in equal parts, and of the same weight as the silk to be used: he adds, however, that different sorts of silk require more or less soap; the best rule he finds, nevertheless, is the same weight of soap as of silk: and he says also, that yellow soap and soft soap of the best quality he finds the best for this purpose.
The silk is divided into hanks, each hank is tied with a string, several of these are tied together (a handful of them) by putting a piece of string through each separate skein, and tying the piece of string in a long tie to slip easily when they are wanted to be untied.
A liquor is prepared of thirty pounds of white soap to a hundred pounds of silk; the soap is cut into small pieces and boiled in water, when it is dissolved the fire is damped.
While the liquor is preparing the skeins of silk are put on rods; as soon as the soap liquor becomes a little below boiling heat (for it should not boil, as boiling would tangle the silk) the silk is to be put into it in an oblong copper, being nearly full; it is to remain in the liquor till its gummy matter has left it, which will be seen by its whiteness and flexibility. It is then turned end for end on the rods, that the part above the liquor may undergo the same operation. As soon as this is accomplished the silk is taken out of the copper, the hanks which were first turned being soonest done.
The hanks are now to be taken from the rods to the peg, disentangled, and nine or ten of them put on one cord, this cord passing through the string that tied each hank. When the whole is corded it is put into pockets of fcoarse strong white linen fifteen inches wide and five feet long, closed at each end and on one side; when the silk is put in, the pocket is sewed all along the other side with packthread, and fastened with a knot; four pockets will hold the whole hundred pounds.
The pockets being thus ready another liquor is prepared like the first. When ready, and the boiling checked with cold water, the pockets are put in and boiled well for a quarter of an hour, checking with cold water in order to prevent its boiling over; it is necessary also to turn the bags about often with a pole, or rather let two persons have a pole each for this purpose. This operation is called boiling.
In addition to the processes of boiling with soap, as above directed, Mr. M'Kernwi recommends that the silk should be winched through a copper of water at the heat of 160°', having two pounds of soda (barilla) dissolved in it, then winch or wash in water, and wring and dry.
In the boiling of silks for common colours twenty pounds of soap will do for a hundred weight of silk; but, as in this case, the silk is not ungummed, it should boil for three hours and a half, adding water to supply the evaporation.
The silks intended for the greatest degree of white, either to remain white, or for the fabrication of white stuff, are boiled twice in soap and water; those that are to be dyed of different colours are boiled but once, and with a smaller quantity of soap, because the little remaining redness is by no means prejudicial to many colours. Different quantities of soap are, however, necessary for different colours.
Silk designed for blue, iron grey, brimstone, or any other colour requiring a very white ground, should be done according to the preceding process, and have thirty pounds of soap.
When the silk is boiled it is taken out of the copper by two men with poles, and placed in a clean barrow; they are then taken to a long shallow trough, from which the water may run away, the pockets are opened, and the silks examined; such as have yellow or lemon colour spots remaining are boiled again for some time, till the spots are removed. After unpocketing, the whole is dressed on the pegs.
Silk loses from twenty-five to twenty-eight per cent, of its weight in ungumming and whitening. The bags of silk should never be suffered to lie long together before they are emptied after being boiled, as their doing so would make the silk hard.
White silk, as before observed, is distinguished into five principal shades, namely, China white, India white, thread or milk white, silver white, and azure white.
The three first are prepared and boiled as has already been shewn. Silver and azure white in the preparation or ungumming thus: take fine powdered indigo, put it into water boiling hot, when settled the liquor is called azure.
To azure the silk it is taken from the ungumming copper after it is dressed and put into a trough of water; after it is worked, drained, and again dressed, it is ready for the [whitening].
The Dyer's Guide. Chapter VI. On Dyeing Cotton And Silk. Of browns, maroons, coffee colours, &c.
It would answer little purpose to enlarge this treatise with a detail of all the possible methods of producing the various shades of these several colours, the whole consisting in the use of galls, verdigris, sulphate of copper, weld, and madder.
By welding a stuff previously maddered for red you may produce a gold colour; and by dipping the same red in a blue vat you obtain a plum colour.
The Dyer's Guide. Chapter VI. On Dyeing Cotton And Silk. To dye cotton skein a duck's wing green and olive.
This is performed by a blue ground, next galling, dipping in the black vat, then in the weld dye, then in verdigris, remembering to wash off previously to performing each process.
Olive is to be performed with weld or old fustic, verdigris, and Brazil wood.
The Dyer's Guide. Chapter VI. On Dyeing Cotton And Silk. On dyeing and re-dyeing cotton furniture yellow.
If the furniture, such as rough or finished cotton or cambric, intended for yellow linings for bed or window curtains, be in a perfectly bleached state, which is now generally the case, according to the number of the pieces, so must the size of the copper be to boil the weld in for the yellow dye. A small copper holding four or five pails would do for three pieces of twenty eight yards each. The weld may be purchased by the half bundle, the bundle, or the load. Half a bundle would be enough for the above quantity of cotton, if a moderate yellow is wanted. The weld must be increased or decreased according as the pattern approaches a straw, a canary, a lemon, or towards a gold colour or orange.
The weld must be boiled about twenty minutes, the liquor then strained off into a proper tub, and the weld boiled again. While the boilings are going on, three tubs, being wine pipes cut in two, must be got ready and made particularly clean, being also previously seasoned for the work. One is to receive the boiled weld with some cold water to regulate it to the heat which the hand will bear; the other is for water, and as much alum liquor as will colour it and make it taste strong; and the third is to contain clear water to wash the furniture off.
Whatever yellow is in fashion (or indeed any fashionable colour,) has commonly a fashionable name. But if the dyer can, by his experience, proportion his drugs to the weakest, and from that to the strongest shade, let the name be what it may, after he has a set of patterns of his own dyeing, he will see, upon the first sight of any colour, how to set about it.
In the present instance let the pattern be a moderately pale colour of yellow; then put all the first boiling of the weld in the first tub, and cool down as above directed. Two or three persons should then work the pieces quick from end to end by the selvages, that they may be even, two may do this; one of whom must be an expeditious hand to work them and keep them even. When they have been edged over six or seven times, they are to be folded out upon a board laid over the tub, and wrung as dry as possible by two persons. When they are all out, they are passed in the same manner through the tub of alum, and, after six or seven turns, they are to be taken out of the alum liquor, wrung as before, and then washed off.
By this time the second weld liquor will be boiled; some of the first must be thrown away, and the second weld liquor added in its place. The goods are then passed through as before, and wrung out; the alum liquor being strengthened,- they are passed through it, wrung out as before, and then washed off: the water in the wash tub having been changed.
In some instances verdigris is used instead of alum; and in other cases it is used in addition to the alum. For some shades old fustic is used instead of weld, and sulphate of copper instead of verdigris.
The alum solution, and the sulphate of copper, and the verdigris, or acetate of copper should be always ready. It is necessary to have a tub for each, in size proportioned to the work to be done; but larger for the alum than for the other two.
Sulphate of iron is also used in some dark greys, browns, slates, and in all blacks; this will require a tub as large or larger than that for alum.
When the yellows are dyed and wrung as dry as possible, they should be taken into a close room or stove to dry, particularly in London, because of the smoke, especially in winter. A German, or other stove, should be placed in the room, the size of which, as well as the number of the stoves, must be regulated by the quantity of the work. When the goods are dry they must be sent to the callenderers, if directed to be callendered; but the general and better way is to stiffen them with starch after they are dyed, and before they are dry; and when dry they should be sent to the glazers, instead of the callenderers, except when both branches are carried on by the same person.
When furniture, originally yellow, has become faded, it may be re-dyed thus: In this case it should be dyed rather of a fuller shade than the original. A large flat tub, such as described above, is to be filled three parts full of water, to which sufficient sulphuric acid must be added to make it taste strongly sour. After being well stirred, the pieces are to be put in, and worked in this sour liquor; and the yellow dye in consequence is strip ped off. If the acid liquor be not strong enough more acid must be added, with the precaution of well mixing it with the water, and the goods must be passed through the liquor again: by these means the yellow is discharged. They are then to be taken out on a board upon the tub and wrung by two persons; then to be washed off and wrung, washed and wrung again, when they are fit to be dyed.
It is still to be remembered that any faded or worn out colour, or that goods more or less decayed, seldom become so bright as the colour which a new piece of goods receives from the same dye.
Some cloths for re-dyeing require the application of oxymuriate or chloride of lime to discharge their colours, particularly when madder or galls, &c. form the constitutent parts of the dye. In this case if a bleacher be near it might be best to let him perform the process with the oxymuriate of lime; not only from the pernicious nature, but also from the expense of it, which, unless the business be upon a large scale, will not pay the dyer for his trouble.
However, if the dyer thinks proper to perform this operation, then the oxymuriate of lime or bleacher's ashes, &c. may be obtained at the dry salters and dissolved in a cask, and the clear liquor used in proportion to the quantity of goods, the colour of which is intended to be discharged, which, when done, should be washed off in two waters at least before they are dyed.
The Dyer's Guide. Chapter VI. On Dyeing Cotton And Silk. To dye skein cotton yellow.
We have in several preceding chapters treated of both cotton and silk; we shall here treat of certain processes and colours relative to both these substances, which are most conveniently arranged in this chapter.
The simpler processes for cotton will be found in the second chapter, the more complex in the fifth; the simpler processes for silk are given in the third chapter, the more complex in the fifth; the remaining processes for both in the present chapter , will conclude the work.
To dye skein cotton yellow.
The same operations as those in the first common red dye are to be used here; to one pound of cotton four ounces of roche alum, and from one to four pounds of weld.
When dyed the cotton is to be worked in hot, but not, boiling, liquor, consisting of four ounces of sulphate of copper to every pound of cotton; it is then to be boiled for three hours in a solution containing four ounces of soap to every pound of cotton.
When a dark or jonquil colour is wanted, no alum is used; of weld take two pounds and a half, very little verdigris, or a little alum in its stead, but nothing else. For brightening, however, boiling in a solution of soap is in all cases necessary.
The Dyer's Guide. Chapter V. On Dyeing Silk And Cotton Black, &c. Miscellaneous observations relative to Adrianople red.
In regard to the above processes, we may observe, that those given for Adrianople red in Ure's Berthollet, are more numerous, being regularly numbered to the seventeenth, or last operation called brightening. After a careful attention to those processes we see no reason to alter our own, yet we nevertheless advise the dyer to become acquainted with what is stated in that work, many details being there given for which we have not room, particularly for making different shades of the colour. We add, however the following from Vol. ii. p. 140.
"Cotton dyed red, may, moreover, be made to pass through all the shades, down to the palest orange, thus: pure nitric acid is diluted with two-fifths of water; chips of tin are oxidized in it till the liquor grows opal; the solution is employed at different strengths; the colour varies according to the concentration of the solution: when it is strong, shades are obtained which have some relation to those of scarlet.
"In general, when brilliant colours are desired, we must not charge them too much with oil; we must give feeble leys long repeated, charge little with alum, employ the best madders, and, at last, brighten powerfully without sparing soap."
We have directed good olive oil; but M. Vitalis directs fat oil, (gallipoli) to be used in the processes for dyeing Adrianople red, and Berthollet says, it must not be a fine oil, but one containing a strong portion of the extractive principle.
A factory for dyeing this red was first established in this country in 1790, by M Papillon, who obtained a premium from the Commissioners and Trustees for Manufactures in Scotland, for communicating the details of it on condition it should not be divulged for a term of years, during which M. Papillon was to have the sole use of his secret. This term being expired the process was published. See Vol. xviii. of Tilloch's Magazine.
M. Vitalis, (in his work on Dyeing published in 1823) has given, at length, the mode of dyeing Turkey red at Rouen. It differs in many particulars from Berthollet and others. We learn from him that two systems for imparting this colour are in use at Rouen. The first is called the grey course from the cotton being subjected to the maddering immediately after it has received the oily preparations, and the mordants of galls and alum which give it a grey colour. The yellow course, is so called from the cotton, after having received a first time the oily preparations, as well as the mordants of galls and alum, not being exposed to the maddering till it has passed a second time through the same preparations, and the same mordants which give it a yellow colour. This second manner of working the Turkey red is called, in the dyehouse, remounting on the galls. Dr. Ure, in a note to Berthollet, Vol. ii. p. 378, has detailed these two courses, and made, besides many valuable observations on them, and the dyeing of Adrianople red generally, for which we must refer to the work, as our limits prevent the possibility of any further notice of them here, except to add, that a process for dyeing cotton of a smoke red; and another for dyeing cotton a cherry red, is well deserving the attention of the dyer.
In regard to the blood used in dyeing Adrianople red. Dr. Ure decidedly affirms, that " it adds no colouring matter to the madder in the dyeing operation,'' in this he is countenanced by the observations of Chaptal, see Berthollet, Vol. ii. p. 141. " To the use of blood in the madder copper," says Dr. Ure, "I attribute nothing, as from the rancid and putrid state in which I have seen it used, were it not for the prejudice of the operator, it might be safely dispensed with." A very eminent calico manufacturer, whom Dr. Ure consulted, assured him, that in the Turkey red process the only essential mordants were oil and alumina; and that bright and fast reds, equal to any produced by the complicated processes of sheep's dung, galls and blood may be obtained without those articles.
We make no comments on these observations, but leave them to the good sense and intelligence of the dyer: they deserve the utmost attention.
Linen yarn takes a colour almost as brilliant as that of cotton, but it must be passed through a double number of oils and leys. The latter must even be very strong, otherwise the oil flows out at the surface. The greatest attention must be bestowed on the scouring out first: for the yarn mingles and entangles by the heat to such a degree, that it sometimes can be neither dipped nor unravelled.
It should be mentioned that the large dyers of Adrianople red, now obtain their soda for lixivium No. 1, by using common salt in solution, to which is added a solution of pearl-ashes. On boiling these together a muriate of potash is formed, which is taken out of the liquor with a skimmer; a carbonate of soda remains dissolved in the liquor, and is, of course, applied to the same purpose as, and at a much cheaper rate than, the Alicant soda.
The Dyer's Guide. Chapter V. On Dyeing Silk And Cotton Black, &c. To dye cotton an Adrianople or Turkey red.
For one hundred pounds of unbleached cotton, take the following articles and pursue the described processes.
Lixivium, No. 1. Dissolve one hundred and fifty pounds of alicant soda, (barilla) in three hundred quarts of river water. There must be no more water than enough to dissolve the salt. An egg must float on it or it will not be strong enough.
Lixivium No. 2. One hundred and fifty pounds of fresh wood ashes, and three hundred quarts of water.
Lixivium No. 3. Seventy-five pounds of quicklime, and three hundred quarts of water.
The cotton is to be boiled three hours in a liquor composed of equal parts of each of the above solutions, taken from them when clear and in a settled state. The liquor must be replenished occasionally, so that it shall always cover the cotton during the whole time it is boiling; after which it must be taken out, washed, and dried in the air.
Into one hundred and thirty quarts of a mixture consisting of equal parts of the above three lixiviums, put twenty five pounds of sheep's dung and part of the intestinal liquor, previously well mixed by means of a wooden pestle, and the whole strained through a hair sieve. Then twelve pounds and a half of good olive oil is poured into the mixture, when it instantly forms a soapy liquor.
Into this liquor the cotton should be worked hank by hank, often stirring it; the cotton, after all the hanks have been worked separately first, is then left in the liquor for twelve hours; it is then taken out, lightly wrung and dried. The liquor is put by for brightening. This process is repeated three times during the working; and by the time the solution is all worked four hundred quarts might be used, but that will not injure the clear of it from being applied in brightening; and it must be reserved for that purpose.
When the cotton has been three times dipped in this soapy water, and three times dyed, the same process is repeated, except that the sheep's dung is left out; the liquor is also preserved for brightening. The cotton, having gone through these processes, should be as white as if it had been bleached.
When dry it is to be galled, using a quarter of a pound of galls to every pound of cotton; after this it is dried, then take six ounces of alum for the first aluming; it is then to be dried again, and to hang three or four days in the air, and then, when dry, to be alumed again; four ounces of alum, and four of the lixivium may be added to the last alum water.
The madder used for this red is called lizary, which furnishes a dye incomparably finer than that produced by any other madder. Of lizary madder, therefore, take two pounds for every pound of cotton, and twenty pounds of liquid sheep's blood well mixed with the water in the copper before the madder is put in. The butcher should stir the blood to prevent its coagulating; the copper should be carefully skimmed; the madder should not boil, but be brought during the process from blood-heat to within a few degrees of the boiling point: if it boil at last, as some prefer it, it should only be for a few minutes.
In order to brighten the colour, the cotton is dipped in a lixivium of fresh wood ashes, and five pounds of white soap: yellow or mottled soap is improper. When the cotton has been well worked in this liquor, it is, with the liquor itself, put into a copper sufficiently large to hold it with some addition of water, and made to boil over a slow fire, for three, four, or more hours. The liquor must be covered with coarse white linen cloths, to keep as much steam in as possible.
Some of the skeins of cotton must be taken out from time to time, and washed perfectly; when the red is judged perfect and sufficiently bright, the fire is withdrawn.
If instead of the wood-ash lixivium and soap, the two reserved liquors and soap are used, the red will be much brighter than the finest Adrianople carnation.
The Dyer's Guide. Chapter V. On Dyeing Silk And Cotton Black, &c. To dye cotton red.
If the cotton skein has not been cleansed since it was spun it must be cleansed by being boiled in a solution of potash, one ounce of which, if good, to a pail of water may be enough, or more than enough. The cotton must be put into bags when boiled, then washed off and passed through clean water, scoured with a little sulphuric acid, and then washed off again; then galled, washed off, and dried. The galls should be white galls: for twenty pounds of cotton five pounds of bruised galls are boiled in about one hundred and twenty quarts of water for two hours.
After galling, the cotton must be alumed: four ounces of Roche alum for every pound of cotton. When alumed it must be washed off and dried.
The cotton is now to be dyed in a copper containing six pounds and a quarter of best crop madder, with a sufficiency of water. The heat is kept under that of boiling for three quarters of an hour. After being aired, washed, &c. it is put in, worked, and boiled for twelve or fifteen minutes. Some dye it again two days after, because the longer to a certain degree between aluming, dyeing, and drying, and between one dyeing and another, the better. The second time of dyeing eight ounces of madder are used for every pound of cotton. Some dyers gall it twice, and consequently dry it as often, then dye it at once in the madder, having a proportion accordingly. This is a red full-bodied colour.
The Dyer's Guide. Chapter V. On Dyeing Silk And Cotton Black, &c. To dye cotton violet.
Pass the skeins through the black vat and dry them, then pass them through a decoction of galls and dry them again, then through a decoction of logwood, then of alum and verdigris, washed off, and dried.
Or thus: by the black vat liquor, that is, the liquor of old iron and alder bark in some cases. Let the vat liquor be prepared from the iron hoops, vinegar, rye, or coarse bran, described in page 108. By this liquor it is easy to procure all the violet shades from the pansy flower up to the lilac and violet.
The goods must be first blue-vatted and dried, then galled and dried, then passed through the iron liquor, then maddered, then washed off, and dried; the liquor must always be kept much below a boiling heat, as this heat makes the colour obtained from madder brown: whatever drugs require boiling must be prepared by a decoction previously made.
For some shades sulphate of copper is used; for others verdigris, saltpetre, and alum.
To dye to the pattern the preparations should be always of one given strength, and all solutions of mordants the same. The time of working the goods in the dye must be regulated by the fulness or lightness of the pattern; and the quantities of the various drugs, &c. used much or little accordingly, reserving patterns of processes, with the particulars of such processes noted down. In proportion to the number of these upon record, and with strict attention to the subject, a good pattern dyer is formed. Time and practice are, however, absolutely necessary, with a delight in the business: for without a pleasure in dyeing no one can become a good or an eminent dyer. In many of the branches of this art there are, it is true, labour and pains in abundance; but there is also a portion, and that not a small one, of pleasure in others, which will counterbalance the care, anxiety, labour, and fatigue inseparable from this useful and important occupation, and which so strikingly exhibits the science and ingenuity of man.
The Dyer's Guide. Chapter V. On Dyeing Silk And Cotton Black, &c. To dye cotton black, by using the preceding solution (pyrolignite or acetate of iron).
Prepare the cotton as usual, by giving it a blue ground; gall it, and pass it through a bath of the solution of pyrolignite of iron diluted with lukewarm water. Renew the gallings and the passings through the bath of pyrolignite of iron till a deep and brilliant black is obtained. Finish by passing the cotton through olive oil thus: throw on some lukewarm water a little olive oil, pass the cotton through it; the cotton absorbs the oil, but it must be worked a long time in the bath to diffuse the oil equally. Dry in the shade. The cotton is now a perfect and very durable black.
Every time the bath of pyrolignite is used, what remains must be thrown away; the old baths are never added to the cask.
The application of oil, which heightens the black, and imparts softness to the stuffs, is given to such articles as cotton velvet by means of brushes, which are slightly imbued with it. Berthollet.
We may add here, that an iron liquor called tar-iron liquor, prepared from the acid obtained from tar, (the acetic acid we presume) is now well known in commerce, but we have not room, nor does it appear necessary, to describe the method of making it; it is much used in preparing mordants for black and other colours by the dyers and printers of silk. This iron liquor may be obtained of Blake, North Street, Back Church Lane, St. George's in the East, London. See M'Kernan.
The Dyer's Guide. Chapter V. On Dyeing Silk And Cotton Black, &c. Another iron liquor; pyrolignite or acetate of iron.
Although we have described an iron liquor in a preceding section, it may be useful to give the following process for another here. Fill a cast-iron boiler with pyrolignous acid, add to it old iron well oxidized, and boil. The solution of the oxide will take place rapidly. When the iron grows clean, and the solution black as ink, throw the whole into a cask, to be employed as occasion shall require.
The Dyer's Guide. Chapter V. On Dyeing Silk And Cotton Black, &c. On dyeing silk and cotton black with a blue ground.
It is remarkable, that although an indigo ground for wool enriches the black, yet for silk and cotton it is not generally considered necessary. Latterly, however, we believe the dyers of black on cotton do first give it an indigo ground before the black is given. This is, nevertheless, not a new method, for D'Alpigny describes the process in his Art of Dyeing, for linen and cotton yarns; these are first dyed sky-blue in the vat, then wrung out and set to dry. They are galled in the proportion of one part galls to four of yarn, being left twenty-four hours in the gall liquor, wrung out anew, and set to dry: about ten pints of iron liquor to every pound of yarn are then poured into a tub, in this the yarn is turned on sticks, and worked with the hand for a quarter of an hour, it is then wrung out and aired. This operation is twice repeated, adding each time a new dose of the iron liquor; the yarn is aired once more, then wrung out, well washed, and dried. To complete the dyeing of the yarn a weight of alder-bark equal to that of the yarn is boiled with a sufficient quantity of water for an hour; to this is added one half of the bath which has served for the galling and sumach. The whole is boiled for two hours. When cold the yarn is put in and worked, aired occasionally, and then left in the bath for twenty-four hours, when it is wrung out and dried. To complete it, it is steeped and worked in the residue of a bath of weld, to which a little logwood is added; it is then taken out, wrung, and immediately passed through a tub of warm water, into which one part of olive oil to sixteen of yarn has been poured. It is finally wrung out and dried. See Ure's Berthollet, Vol. II. page 18.
The Dyer's Guide. Chapter V. On Dyeing Silk And Cotton Black, &c. For dyeing black, particularly cotton velvets, at Manchester.
In a large dye-house where much business is done, a great many wine-pipes or other large tubs, or any substitutes are arranged in an appropriate place. Into these are put old iron hoops, rusted in the air, and cut into short pieces; a layer of the iron pieces and a layer of the alder bark, again a layer of iron and a layer of the bark, and so on in succession from the bottom to the top. When the pipes are all thus filled, water is poured into them till they are filled up; they remain in this state for six weeks or two months according to the season, whether summer or winter.
The same process will do for any other cotton goods as well as velvets, such as calicoes, cambric, and jaconot muslins, cotton in the skein, &c.
In some cases there are persons who pass the goods through the liquor of the aforesaid black vat. The colour of this liquor when it is fit for use is purplish, particularly after being once used and returned to the vat again, which it always is. Others begin by passing the goods through a decoction of logwood and sumach, then through sulphate of iron, then wash off through logwood only; then through sulphate of iron; always washing off from this last; the goods are then dried, and this is called the first time of saddening.
They are next passed through logwood, then through sulphate of iron, then washed off, then again through logwood, then sulphate of iron, and then washed off; and then dried. This is called the second time of saddening.
Supposing the goods to consist of a hundred or a thousand pieces, after drying the second time they are brought in lots to the foreman for examination, and assorted into lots one, two, and three. All that is fit for lot one is full enough and has ground enough, and is of a rich full-bodied brown, ready for galling or sumaching: sumach being the substitute for galls, this process is termed in ihe dyehouse, macing. Lot two is not full enough, and must pass through logwood, then sulphate of iron, and then be washed off. Lot three is still more deficient; this must be passed through logwood and the sulphate of iron twice and then washed off, and both lots two and three dried again.
Lot one is now to be sumached for the first time: that is, passed through a decoction of sumach, then through sulphate of iron, and then washed off: if the decoction of sumach be kept up strong after all of them are once sumached, they may be dried. Lots two and three, when they are dry, are also to be sumached the same as lot one, and dried.
As soon as any of them are dry they are ready to be sumached the second time by passing them through the decoction as before; but instead of sulphate of iron, some of the alder bark and iron liquor are used; or as we shall term it, the liquor of the black vat. They are then to be washed off and dried. If the black liquor and the sumaching be powerful, some of the goods will be finished when dry. Such are examined by the foreman; those which are not finished must go through the last process again. The finished goods are well and repeatedly washed off in fresh clear soft water two or three times and then dried.
The cambric muslins are sent to be calendered to imitate silk sarsenets.
Book-muslins must be sent to the muslin dressers, except where, in some cases, they sarsenet and dry their own goods.
By the above method the ground is secured, and so is the black, and also the strength of the goods.
The Dyer's Guide. Chapter V. On Dyeing Silk And Cotton Black, &c. To dye cotton black, the London process, used by various calico printers in the suburbs.
Cotton cambric piece-goods are passed through a blotching machine to receive a mordant of acetate of iron, and galled slightly; sumach is used instead when galls are dear; the cotton is then passed through logwood, or logwood and fustic, and then through sumach; so that it is possible thus to give them the mordant sufficiently in proportion to the iron liquor at first; proceed as in dyeing afterwards, at a heat approaching boiling or even boiling. You may now proceed by adding first the galling or sumach slightly; afterwards the logwood, &c.; and then the remainder of the galling or sumach may be used to finish it; and thus dye the goods black by the quickest possible process.
It should be observed respecting the last process and the process which precedes it, that in dyeing black alum is inimical to the colour. Therefore D'Alpigny's is not now esteemed. Alum for black is as improper, as it is proper and essential for red and yellow.
In regard to giving the acetate of iron for black at once, as the second, or London process directs, it may be done by having the proportions full; by full is meant that the mordant should be full enough; then, after the slight galling, as directed in giving the logwood and alder bark decoction, or logwood and fustic, be sure to have that decoction strong enough. This might be called the ground; and the most perfect judgment might be formed of it by having a part of a piece, or one piece of a batch dried in the stove: for, according to the fullness of the ground, so will the black be rich and perfect or otherwise.
The alder bark and fustic are used only to prevent the hue of the logwood from being predominant. If the ground be a full and rich brown, the second full galling or sumaching will bring it to a full and rich black; but if the ground be poor, these processes will cut or destroy the ground, and the black will be foxy, nasty, and poor and not only so, but the material dyed will soon wear rotten, because having an over-dose of iron, the iron will tend to decompose the cotton. Therefore the following process is most esteemed.
Take one hundred quarts of sour wine, bad vinegar, or small beer; put to either of these twenty-five pounds of old iron hoops rusted by the air or dew; twelve pounds of rye meal or coarse bran; put the whole into a copper and heat it rather more than blood warm. In the summer it would do exposed to the sun and air with a porous cloth over it, to let in the air, but keep out dirt, &c.; the older this solution is the better; but it should be at least two months old.
Cotton skeins are galled by being worked in a solution of galls; alumed and then dyed in weld liquor; this in the result is yellow; they are then passed through a decoction of logwood, and after that of sulphate of iron, a quarter of a pound to every pound of cotton; they are then dyed in madder, half a pound to every pound of cotton.
We cannot recommend this process, although we give it, as much better methods are now known.
Take of wove silk, twilled sarsenet, one hundred and fifty yards. Boil, for three hours, of alder bark one bushel and a half; of logwood fourteen pounds; and of iron filings one pound. Then let the fire be damped; dissolve four ounces of sulphate of copper in water; wet out the silk in hot water; after which put the solution of sulphate of copper into the liquor and stir it only; then put the silk into the copper, and work it from end to end four times; after which take it out in the air; now put it in again and work it as before; take it out again and let it be aired on the floor, opening it from time to time till it is cold; repeat the same thing twice more, in all four times. This is termed four wets. While the last wet is cooling and airing, dissolve and put into the copper three pounds of sulphate of iron, and then give the silk two more wets, which make the number of wets six. The drugs are now left to boil as much as they will during the night, being left so to do, because in a large business, this part of the process would close the day's work.
The next morning give the silk four or five wets more, and leave it in the copper all the following night, observing when it is left in, and always when it is worked in, that the heat must be considerably under the boiling point, and the silk kept covered by the liquor: for if any part be exposed to the air it will be marked.

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