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    Vegetable Dyes: Being a Book of Recipes and Other Information Useful to the Dyer
    Vegetable Dyes: Being a Book of Recipes and Other Information Useful to the Dyer
    Vegetable Dyes: Being a Book of Recipes and Other Information Useful to the Dyer
    Ebook220 pages1 hour

    Vegetable Dyes: Being a Book of Recipes and Other Information Useful to the Dyer

    By Ethel M. Mairet

    ()

    Read preview
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArchive Classics
    Release dateJun 1, 2008
    Vegetable Dyes: Being a Book of Recipes and Other Information Useful to the Dyer

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      Book preview

      Vegetable Dyes - Ethel M. Mairet

      The Project Gutenberg eBook, Vegetable Dyes, by Ethel M. Mairet

      This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with

      almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or

      re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included

      with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org

      Title: Vegetable Dyes

      Being a Book of Recipes and Other Information Useful to the Dyer

      Author: Ethel M. Mairet

      Release Date: December 30, 2007 [eBook #24076]

      Language: English

      Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1

      ***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VEGETABLE DYES***

      E-text prepared by Julie Barkley, Diane Monico,

      and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team

      (http://www.pgdp.net)

      Vegetable

      Dyes

      Being a book of Recipes and other

      information useful to the Dyer

      by

      ETHEL M. MAIRET

      FABER AND FABER LTD

      24 Russell Square

      London

      First published in Mcmxvi

      by the Ditchling Press

      Reprinted, for the sixth time April Mcmxxxviii

      and published by Faber and Faber Limited

      24 Russell Square, London

      Printed at the Ditchling Press, Ditchling

      All rights reserved

      CONTENTS

      CHAPTER I

      WOOL SILK COTTON AND LINEN

      WOOLS are of various kinds:—

      Highland, Welsh and Irish wools are from small sheep, not far removed from the wild state, with irregular short stapled fleeces.

      Forest or Mountain sheep (Herdwick, Exmoor, Cheviot, Blackfaced, Limestone) have better wool, especially the Cheviot, which is very thick and good for milling.

      Ancient Upland, such as South Down, are smaller sheep than the last named, but the wool is softer and finer.

      Long Woolled sheep, (Lincolns, Leicester) with long staple wool (record length, 36".) and fleeces weighing up to 12 lbs. The Leicester fleece is softer, finer and better than Lincoln.

      To the end of the 18th century Spanish wool was the finest and best wool in the world. Spanish sheep have since been introduced into various countries, such as Saxony, Australia, Cape Colony, New Zealand; and some of the best wools now come from the Colonies.

      Alpaca, Vicuna and Llama wools are from different species of American goats.

      Mohair from the Angora goat of Asia Minor.

      Kashmir Wool from the Thibetan goat.

      Camel hair, the soft under wool of the camel, which is shed annually.

      The colour of wool varies from white to a very dark brown black, with all shades of fawn, grey and brown in between. The natural colours are not absolutely fast to light but tend to bleach slightly with the sun.

      The principal fleeces are:

      Lambs, 3 to 6 months growth, the finest, softest and most elastic wool.

      Hogs and Tegs: the first shearing of sheep that have not been shorn as lambs.

      Wethers: all clips succeeding the first shearing.

      Wool comes into the market in the following condition. 1. In the grease, not having been washed and containing all the impurities. 2. Washed, with some of the grease removed and fairly clean. 3. Scoured, thoroughly cleaned and all grease removed.

      Wool can be dyed either in the fleece, in the yarn, or in the woven cloth. Raw wool always contains a certain amount of natural grease. This should not be washed out until it is ready for dyeing, as the grease keeps the moth out to a considerable extent. Hand spun wool is generally spun in the oil to facilitate spinning. All grease and oil must be scoured out before dyeing is begun, and this must be done very thoroughly or the wool will not take the colour.

      WATER

      A constant supply of clean soft water is an absolute necessity for the dyer. Rain water should be collected as much as possible, as this is the best water to use. The dye house should be by a river or stream, so that the dyer can wash with a continuous supply. Spring and well water is, as a rule, hard, and should be avoided. In washing, as well as in dyeing, hard water is injurious for wool. It ruins the brilliancy of the colour, and prevents the dyeing of some colours. Temporary hardness can be overcome by boiling the water (20 to 30 minutes) before using. An old method of purifying water, which is still used by some silk and wool scourers, is to boil the water with a little soap, skimming off the surface as it boils. In many cases it is sufficient to add a little acetic acid to the water.

      TO WASH WOOL

      In a bath containing 10 gallons of warm water add 4 fluid ounces of ammonia fort, .880, 1 lb. soda, and 2 oz. soft soap, (potash soap). Stir well until all is dissolved. Dip the wool in and leave for 2 minutes, then squeeze gently and wash in warm water until quite clear.

      Or to 10 gallons of water add 6 oz. ammonia and 3 oz. soft soap. The water should never be above 140°F. and all the washing water should be of about the same temperature.

      Fleece may be washed in the same way, but great care should be taken not to felt the wool—the less squeezing the better.

      There are four principal methods of dyeing wool.

      1st.—The wool is boiled first with the mordant and then in a fresh bath with the dye.

      2nd.—The wool is boiled first with the dye, and when it has absorbed as much of the colour as possible the mordant is added to the same bath, thus fixing the colour.

      A separate bath can be used for each of these processes, in which case each bath can be replenished and used again for a fresh lot of wool.

      3rd.—The wool is boiled with the mordant and dye in the same bath together. The colour, as a rule, is not so fast and good as with a separate bath, though with some dyes a brighter colour is obtained.

      4th.—The wool is mordanted, then dyed, then mordanted again. This method is adopted to ensure an extremely fast colour. The mordant should be used rather sparingly.

      SILK

      There are two kinds of silk (1) raw silk (reeled silk, thrown silk, drawn silk), and (2) waste silk or spun silk.

      Raw silk is that directly taken from the cocoons. Waste silk is the silk from cocoons that are damaged in some way so that they cannot be reeled off direct. It is, therefore, carded and spun, like wool or cotton.

      Silk in the raw state is covered with a silk gum which must be boiled off before dyeing is begun. It is tied up in canvas bags and boiled up in a strong solution of soap for three or four hours

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