Chapter VIII: Fur Dyeing

INTRODUCTORY AND HISTORICAL

In discussing fur dyeing, the question naturally arises, “Why dye furs at all? Are not furs most attractive in their natural colors, and therefore more desirable than those which acquire their color through the artifices of man?” The answer cannot be given simply. Natural furs of the more valuable kinds are indeed above comparison with the majority of dyed furs. Yet there are several reasons which fully justify and explain the need for fur dyeing, for at the present time, this branch of the fur industry is almost as important and indispensable as the dressing of furs.

The first application of dyeing to furs, had for its purpose the improvement of skins which were poor or faulty in color; or rather, the object was to hide such defects. As nearly as can be ascertained, this practise was instituted at some time during or before the fourteenth century, for fur dyeing seems to have been common during that period, as is apparent from the verses of a well-known German satirist, Sebastian Brant, who lived in the latter part of the fourteenth century:

“Man kann jetzt alles Pelzwerk färben,
Und tut es auf das schlechste gerben.”

However, at a later period, there was a general condemnation of the dyeing of furs, and among the list of members of the furrier’s guilds, none can be found who are described as dyers. There is a record of a decree issued by a prince in a German city in the sixteenth century, prohibiting the practise of fur dyeing. Inasmuch as furs were worn only by the nobility and certain other privileged classes, and also were very costly, there was great profit to be had by dyeing inferior skins so as to disguise the poor color, and then selling such furs at the price of superior quality skins. This was undoubtedly the reason for the prohibitory decree, but there were some who continued to practise the forbidden art in secret, using secluded and out-of-the-way places for their workshops, and mixing their carefully-guarded recipes with as much mystery as the witches did their magic potions. These circumstances probably account for the great amount of mystery which has been, and still is to a considerable degree, attached to fur dyeing, and also explains the opprobrium and distrust with which fur dyers were formerly regarded.

Even at the present time, dyeing is often employed to improve furs which are faulty in color. It frequently happens, that in a lot of skins there are some which are considerably off shade, or in which the color is such as to appreciably reduce their value below the average, the hair being usually too light a shade, or of uneven coloring. By carefully dyeing these skins of inferior color, they can be made to match very closely the best colored skins of the particular lot of furs, and consequently increase their value. With most of the cheaper kinds of furs, the trouble and cost of improvement by dyeing would not be worth while today; but with some of the more valuable furs, and especially such as are very highly prized, like the Russian sable, or marten, or chinchilla, the darkening of light skins by the skillful application of fast dyes to the extreme tips of the hair, will increase their value sufficiently to warrant the expense. This dyeing or “blending” as it is called in such cases, is done in such a clever and artistic manner that only experts can distinguish them from the natural. Dyeing used for such purposes is not objectionable, provided the skins are sold as dyed or “blended.”

There are certain kinds of furs, such as the various lambs, Persian, Astrachan, Caracul, etc., which are never used in their natural color, because it is usually of a rusty brownish-black. These are furs possessing valuable qualities otherwise, so they are dyed a pretty shade of black, which brings out the beauty of the fur to the fullest extent. Sealskins are also dyed always. Formerly they were dyed a deep, rich dark brown, resembling the finest shades of the natural color, but now the seals are dyed black with a brownish undertone, a color quite different from the natural. While these two instances cannot be said to be cases of dyeing to disguise faulty color, they are examples of improvement of color by dyeing.

Closely associated with the use of dyes to increase the value of a fur by improving its color, is the dyeing of skins of a certain lot of furs to produce a uniform shade, thereby facilitating or to a considerable degree eliminating the task of matching the skins by the furrier. This is usually done only on skins which are quite small, of which a great many are needed in the manufacture of fur garments, because the matching of several hundred skins would entail too much time and labor commensurate with the value of the fur. The most notable instance of the use of dyes to produce a uniform shade on furs is the case of the moleskin. Occasionally, furs are dyed after being made into garments, by careful application of dyes, in order to obtain certain harmonious effects, such as uniformity of stripe, or to produce a desired gradation of shade among the different skins comprising the garment.

Not infrequently, the great variety of shades and color schemes which Nature provides in the different furs, becomes insufficient to satisfy the desire of the fur-wearing public for something new. The whims of fashion always require some novel effect, even though it be for only one season. To meet this demand for novelty, fantasy or mode shades are produced on suitable furs,--colors which do not imitate those of any animal at all, but which, nevertheless, strike the popular fancy. It often happens that such a color becomes quite popular, and enjoys a considerable vogue, to the great profit of those who introduced the particular color effect. The best ones, however, meet with only a comparatively short-lived demand, being soon superseded by different color novelties.

The basis, though, of the greatest proportion of fur dyeing at the present time, is the imitation of the more valuable furs on cheaper or inferior skins. With the gradual popularization of furs as wearing apparel since the beginning of the last century, the demand for furs of all kinds has increased enormously. The supply of furs, on the other hand, and especially of the rarer kinds, has had difficulty in keeping pace with the requirements, and as a result there is a shortage. A very effective means of relieving this shortage, to a great degree, at any rate, is the dyeing of imitations of the scarcer furs on cheaper skins. There are many animals among the more common, and more easily obtainable ones, whose skins are admirably suited as the basis of imitations of the more costly furs. Some of the furs which are adapted for purposes of dyeing imitations are marmot, red fox, rabbit, hare, muskrat, squirrel, opossum, raccoon, and many others, and the imitations made are those of mink, sable, marten, skunk, seal, chinchilla, etc., and indeed, there are very few valuable furs, which have not been dyed in imitation on cheaper pelts. On account of the general mystery which formerly surrounded fur dyeing establishments, and which has persisted to this day, although to a lesser degree, many peculiar notions were held, even by those in the fur trade, concerning the production of imitations. The idea that in order to “make” a certain fur out of a cheaper skin, it was necessary to use the blood of the animal imitated, is typical of the conceptions of fur dyeing held not so long ago. To-day, while the knowledge generally possessed about this branch of the fur industry is meagre and vague, the air of mystery and secrecy has become somewhat clarified, and such ideas as are current about fur dyeing are more rational than formerly.

The dyeing of imitations is quite an artistic kind of work, and indeed fur dyeing ought to be classed among the finest of industrial arts. Some of the reproductions achieved by dyers on a commercial scale are truly admirable. The possibility of imitating the finer furs on cheaper skins naturally led to abuse, the dyed furs being passed off frequently on the unsuspecting and uninformed buyer as the genuine original. In fact, this practise became so flagrant that in England laws were enacted to remedy the evil. At the present time, dyed furs are all sold as such, although there always may be some unscrupulous merchants who seek to profit by deception. Some of the imitations and the names of the furs for which they were sold, are as follows:

Muskrat, dyed and plucked sold as seal
Nutria, plucked and dyed sold as seal
Nutria, plucked and natural sold as beaver
Rabbit, sheared and dyed sold as seal or electric seal
Otter, plucked and dyed sold as seal
Marmot, dyed sold as mink or sable
Fitch, dyed sold as sable
Rabbit, dyed sold as sable
Rabbit, dyed and sheared sold as beaver
Muskrat, dyed sold as mink or sable
Hare, dyed sold as sable, fox, or lynx
Wallaby, dyed sold as skunk
White rabbit, natural sold as ermine
White rabbit, dyed sold as chinchilla
White hare, dyed or natural sold as foxes, etc.
Goat, dyed sold as bear, leopard, etc.

This list serves to indicate but a few of the great number of possibilities which are available for the fur dyer to produce imitations of the better classes of furs. Needless to say, these imitations cannot, as a general rule, equal the originals, because while the color is one of the most important features in judging the fur, the nature of the hair, gloss, waviness, thickness, and also the durability are essential considerations, and it is only in certain instances that skins used for imitations approach the originals in these respects. However, for the purposes and desires of the majority of people who wear furs, the imitations are deemed quite satisfactory, and they also have the advantage of being cheaper than the natural originals.

For whichever reason furs are dyed, there is no doubt that the art of fur dyeing is one of the most difficult kinds of application of dye materials. In the dyeing of the various textiles, either as skein or woven fabric, the material is of a uniform nature, and therefore the dye is absorbed evenly by the fibres. Moreover, textiles are dyed at, or near the boil, the dyestuff being more uniformly and permanently taken up from solution by the fibre at elevated temperatures.

How different is the case with furs! Far from being homogeneous, furs present the greatest possible diversity of fibres to be dyed. As already noted elsewhere, fur consists of two principal parts, the hair and the leather, differing widely in their actions toward dyes. As a general rule, the leather absorbs dyestuffs much more readily than the pelage, and inasmuch as fur dyeing is intended mainly and primarily to apply to the hair, there is usually an appreciable loss of dye material due to its being absorbed by the leather, and thereby rendered unavailable for dyeing the hair. This fact must be taken into account in the dyeing of furs, and the methods must be adapted accordingly.

With reference to the hair itself, not only has each class of furs hair of a different kind, but even in the same group there is always a considerable divergence in the properties of the hair. The fur-hair, being more or less of a woolly nature, takes up the dye with comparative ease, while the top-hair is quite resistant to the action of all dye materials. As pointed out in the discussion of the nature of fur, on different parts of the same pelt the hair varies in its capacity for absorbing coloring matters. The color of the hair, also frequently presents a great variety throughout the skin, both in fur-hair and top-hair. Yet with all this lack of uniformity and homogeneity, the dyed fur must be of an even color, closely approaching the natural, gently graded and without any harsh or unduly contrasted effects. The natural gloss of the hair, one of the most valuable qualities of the fur, must be preserved. This is by no means a simple matter, for the luster is affected by dyes and chemicals with comparative ease, and especially careful treatment is necessary to prevent any diminution of the gloss.

When the leather part of the fur is exposed to solutions of a temperature exceeding 40°–50° centigrade, it soon shrivels up or shrinks, and on drying the pelt, becomes hard and brittle, and therefore quite useless. Methods of fur dyeing have to take into consideration this fact, and the temperature of the dyebath must not be greater than 35°–40° centigrade. To be sure, certain dressings make furs capable of withstanding much higher temperatures, but their applicability is not universal, being suited only for a very limited special class of dyestuffs. (V. Fur Dressing). The necessity for employing comparatively low temperatures, coupled with the great resistance of the hair to the absorption of dye, even at much higher temperatures, makes fur-dyeing a very difficult operation indeed. Another obstacle which must be surmounted, is the possibility of extraction by the dye solution, of those materials, chemical or otherwise, which are contained in the leather, and which are the basis of its permanence, softness and flexibility. For in the majority of dressing processes, the action of the ingredients is a preservative one, and when these are wholly or partially removed from the leather during the dyeing, it becomes, on drying, hard and horny, like the original undressed pelt. In cases where furs are to be dyed, special dye-resisting dressings must be used, or the dyed skins must receive an additional dressing before drying.

Dyeings on furs, to have any value, must possess great fastness to light, rubbing and wear, and must not change color in time, either when the furs are stored, or when made up into garments. The necessity for fur dyeings to have these properties, together with the difficulties outlined above, has greatly limited the field of available dyeing materials, as well as the methods of application. These will now be taken up in detail.