Chapter IV: Appendix: General Remarks (1)

The cultivated taste of the present age, requiring a large variety of natural and artificially produced or embellished material for adornment, employs almost any kind of bird's feathers, either in their natural coloring or dyed. None of them, however, are used in the condition as they are plucked from the body of the live or dead bird, but all must undergo a cleaning process, which not only serves to improve their appearance, but is an exceedingly essential requisite for the preservation of the material from decay and the attacks of moth and other insects, and is, above all, the first condition and indispensable preparatory operation for dyeing feathers, whether the costly feather of the ostrich or the common feather of our domestic chicken or pigeon. The cleaning or washing process is the same for all kinds of feathers; the ostrich feather, however, requires drying after every treatment in a bath, and a special operation for the purpose of opening the fine flues, which gives the plumage of the ostrich its characteristic and distinguishing beauty and rich, downy appearance of luxurious softness.

The feathers of the ostrich, which are used for dress-feathers, are taken from the wings and tail of the bird, whose spurred wings, by their peculiar construction render it entirely unfit for flight. The wings seem rather only fit to serve for the purpose of holding the body of the bird in equilibrium while running, and of preventing it from sinking to any depth into the loose sand of the deserts, which are the home of the ostrich. The natural colors of the ostrich feathers are white, black and gray, or rather a dark drab. They are, therefore, sorted according to their natural color, to be bleached white, or dyed in light colors, or to be used for dark shades. Practical men in the general dyeing business, and in garment dyeing or re-dyeing, hold that it is unnecessary to bleach, respectively strip, the material for dyeing dark colors, and garment dyers strip their material only to a certain extent, so as to leave upon it a bottom of color which they can advantageously use for their new dye. This method appears correct, if as "practical" as all that is designated, which results in a saving of expense or labor; but it is evident that a clear color of the highest possible beauty can never be obtained upon a bottom of a different hue; the bottom color will always, more or less, show and impair the purity of the topping color; but compound or mixed colors can be thus produced in an advantageous manner and to good effect, if the color of the bottom enters into their composition. The same is unquestionably the case with ostrich feathers, and the dyer is often compelled and must be prepared to bleach the gray or black and white feathers in order to dye them any light shade. The bleaching of naturally purely black feathers is probably but seldom required, as these are ordinarily left as nature has made them, but merely cleaned to heighten their beauty and gloss.

Owing to the delicate nature of the material, the dyeing of ostrich feathers bears much similarity to that of silk; both being high in price, carelessness and negligence in their treatment is apt to entail heavy losses. The utmost cleanliness of all utensils is an absolute requirement; dyestuffs, drugs and chemicals must never be added to baths in substance, but always in solution, and never while the material is in the bath; but the material must be taken up while the dyestuff or salt, etc., solution is being added to the bath, and only re-entered after stirring well. Solutions, as well as decoctions, must always be filtered, respectively strained, before adding them to the dye bath, even if they have been prepared beforehand, because any undissolved or solid particle of substance deposited upon the feathers would necessarily produce a spot or mark of a darker or lighter shade, as the case may be, according to the character of the undissolved substance. Although alkalies and heat are applied and necessary for washing or scouring, that is, cleaning and ungreasing the feathers, strong alkaline and excessive heat operating together are as fatal for feathers as they are for any other animal fibre,--wool or silk,--and strong heat applied to dry feathers is apt to irretrievably ruin them. The soap with which feathers are to be treated, must, therefore, be as neutral as possible, and if recipes speak of "boiling" the feathers, it must be understood in the sense as in wool-dyeing, that is, to apply a heat near the boiling point, when the baths begin to throw up bubbles, but not actually boil.

That the water used for any purpose in ostrich feather dyeing, for washing, bleaching, dyeing or rinsing, must be perfectly clean, needs hardly to be mentioned.

UTENSILS.

The utensils required for feather dyeing are of a very simple character, few and inexpensive. For small establishments an ordinary stove, a common wash-boiler, to have constantly hot water on hand, an ordinary wash tub, a white china wash-basin for dyeing, a clean board for starching and a few bottles, together with a small tin pan or kettle and funnel, for making solutions and decoctions and filtering them, is all that is necessary besides the work table. More recently, flat, oval upper pans, tinned for special purposes, have been introduced as dye-vessels, which are neatly provided with a moveable perforated false-bottom, and are heated either upon a direct fire, or a gas jet, or by direct steam. In large establishments copper pans are generally used, for the better grades of ostrich feathers especially, and for ordinary goods wooden tubs, both heated by steam. Where wooden tubs are used, several of them are set apart for the color most in demand, such as black, brown, gray, mode, etc.

PREPARATION OF THE FEATHERS.

The bundles received from the dealer being opened, the feathers are sorted according to color and size, and those for white and light colors, to be bleached, are laid from those of dark colors, which are ordinarily not bleached, that is, the black or gray ones. When going to work the feathers are put on strings, that is, they are firmly tied singly, about an inch apart from one another, and about an inch above the end of the quill, 20 or 25 with one string, seldom more, as they would make the bundle too thick and unhandy. The feathers are then ready for the steep, which operation ought always and for any method be the first step of treatment before proceeding to washing, scouring and bleaching proper.

For this purpose a strong solution of soap is made in boiling water; when cooled down to about 150° F., it is well stirred, the feathers entered and left in the bath over night. The temperature may be kept up over night. It is necessary, however, to lay the feathers down in the steep so that the liquid can reach every part of them, and to keep them well immersed in the steep, for which purpose it is advisable to weigh them down by clean sticks of wood or some other means. Instead of soap, soda may be used for the steep; taking about one and one-half ounces of soda crystals to one gallon of water.

By the steep the impurities, dirt and grease, covering the feather are loosened, and thereby the following cleaning operations materially facilitated.

CLEANING AND BLEACHING OF FEATHERS.

The ostrich feathers, like all material taken from the covering of the animal body, wool, hair, etc., which are embellished by dyeing for the use of man or woman in dress, contain by nature a certain amount of fat, and in their raw condition are more or less covered with dust, dirt and a greasy exudation, which must be removed for dyeing; that is, they are scoured or washed and then bleached or whitened, because the feathers, like all other so-called white animal matter, have always a faint yellowish tint, sometimes yellowish spots which cannot be removed without injury to the material, but obliterated by bleaching, which, in the case of white feathers, is called bleaching or whitening. The bleaching of gray and black feathers and the stripping or decoloring of dyed feathers are different operations.

For scouring or washing, novel methods are recommended, which, however, differ from one another very little, and are, on the whole, represented by the following: Prepare a good handwarm bath (100-120° F.), in which dissolve two ounces Marseilles soap in per gallon of water and beat up to a good lather. Enter feathers and rub them well, string for string, by hand. They may even be taken upon a wash-board and rubbed with a brush, which does not hurt them, notwithstanding their delicate structure, because the soap steep has given them great elasticity and resistance to the manipulation. Continue the operations until the tank is exhausted and dirty; then give another fresh bath of the same composition and temperature; treat the feathers as in the first bath and rinse them perfectly clean from every particle of soap in two or three luke-warm (100°) waters; for, every trace of soap remaining upon the feathers will hinder the dye from running up and cause uneven colors, or, upon white feathers, yellow stains. Then prepare a cold bath with solution of bioxolate of potash (one-eighth to one-sixth ounce of salt to one gallon), enter feathers, pass them in the bath for 15-20 minutes, take up and rinse them in cold water three to four times to remove the salt. For feathers which have to remain white, the latter bath is composed of one and one-quarter ounces bioxolate of potash and one and one-eighth ounces oxalic acid to one gallon of water, and the feathers laid down in it until perfectly white; when they are taken out and rinsed clean from acid in luke-warm water.

The feathers being rinsed clean from the oxolate of potash bath, if destined for white, are then whitened, or rather blued, for the purpose of covering the yellowish tint above mentioned. To this purpose a cold bath is prepared with only so much methyl violet or methylene blue, as to give the water a very faint tint. To ascertain whether this is the case, a white china plate is held about a foot below the surface of the bath, when its appearance will show the shade of blue that will be produced by the bath. The feathers are then entered and gently agitated in the bath until they have the desired tint.

DRYING OR STARCHING.

The feathers coming from the bioxolate of potash bath, after rinsing, or from the blue baths, are squeezed out by pulling them through the hand, and pressing them between the laps of a dry clean piece of white muslin, whereupon they are immediately passed through a bath of raw starch, that is, unboiled starch, consisting of about one-half pound of starch to a gallon of water. After passing them through the hand the feathers are then again pressed between the cloth; then the waves are lightly drawn by hand over the stems, and the feathers either beaten between the hands or upon a clean board over a stove until dry, or they are agitated by hand or by a suitable mechanical contrivance before an open fire or gas-jet, or hung in a warm room and frequently shaken until dry, that is, until all starch has dropped out; and finally the remaining starch is beaten out between the hands or upon the board by means of a soft brush. By this treatment the feathers are not only dried, but the flues opened besides. It needs not to be specially mentioned, that the feathers are dried, or finished, as it were, in the same manner after dyeing.

In case the flues are not sufficiently opened, although all the starch has been beaten out, dip the feathers into clean benzine and swing or agitate them until dry, which takes place in a few minutes, while the flues are opened in the most perfect manner. For white feathers the benzine may be blued, but in this case, they must be dried between muslin.

BLEACHING OR DECOLORING NATURALLY GRAY FEATHERS.

The feather dyer is often required to dye light colors upon naturally gray or even black feathers. As above remarked, the natural color would show even under dark colors dyed upon them to a greater or less extent, unless they are first decolorized, that is, their natural color destroyed or blackened. Much more necessary is, therefore, this operation for light colors to be dyed upon naturally colored ostrich feathers. The only known chemical agent affecting such a bleach to nearly white is peroxyd of hydrogen or oxygenated water. For bleaching ostrich feathers a bath is prepared of peroxyd of hydrogen to which so much liquid ammonia is added as to give the bath a sharp pungent odor. The feathers, which must be previously cleaned as above mentioned, and well rinsed, are entered and left immersed in the bath until they have assumed a nearly white cream color, whereupon the feathers are taken up and thoroughly rinsed or laid down in running water until every trace of ammonia has disappeared. It must be observed, however, that only acid aniline colors can be dyed upon such decolorized feathers and that in dyeing only a moderate heat must be applied.

Dr. P. Ebell, of Linden, near Hanover, one of the first and still largest manufacturers of peroxyd of hydrogen, writes on the subject of feather bleaching as follows: The assorted and picked feathers are cleaned from dirt and fat with soap and water by means of soft brushes, which operation is continued until the feathers (after drying) are readily wetted by water; when they are laid down for some time in pure water. The liquids are removed from the feathers by a centrifugal machine or a wringer (the latter is evidently meant for ordinary feathers, other than ostrich feathers). Mix in a clean wooden tub twenty litres peroxyd of hydrogen (Koenigswæter & Ebell) with four hundred and fifty grammes ammonia 20° B. (=0.9 sp. gra.) and heat to 34° C., by a leaden steam pipe at the bottom of the tub. Enter 5 kilo. cleaned feathers, which work by hand and turn every hour. In twenty four hours the bleach is completed. If pure white feathers are wanted, give a second bath, but for a shorter period. The bleached feathers are carefully removed from the bleaching bath and laid down, for an hour and a half, in a cold bath of one hundred litres water containing one hundred grammes sulphuric acid 66° B., and then completely lixiviated in pure, soft water. While moist (after squeezing) they are then passed through a milk of unboiled starch which is lightly blued with aniline blue or violet, and slowly dried, in the air or in a warm room, under repeated shaking to prevent the flues from sticking together. After removing the starch by beating, the feathers are ready for curling, etc.

PEROXYD OF HYDROGEN.

This most valuable bleaching agent is a contraction of hydrogen and oxygen, of the formula HO_{2}, sp. grv. 1.45 (chemically given), or 94.12 per cent. oxygen with 5.88 per cent. hydrogen. It consists in a limpid, syrupous liquid, of characteristic color, and when heated to 15° C., is decomposed into water and oxygen, upon which property its great bleaching power is based. Experiments to reduce it to a solid form by refrigeration and pressure have thus far been unsuccessful. The commercial article is somewhat modified by the addition of water to prevent its ready decomposition under the influence of a warm temperature. For the same reason it is advisable to always keep it in a cool place.

LIGHT BLUE.

I. To dye this delicate color well, special care must be taken in cleaning the feathers, for which purpose only olive-oil soap of the best quality, with a little ammonia, ought to be employed. When they are perfectly clean and no more grease upon the stems, rinse them first in one or two lukewarm waters, then in cold water until the last trace of soap is removed. Then fill your basin or dyeing pan three-quarters full of cold water; put in, for a dozen feathers, one hundred and eighty grammes (about eight ounces) of raw starch in a sufficient quantity of good indigo extract to give the starch-bath the desired shade. Enter the feathers and work them gently until they are completely dyed, that is, for about fifteen or twenty minutes. Then take them out, squeeze out the starch by putting them between the fingers and thumb of your hand, and shake them before the stove, or in a well-warmed chamber until dry. While drying, beat them from time to time upon the board, or between the hands to remove the adhering starch.

II. Prepare a lukewarm bath acidulated with a few drops of sulphuric acid, so as to give a faint sour taste, to which add, according to shade, solution of methyl blue B. (Actien Gesellschaft fuer Anilin Fabrikation, Berlin). Enter the feathers and leave them in the bath until cold, or until uniformly dyed.

NOTE.--Some dyers use alkaline blue, which is not, however, recommendable, because alkaline baths, as above remarked, are injurious to the feathers and must be avoided as much as possible.

III. Prepare bath of lukewarm water, dissolve in it about one-half ounce tartaric acid per one quart, and add one ounce indigo carmine per quart of liquid; stir well, enter the feathers and agitate or lay down in the bath until the required shade is obtained. This color shows little fastness to light and air, which can be improved, however, by adding to the dye bath one-quarter ounce alum per quart. The shade being obtained, take up the feathers and pass, without rinsing, through raw starch milk, dry and beat as described.

Light blues, as is easy to understand, can only be dyed upon white feathers for the most delicate shades; nearly white, or developed gray feathers may be used for the shades approaching a light medium blue.

NAVY BLUE.

I. For this color naturally gray or semi-bleached feathers may be used. It requires a mordant, like wool. For this purpose prepare a bath of forty per cent. (of the weight of feathers) tannin at 167° F., enter the feathers and agitate them from time to time for three hours. Then take them up, drain and squeeze them out, enter a cold bath of pyrolignite of iron (black liquor) marking 5° B., and work them for half hour; take them out, drain and squeeze, and then expose them, well spread out upon the strings, for one hour to the action of the air. Then rinse and dye upon a fresh warm bath with a mixture of aniline blue and a little methyl violet, using about twenty per cent. of the weight of feathers. Add the dyestuff in the beginning only in small doses and slowly in order to prevent the production of a bronzy, undesirable lustre upon the stem, as is often the case in dying with aniline dyestuffs if they are added to the bath in too large doses.

II. Prepare a hot bath, to which add as much indigo carmine as to bring the color of the bath pretty near the shade to be produced. Enter the feathers and agitate them in the bath for one hour. Then take up the feathers, add alum and a solution of cloth-blue S. to the bath, re-enter the feathers and work them while raising the temperature to boiling point, when the steam or gas is turned off, or the pan removed from the fire, and the feathers allowed to lie for fifteen or twenty minutes longer in the bath. They are then taken out, rinsed, starched and dried and beaten.

III. Have the feathers properly cleaned and well rinsed from the soap, respectively soda. Gray feathers may be used unbleached, but a purer color is obtained upon them when bleached. Prepare a hot bath, to which so much sulphuric acid is added, that it has a feeble sour taste; add the solution of two per cent. (of the weight of feathers), navy blue, one per cent. fast blue or black, and one-eighth per cent. acid fuchsine. Stir well, enter the feathers, manipulate while raising the temperature to boiling point, but not to actual boiling, continue at this temperature for one half hour; then stop off the steam, lay the feathers down in the bath until cool, lift and dry as usual.

GENDARME BLUE.

This color requires a pure bottom, that is, naturally white or bleached. After cleaning, respectively washing in warm soap, which must not even be omitted with bleached feathers, and thorough rinsing, prepare a bath and dye as for dyeing light blue with indigo carmine. Then add some aniline green and navy blue to the bath, re-enter the feathers which have been taken up before making the addition, work them well while raising the temperature to the boiling point; continue at this temperature for one-half hour longer, lift, rinse, starch and dry as usual.

PLUM OR PRUNE.

I. For this color, which has in itself a subdued tone of brown, or has the color of gray ostrich feathers, such naturally colored feathers may be used unbleached, but well cleaned and rinsed before dyeing. Prepare a luke-warm bath, to which add about one-half ounce tartaric acid to per quart of water and solution of methyl violet 6 B., according to shade, with a little aniline ponceau or fast brown for toning. While working the feathers, raise the temperature and continue dyeing at nearly boiling for one-half hour; then take out, wash and dry.

Or,

II. Prepare a boiling hot bath with alum, sulphuric acid and tartar; to which add acid fuchsine; enter the feathers, and dye one-half hour to a blue red, which tone, by the addition of decoction of logwood, continue at nearly boiling heat for one-half hour longer, lift, rinse lightly, starch, beat and dry.

III. Take a hot bath, upon which violet has been dyed, and refresh it with some solution of methyl violet, 5 B., and a few drops of sulphuric acid, or prepare a hot bath with the same ingredients, and indigo carmine, according to shade; or, instead of indigo carmine, indigo substitute, fast blue B. A., and indigotine; preferably, however, use indigo carmine, which develops more slowly, and therefore is surer to give better results, while the aniline dyestuffs run up more rapidly, and are apt to dye unevenly, unless their solutions are added gradually and the feathers handled quickly and carefully.

LIGHT YELLOW.

I. Light yellow is comparatively very little in demand for ostrich feathers, and scarcely used for trimming hats of children and young misses as a set-off for other colors. To produce it, prepare a pretty hot bath with a little sulphuric acid, so as to give it a slightly acid taste, add very little quinoline yellow, lay down the feathers in the bath for one-half hour, turning and agitating them from time to time, lift, rinse and dry. For this color, as well as for light blues and roses, the feathers must be perfectly white. (For this dye the quinoline yellow manufactured by the Actien Gesellschaft fuer Anilin Fabrikation, Berlin, is specially suitable). As the purity of all light shades of delicate colors greatly depends upon the purity of the water, it is advisable to bring the bath, before preparing it, to boil with some bran and chloride of tin and skim it off well.

MEDIUM YELLOW.

Various shades of yellow can also be produced with the old natural dyestuffs, which are not, however, equal in brilliancy to the foregoing described colors. The feathers must be bleached for these as well as for any clear color, which would be materially impaired by an impure bottom; still developed grays may be employed. After scouring and thoroughly rinsing the feathers, prepare a cold bath of alum, about one ounce to one gallon of clear water, or of acetic acid; lay the feathers down until well opened, so that the liquid can uniformly act upon all parts, for one hour. Then take them out, squeeze and centrifugate them, and dye the shade upon a fresh warm bath with the required quantity of flavine, decoction of color or of fustic; lift, rinse and starch as usual.

Or, dissolve a sufficient quantity of turmeric in boiling water, filter and enter the feathers while the filtrate is still well hot. Agitate them for five minutes, then take them up, add to the bath a small quantity of tartaric acid, this to promote its dissolution; then re-enter the feathers, work them again for five minutes, lift, rinse in cold water, and dry.

If these colors are to have a light reddish or warmer tone, add, when nearly done, some anotto to the dye bath.

DARK YELLOW.

Bleached grays answer for this color as well as naturally white feathers. Scour and rinse them well. Prepare a bath, feebly acidulated with sulphuric acid, and add the filtered solution of two and one-half per cent. of the weight of feathers, dark yellow, (manufactured by the Leipziger Anilin Fabrik, formerly Bayer & Kegel). Enter the feathers in the cold and work them diligently until the color is well up, then raise the temperature slowly to 170° F., dye to shade, lift, rinse in clear cold water, starch and dry.

II. A new light yellow, which is fast to light and air, is obtained by products of Leonhardt & Co., at Manheim, viz: redarine and acme yellow. Add to a hot bath of 170-190° F., a quite small quantity of redarine and still less acme yellow; enter the feathers, manipulate for one-half hour, take out, rinse and dry them with starch, and beat well out. This color being extremely sensitive, the purification of the water for the bath is as necessary as the most scrupulous cleanliness of utensils and workshops.

GOLDEN YELLOW.

I. The feathers being scoured and rinsed clean of soap, prepare a bath of five per cent., of the weight of feathers, bisulphate of soda, add solution (filtered) of azo orange, according to shade. Enter the feathers at 120° F.; heat up slowly to 170° F., while working the feathers; lift when the shade is obtained, squeeze out, starch and dry.

II. Prepare a bath with three per cent. (of the weight of the feathers) Glauber salt and one per cent. sulphuric acid. Enter the feathers at 100-120° F., after adding to the bath the solution of one per cent. golden yellow S. (of Gust. Doerr, Frankfort-on-Main), work the feathers repeatedly during one-half hour, when they all have assumed a rich, nourished color; take up, rinse lightly; starch and beat them dry.

OLD GOLD.

Have the naturally white or decolorized gray feathers well washed in soap and rinsed clean from it. Prepare a hot bath at 170° F., to which add so much aniline cream as to color it dark reddish yellow. Enter the feathers and agitate them from five to ten minutes, according to the shade desired. Then take them up, add some sulphuric acid to the bath, re-enter the feathers, work for two minutes; then lift, rinse and dry. The bath can be preserved for further use.

GRAY.

So unpretending this color appears, so difficult is it to produce, and it requires a considerable amount of practice and good judgment to bring out a good color from the beginning, as very little too much or too little will spoil a color either in tone or in shade. A very good logwood gray, which with proper attention seldom fails to turn out satisfactory, is made as follows: Prepare a hot bath, to which add a small quantity of decoction of logwood; enter the feathers and work them in the bath for fifteen or twenty minutes, according to shade desired. Then take them up, add to the bath very little pyrolignite of iron, that is, only as much as to turn the color of the bath; re-enter the feathers, agitate them again for fifteen or twenty minutes in the liquid; then lift, rinse and starch as usual. This color might be best described as dark ash gray. Instead of pyrolignite of iron, some solution of copperas may be used. It will be easily understood, that the more concentrated the decoction of logwood is, the darker turns out the color, and it is in that respect particularly that the dyer has to use good judgment in producing shades from silver gray to dark ash gray. This color, besides, presents the advantage, that by topping it with solutions of blue, brown, yellow or green coal-tar dyestuffs a great variety of mode colors can be produced.

PEARL GRAY.

After scouring and rinsing well, prepare a warm bath (100-120° F.) with five per cent., of the weight of feathers, bisulphate of soda, to which add solution of Victoria blue and of extract of archil, according to sample. Acid violet may be used, but requires a temperature near the boiling point, which ought to be avoided wherever possible in dyeing ostrich feathers. To be on the safe side, make the solutions of the dyestuffs of medium concentration, use only the clear of them, or better filter the same, and add it slowly and gradually first in small doses, finally by drops, for which purpose the use of a burette with squeeze-cock is recommendable.

SILVER GRAY.

Scour, respectively bleach, and rinse the feathers well clean, prepare a bath, work the solution of five per cent., of the weight of feathers, silver gray (Actein Gesellschaft fuer Anilin Fabrikation, Berlin), feebly acidulated with sulphuric acid; enter the feathers in the cold, work well to make the color dye up evenly; then raise the temperature slowly under diligent working, to 170° F., continue at this temperature for five to ten minutes, lift, rinse and dry.

BROWN.

The series of brown colors, partly produced by combinations of spectrum colors, partly of direct brown dyestuffs, presents a large range of modifications and shades, from a light rust brown or buff to nearly black, blueish, yellowish, reddish, olive brown, etc., and is in this respect only inferior to the non-descript endless variety of modes. With the exception of the very lightest shades, which require perfectly white feathers, they can be dyed upon half-bleached, and the deeper shades upon unbleached gray feathers; the dyer, must, however, in the latter case, bear in mind, that the gray bottom color always influences to a certain degree, the tone of the color that is to be dyed upon it. Nevertheless, as to the proportions of the dyestuffs to be employed for a given tone or shade cannot be given, because the tinctorial value of artificial dyestuffs is very changeable and not even constant with the same makers. Experience, skill and trial dyes must, therefore, guide the dyer in composing the baths for browns as well as for modes, the majority of the latter being modifications of brown. In general the following may be observed:

I. After scouring the feathers and rinsing them perfectly clean of the scouring material, whether soap or soda, prepare a bath of 170 to 190° F., to which add fifteen per cent., of the weight of feathers, bisulphate of soda, indigo carmine, extract of archil and azo yellow.

According to the proportionally greater or smaller quantity of either dyestuff added to the dyebath either browns are obtained, or olives, Russia green, reseda, or a variety of modes. The trouble with all colors into whose compositions indigo carmine enters is, that this dyestuff requires a comparatively high temperature to run up, preferably a boiling bath, which, however, is decidedly objectionable with ostrich feathers. To avoid this difficulty, the new acid Victoria blue is used instead of indigo carmine, and fuchsine S. instead of extract of archil. Victoria blue dyes up readily at a moderate temperature.

II. The feathers being scoured and rinsed clean, prepare a boiling bath with so much sulphuric acid as to give a feebly sour taste, and add fast aniline brown, turmeric, and indigo carmine or cloth-blue S., according to the tone and shade desired. Prepare the bath so that it shows exactly this tone of color which is to be dyed, and bring it to boil in order to produce a perfect mixture of the three dyestuffs, or rather their filtered solutions. Then chill the bath to about 120° F., enter the feathers, while raising the temperature in about fifteen minutes to near the boiling point; then dye to shade, lift, rinse and dry.

It is advisable, in order to obtain a level dye, to add not the whole amount of dyestuff solution required at one time, but at least in two times; which rule altogether applies to all aniline dyestuffs, more or less, as they mostly run up very rapidly and are apt, therefore, to give uneven dyes.

If a yellowish tint is wanted, use a little azo yellow or azo orange; picric acid, which was formerly very freely used for this purpose, has been almost entirely abandoned.

LIGHT BROWN.

Clean and rinse them as usual, prepare a bath of 170-190° F., with redarine, a trace of orange O, and some acid green; enter feathers and work for one-half hour, then lift, rinse and dry. By varying the proportions of dyestuffs, a series of modes is obtainable. (Dyestuffs manufactured by Leonhardt & Co., of Mannheim).

RUST BROWN.

Prepare a slightly acidulated warm bath with three per cent., of the weight of feathers, fast aniline brown, one per cent. azo yellow, one percent. extract of indigo, and a little sulphuric acid; enter the well scoured and rinsed feathers at 120-140° F., work the feathers for one-half hour, while slowly raising the temperature to the boiling point; continue dyeing at that degree of heat, but not boiling, for five minutes; lift, rinse, starch and dry.

RED BROWN.

I. Scour and rinse well; prepare a warm bath, in which dissolve three per cent., of the weight of feathers, alum, add twenty-five per cent. extract of archil, one and one half per cent. azo yellow, and if required for shade, one-half per cent. indigo carmine; enter at 170° F., dye to shade while slowly raising the temperature to near the boiling point, continue at that temperature for ten to fifteen minutes longer; then lift, rinse and dry. Instead of indigo carmine, cloth-blue S. may be used, in which case enter at 120° and raise the temperature slowly, not above 190° F. Or,

II. Prepare a bath at 190° F., add five per cent. bisulphate of soda, when dissolved, add solution of extract of archil, fast yellow and indigo carmine as required for the shade, and dye at that temperature to sample. Instead of archil, any red or orange azo dyestuff may be used, preferably bordeaux.

COFFEE BROWN.

Have the feathers will cleaned and rinsed, bleaching being not required, prepare a bath with three per cent. alum (of the weight of feathers), at 170° F., add indigo carmine, bordeaux and azo yellow, according to sample, and dye to shade while slowly raising the temperature to near the boiling point, but bring not to boil, but continue until the indigo carmine is well up. A less fast color is obtained with archil, indigo carmine and picric acid. When finished dyeing, rinse, starch and dry as usual.

The dyestuffs for brown being nearly the same for all shades, while the depth and tone of the color is produced by differently proportioning the quantities of the different dyestuffs and the time of dyeing, it is advantageous to have the solutions of dyestuffs near by on hand; it is advisable, however, if good work is intended, to always filter before using solutions which have been standing for some time. This precaution is necessary, because from most solutions, if allowed to stand for a day or longer, some dyestuff which was not dissolved but only suspended in the liquid, separates out forming a more or less copious sediment which, if it passes into the dye bath, settles upon the feathers causing spots or streaks of a different shade than the rest of the feathers.

PUCE.

Scour and rinse the feathers well; grays can be used in their natural color without bleaching. Prepare a warm bath, in which dissolve eighty per cent., of the weight of feathers, tartaric acid and eighty per cent. Glauber salt; then add sixteen per cent. aniline fast brown; eight per cent. azo yellow, and sixteen per cent. induline or nigrosine, and bring the bath to a boil; after a few minutes of boiling, chill by the addition of cold water, enter the feathers and work them at hand-heat for fifteen or twenty minutes until the color has become level; then bring the bath again to near the boiling point; lay the feathers down in the bath, shut off the steam, or withdraw from the fire, and let the bath cool down. When cold, that is in about one or two hours, take out the feathers, rinse and dry.

FAWN.

Prepare a warm bath with five per cent. bisulphate of soda, add solutions of azo orange, acid violet and some archil cautiously in several doses until the bath has the desired color. Enter the scoured and rinsed feathers and agitate for fifteen or twenty minutes, to produce a level dye; then raise the temperature slowly to 190-200° F., dye for a few minutes longer, lift, rinse and dry.

By varying the proportions of the dyestuffs, drab, wood brown, lead color, etc., can be obtained, and olives by increasing the quantity of acid violet and omitting the extract of archil.

CHESTNUT BROWN.

Scour and rinse the feathers well; natural grays may be used unbleached. Prepare a decoction of one and one quarter pound cudbear, and six ounces turmeric in two gallons of water, strain through a cloth and enter the feathers at hand heat (about 90-100° F.); work them for twenty or thirty minutes, or until they have attained a nourished garnet color. Then take them out, rinse, lay them down for five minutes in a cold solution of about six ounces copperas in one-half gallon of water, take them up and rinse in cold water. Then return to the first bath, operate for fifteen minutes at hand heat, enter again, after rinsing, the iron bath, and continue alternately dyeing upon the two baths until the required shade is obtained. Rinse every time on shifting from one bath to the other, in clean water, and finally rinse well, starch and dry.

HAVANNA.

I. For this color it is advisable to use naturally white or bleached feathers, scour or wash them clean in soap and warm water and remove the soap by thoroughly rinsing in two warm and one cold waters. Prepare a bath slightly acidulated with sulphuric acid, to which add eighty per cent., of the weight of feathers, tartaric acid, eight per cent. azo yellow, six per cent. fast brown, and three and a quarter per cent. acid green. Enter the feathers at 100-120° F. and manipulate at that temperature for ten or fifteen minutes. Then raise the temperature to the boiling point (but do not boil), lay the feathers down in the bath for one-half to one hour, while the bath cools down, lift, starch and finish as usual.

II. Prepare a bath slightly acidulated with sulphuric acid, bring to nearly boiling, add a concentrated solution of orange S. and some acid green, enter the feathers and dye to shade; then pass them through a week oil-bath, and dry them, placed straight between several laps of clean muslin.

III. Prepare a bath of the decoction of twelve and a half per cent., of the weight of feathers, alum and twenty-five per cent. turmeric; strain, enter the feathers at 170-190° F., and let them lie in the bath over night. On the following day dye, at 100° F., with decoction of fustet, tone with decoction of logwood or of brazil, according to sample, starch and dry.

MUSHROOM.

I. For this elegant color take naturally white or bleached gray feathers, scour and rinse them well. Prepare a hot bath with five per cent., of the weight of feathers, bisulphate of soda, to which add, as required, filtered solutions of fast yellow, indigo carmine and ponceau G. Enter the feathers at 170° F., work them for ten or fifteen minutes and raise the temperature slowly to near the boiling point. Add the dyestuffs in small quantities gradually, making the additions only when the dyestuff of the bath has been completely absorbed, and then by drops so as to be able to correct the color without waste of dyestuff. Bear in mind, that the indigo carmine dyes up slowly and requires a high temperature. An easier process is, therefore, the following:

II. After cleaning and rinsing well, prepare a bath at 170° F., with four per cent. bisulphate of soda, to which add gradually in small quantities, as required, some nigrosine, azo orange and a little mandarin or nigrosine, alkaline blue and fuchsine S., rinse, starch and dry.

LIGHT DRAB.

Scour and rinse the feathers as usual; bleached grays may be used. Prepare a bath with five per cent., of the weight of feathers, bisulphate of soda and the clear solutions of acid violet, azo orange and fuchsine S.; add the dyestuff in small portions and finally by drops, until the bath has the desired shade of color; then enter the feathers and dye at 170° F. to sample, squeeze or centrifugate, starch and dry.

BEIGE.

I. For this color take either naturally white or well-bleached gray feathers, scour or wash and rinse them clean. Prepare pretty thin solutions of aniline orange (chrysaniline) and violet, add very little of them at a time and finally by drops to the dyestuffs containing either five per cent. bisulphate of soda or a small dose of sulphuric acid; enter the feathers at 145° F. and dye to shade at the same temperature, which will require about twenty or thirty minutes; lift, rinse, squeeze and starch.

II. Have the feathers well cleaned, respectively, bleached, and rinsed. Prepare a hot bath (170-190° F.), with a little sulphuric acid, just enough to give it a slightly sour taste, add a few drops of solution of fast brown and a little more solution of acid green (both dyestuffs of the Farbwerke, formerly Meister, Lucius & Bruening, Hoechst-on-Main); take of them one or two drops, respectively two or three drops per gallon of water for a light shade and increase quantities proportionally for darker shades. Rinse after dying, starch and dry.

III. Take white feathers or grays very well bleached to nearly white, scour and rinse them well. Prepare a bath of warm water, 100-120° F. and some vinegar so as to give it a distinct sour taste; add to a basin full, or about one-half gallon of the bath a little solution of fast brown, one or two drops of indigo carmine, and a trace of turmeric. Lay the feathers down in the bath for fifteen or twenty minutes and agitate them repeatedly in the liquid to make them level.

For a Gray Beige, add a little nigrosine to the bath and proceed as above.

MODES.

For the modes it is impossible to give generally applicable directions, as these colors are of an indefinitely varying character, consisting in modifications of other compound or mixed colors which are affected by sometimes very trifling, unmeasureable additions of a toning dyestuff, and coloring effects are produced which cannot be described nor defined by names, but must be judged by the experienced eye of the dyer. Most of these colors are derived from grays or browns as above remarked, and the safest way for the dyer is, to begin dyeing with light shades of the prevalent characteristic color and give them the peculiar tone by the addition of other colors by drops. The proportions of dyestuffs thus ascertained for light shades, are then easy to increase for deeper shades. It needs not to be remarked, that for these colors the feathers must be bleached, especially for light and medium shades, and that, if unbleached, grays are to be dyed in dark shades, the effect of the natural color must be considered in composing the dye.

In general all modes are dyed upon a bath which is acidulated with bisulphate of soda, with azo orange, azo yellow, azo brown, acid violet, indigo carmine, solid blue or cloth blue, induline or nigrosine, archil or acid fuchsine. For brown modes, solution of Bismarck brown may be added at the beginning, in which case the other dyestuffs serve only for giving the peculiar tone.

For a yellowish green mode take orange O, azo yellow, and solid blue (fast blue); for darker shades add a little violet 6 B., or a few drops sulphate of indigo. If alizarine dyestuffs are to be employed, use tartaric acid as mordant, but for neutral dyestuffs add also a little alum to the dyebath.

For gray modes use the same dyestuffs as above, excepting the orange, instead of which a blue-red dyestuff is to be employed, such as azo rubine, bordeaux, fuchsine, etc., with the addition of a little acid green. The bath must be acidulated with a little sulphuric acid, or better with tartaric acid, or tartaric acid and alum, and after dyeing the feathers must be rinsed, starched and dried as usual.

For particularly fast modes add only tartaric acid to the dyebath and no alum, and a few drops of solution of thio-scarlet, thio-rubine, and thio-brown; for grays add a little azo yellow and sadden with solid blue. Alum does not agree with the thio dyestuffs which are manufactured by Dahl & Co., Barmin, and are fast against soap and light. Feathers dyed with these dyestuffs which have become soiled, can be washed, therefore, with neutral soap without injury to the color, but must naturally be dressed anew.

RESEDA.

Scour the white, respectively bleached feathers and rinse well. Prepare a bath with five per cent., of the weight of feathers, bisulphate of soda, to which add gradually and carefully the filtered solution of acid violet, fast yellow and fuchsine S., making the additions from the beginning in small quantities only, until the desired tone and shade are obtained; then enter and work the feathers to sample at 173° F.

It is for this dye particularly important that the bisulphate of soda used be crystallized, that is, pure bisulphate free from surplus sulphuric acid, while the commercial article is often nothing but a mixture of Glauber salt (sulphate of soda) into sulphuric acid, answer for this dye.

A good reseda is also easily obtained by adding to the acidulated bath small quantities of decoction of logwood and turmeric, so as to give a feeble bath. Enter the scoured and bleached feathers, after rinsing, at 170° F., work them for about fifteen minutes, until level, and sadden with a little solution of blue stone. Rinse, starch and dry as usual.

ORDINARY GREEN.

For two and one-half pounds of feathers boil two and one-half pounds of fustic for one-half hour with three quarts of water, pour the decoction off and boil the chips again for one-half hour with three quarts of water, mix the two decoctions and strain. Add three ounces alum and one and one-half ounces tartar, enter the feathers well scoured and rinsed, and dye to shade at 170° F. Or, prepare the dyestuffs of decoction of fustic or turmeric, and indigo carmine, according to shade, enter at 170° F., work for one-half hour while slowly raising the temperature to near the boiling point, and dye to sample; lift, rinse, squeeze and starch as usual.

LIGHT GREEN.

I. Scour, respectively bleach, and rinse the feathers. Prepare a hot bath with the solution of forty per cent., of the weight of feathers, tannin, and treat the feathers in it for 1 hour at 170°F. Prepare a bath with a filtered solution of methyl green, according to shade, tone, if a yellowish green is wanted, with the clear solution of picric acid, and dye to sample at 150° F. Lift, squeeze and starch without rinsing.

II. A better color is obtained upon a lightly acidulated bath (with sulphuric acid) with acid green, malachite green, fast green, etc., that is, with the filtered solutions of these dyestuff's, added to the bath in quantities of from ten to twenty per cent. to suit the shade. Enter at 170° F.; dye for twenty or thirty minutes, lift, rinse, squeeze and dry with starch. If a yellowish tone is wanted, add the clear solution of picric acid, or of acid yellow.

MOSS GREEN.

Scour and rinse the feathers well; for dark shades unbleached grays may be used. Prepare a feebly acidulated bath with sulphuric acid, at a temperature near the boiling point; add turmeric freely and Guinea green G less. Enter the feathers and manipulate at the same temperature for fifteen or twenty minutes, according to the desired tone, re-enter and dye to shade.

By varying the proportions of the three dyestuffs, a great variety of green-brownish modes can be produced, which approach medium and dark bronzes the more the fast brown predominates in the composition of the color.

BOG GREEN.

This color is preferably dyed upon unbleached gray feathers. Scour and rinse them, prepare a decoction of green walnut husks or of sumac; lay the feathers down in it for two hours, working them from time to time; then add some decoction of logwood and dye to shade at 170° F., or indigo carmine and dye to shade while slowly raising the temperature to near the boiling point. Rinse, squeeze, starch and dry.

GRASS GREEN.

Scour, respectively bleach, and rinse the feathers. Prepare a boiling bath with turmeric and indigo carmine; chill, enter the feathers at 170° F., dye for one-half hour, raise the temperature slowly to near the boiling point and dye to shade, take up, rinse and pass through a handwarm bath of tartar; lift, squeeze, starch and dry.

RUSSIA GREEN.

I. Scour the feathers as usual and rinse well. Prepare a bath slightly acidulated with sulphuric acid, add two per cent., of the weight of feathers, acid green and one per cent. aniline navy blue dissolved in warm water and filtered acid, according to sample, some filtered decoction of turmeric or solution of fast yellow. Dye at 170° F. to shade, lift rinse and dry with starch.

II. Have the feathers well cleaned and rinsed. Prepare a bath twenty per cent., of the weight of feathers, new green, eight per cent. canarine, sixteen per cent. aniline blue black, sixty per cent. alum, and one-quarter litre sulphuric acid (for two and a half pounds of feathers). Bring the bath to a brisk boil, then chill with cold water, enter the feathers and work them for one hour; finally sadden and tone by adding some decoction of fustic and of logwood. Lift, rinse, squeeze, starch and dry.

III. Prepare a sharp hot bath with a little sulphuric acid; add Guinea green, according to shade, and tone by the addition of indigo carmine and turmeric; for very deep shades add also some nigrosine or fast blue-black, dissolved and filtered. Enter as hot as the feathers can be handled, work for one half hour; then raise the temperature slowly to near the boiling point and dye to shade.

The bath for deeper shades being not exhausted can be preserved for further use, refreshed by suitable additions of dyestuffs as required, but caution must be used as regards the subsequent additions of sulphuric acid, that not so much be added as to injure the feathers.

For Russia green, especially the darker shades of it, naturally gray and even black feathers can be used unbleached.

ROSE.

I. For this delicate color, as well as for the lightest shades of blue and pure yellow, absolutely white feathers must be used; scour them carefully and rinse them perfectly clean from soap or soda, and have the dyestuffs well dissolved and the solutions filtered. Prepare a handwarm bath with a little tartaric acid or acetic acid, to which some solution of eosine, rhodamine, azoeosine, safranine, coccine or ponceau 6 R. B. or ponceau R. R. Be particularly cautious in adding the dyestuff solutions gradually in small quantities, even by drops, to avoid over-dyeing, as by partly stripping of a too dark shade, a fine color can never be obtained, and the nature of the material demands that all unnecessary handling be avoided. After dyeing, rinse lightly, pass through starch and dry. The dyes with the ponceaus are faster than those with eosine or safranine.

II. Prepare a bath at hand heat with carthamine (extract of safflower), well dissolved and filtered, which add very gradually in small quantities, taking up the feathers each time before making a fresh addition, until the desired shade is nearly obtained, then add a little tartaric acid to the bath, re-enter the feathers and dye to shade; or dye first to shade upon the safflower bath, and then pass through a fresh, handwarm feeble bath of tartaric acid, which in this case can be used again for other colors, either as a fixing bath or in the composition of the dye bath.

RED.