Part 10

To produce edgings an oval pan, as described in the beginning, or other dye-vessel of greater length than the feathers, and three or four inches deep must be used. The well scoured, respectively bleached, and rinsed feathers are first dyed the color for the middle part, as usual on strings. After rinsing and drying they are taken off from the strings and "edged" singly. For this purpose prepare the dye-bath for the edging color, heat to the proper temperature, take the tip and quill respectively between the fore-finger and the thumb of both hands, dip the feathers edgewise, that is, with the ends of the fibres on one side of the stem, or the edge of the vane only, into the dye-bath as deep as the edging is to be wide, and move the feather in this position horizontally forward and backward in the bath until the shade is obtained. Then place the feather between several laps of clean dry muslin, squeeze it out by passing the hand over it, and dye the other edge in the same manner as the first. Finally rinse, starch and dry the feather as usual.

In this connection a chemical reaction is worthy of mention, which was discovered about two years ago by an accident, and may be advantageously employed for the production of edgings upon ostrich feathers, if further developed by experiments. In a large feather-dyeing establishment, in Berlin, a sheet of paper which had been wetted with ammonia, and had become dry, had been left on a work-table, when one of the employees, who was handling a lot of feathers freshly dyed with methyl violet, inadvertently put one of the feathers, which was still moist, upon the impregnated paper. After a while, when the feather was picked up, it was found that the violet, all round the edge of the feather, had turned brilliant green, producing a very pleasing effect. It is rational to suppose that with mixed colors, in whose composition methyl violet largely enters, similar effects can be produced by the action of ammonia; and probably the same is the case with other aniline dyestuffs.

GILDING AND SILVERING.

Gilded and silvered ostrich feathers are but seldom in demand, and then only for grand evening dresses or stage effects, and for short seasons, which generally return far between. Their production is by no means a dyeing process, but rather an operation of surface ornamentation, still the dyer is sometimes requested to perform it. While goose feathers and other feathers of small value are wholly gilded or silvered, the gilding of ostrich feathers consists chiefly in a sprinkling with metallic dots, or sometimes in an edging, or is only applied to the tip of the feathers, which, from the nature of the operation, are treated singly. Such ornamented feathers, white as well as dyed, being only used for short periods, a permanent fixation of the gold or silver upon them is not required, but rather undesirable, as they will soon be redyed for other uses.

For gilding, respectively silvering, a sufficiently adhesive solution of possibly colorless gum arabic is prepared and distributed by hand, and by means of a fine hair-brush, in smaller or larger dots, as required, over the upper side of the feather or along the edges, and before the gum solution becomes dry, sprinkled over with finely divided gold-leaf or silver-leaf. The feather is then turned over, given a few light taps with the hand to remove the loose dust of metal, and vigorously shaken, partly to prevent the fibres from sticking together, partly to remove the remaining loosely adhering particles of metal. The operation must be performed as rapidly as possible to prevent the gum solution from drying before the metallic dust is shaken off. The smaller the gum-dots are made, the quicker must the work be done, but the less is the danger of the fibres being pasted together, and the more elegant the appearance of the feather. The dots or spangles are made of different shapes, in little circles or squares, and sometimes arranged so as to form angular designs, according to taste and skill of the operator.

Another very pretty, scarcely more permanent, but more frequently applied ornamentation of ostrich feathers, is the following.

FROSTING.

For this purpose the feathers are first dyed in a light or medium shade of any color, the effect of frosting feathers of a dark color being rather unfavorable. The feathers are then, after drying, covered on the upper side with a solution of clear gum arabic, as for gilding, but more closely, or may even be entirely brushed over with the gum solution, and are then, before the gum dries, sprinkled over with finely ground white glass, or mica, the latter giving the appearance of frosted silver. The glass powder or mica powder is then quickly and vigorously shaken off, to open the fibres and flues as much as possible, while drying. Finally, to complete the opening of the fibres, the feathers are steamed at the under side, and shaken in the air until open and dry.

Great care is required in curling gilded or frosted feathers, that the metal or glass powder is not rubbed off in passing the fibres of the vane over the curling-knife. This operation being extremely difficult and dangerous, the use of a curling-iron, like that used by hair-dressers, is preferable to that of the knife. The iron is moderately heated, so as not to singe the feathers; then, beginning at the lower end of the feather, a part of the fibres on one side of the stem are taken by their ends between the shanks of the iron, the latter closed and the fibres wound downwards around it, the iron being carried on the under side of the feather towards the stem. Then first one side of the vane is successively curled from the quill up to the tip, when the same operation is repeated upon the other half of the feather. If, in this manner, the feather should be curled too strongly, the fibres are taken between the shanks of the warm curling-iron at the stem and simply drawn through the iron.

Numerous ostrich feather dyers and dressers use the curling-iron altogether, instead of the knife; the only difficulty for the beginner is to get the proper heat, which, however, is soon learned.

Very pretty effects are also obtained by dyeing the feathers a light shade of color, drying, gumming and sprinkling them with either powdered black glass or jet.

RENOVATING FEATHERS.

White ostrich feathers which, by long exposure to the show-window, or by lying in store for a protracted time, have lost their whiteness and turned yellow, and dyed feathers which, from the same causes, have become dirty, pale and discolored, can be restored to their former beauty by washing, respectively redyeing, as follows:

I. A washing process, which is ordinarily only applied to white feathers which have become yellow, is as follows: Prepare a bath of two gallons of water at 145°F., to which add half a gallon of liquid ammonia (spirits of sal ammoniac, ammonia water); enter the feathers, work them once well through with the hands, and lay them down in the bath over night. On the following day take them up, wash them once through a soap-bath at 145°F., pass them again through the first ammoniacal bath, and rinse well and let them drain. Then prepare a bath of cold water, to which add so much of a clear solution of methyl violet 6 B., that a white china plate held about a foot below the surface of the water, appears with a faint bluish tint, or such a blue tone as is desired; and add to the bath so much sulphurous acid, that it gives the liquid a well defined odor. When the sulphurous acid mixes with the tinted liquid, the violet color of the latter disappears and changes to a greenish tint, which, however, turns again to blue upon the feathers when they are afterwards exposed to the action of the air. The feathers are then passed, singly, if possible, through the blue-bath, well drained, centrifugated or whizzed, starched and dried as usual.

Colored feathers which have lost their freshness, and are to be redyed, are simply washed clean with soap and rinsed, or they are stripped of their color, as much as possible, with soap and oxalic acid, or bleached with peroxyd of hydrogen, as described in the beginning; whereupon they are dyed and treated like bleached new feathers, always taking into consideration, however, what of the old color may remain upon the feathers, may be utilizable as a bottom for the new color, or even as a component of it, for instance, in the case of many modes and several browns.

II. Another method of renovating ostrich feathers presents the advantages that it is executed without the application of heat, that it is a simple cleaning process which attacks no color, and that it leaves the curling of the feathers intact, which is unavoidably taken out of them by washing with warm water and soap, or any other alkaline detergent substance. It is, therefore, only applied to feathers which have lost their purity of color by exposure, and whose curling is to be preserved, or is worthy of preserving. It is, in part, the same process which is known as "dry washing" among scourers and dyers of garments, and can be applied to feathers of any color and shade, white and even black, without exception.

For this operation fill a basin or small wooden hand-tub with benzene, add a handful or two of potato flour (sifted potato starch), enter the feathers and rub them well through with the starch until clean; then squeeze then out by hand and press between muslin, finally whiz or shake them in the air until dry.

This process is partly chemical, in so far as the benzene loosens the dust and other impurities which have settled upon the feathers, partly mechanical, as the numerous fine particles of the potato starch, which do not dissolve in benzene as soap does in water, rub these impurities off from the feather. By the combined action of the benzene and starch, and the friction applied, the feathers are not only cleaned, but the flues completely opened, so that the feather thus treated looks perfectly like new.

A remarkable feature of this process is that the starch carries nearly all the impurities down with itself to the bottom of the wash-basin, and becomes soiled, while the benzene takes up every little of them, and can, therefore, after settling, be poured off from the starch sediment, and can be used several times before it needs to be purified or eventually becomes unfit for use.

In using benzene, which is a highly combustible substance, the utmost precaution must be observed that no open flame or fire be in the work-room, neither open lamps nor a fire in the stove burning. Even doors leading to adjoining rooms, where lights or fires are burning, ought to be kept closed while working with benzene, because the benzene vapors, which may be carried to the flame by a draft of air, would inevitably ignite and cause an explosion and fire. Occurrences of this kind have been not unfrequently observed.

Feathers which have been cleaned by this process, as well as new feathers, may be dyed by the following process.

DYEING IN THE COLD WAY.

This process is a real dyeing process, as well as a renovating process, both, however, to a limited extent, inasmuch as it can be applied only to white feathers or to such as are dyed with light and medium shades of certain colors which are to be freshened up; but it does not answer for dark colors. It is, however, extremely simple and easy to execute; besides, almost instantaneous, and therefore of great utility where rapid work is required, because it leaves the feathers perfectly in shape, like the benzene washing process, and does not affect the curling of the feather, if there is such. Old feathers which were already dyed cream, rose, salmon, light blue, light gray, light green, sea green, golden yellow, heliotrope or beige, can be redyed in the same colors, but must previously be washed with benzene; new white feathers do not require such washing.

For this method of dyeing, aniline dyestuffs soluble in alcohol are used, viz.: for

Cream, Curcumine or Aniline Orange, Rose, Eosine or Ponceau, Salmon, Curcumine and Eosine, Light Blue, Water Blue and Methylene Blue, Gray, Nigrosine, Sea-green, Malachite Green, Golden Yellow, Orange and Fast Brown, Heliotrope, Methyl violet 6 B., Beige, Methylene Blue, Curcumine and Fast Brown,

mixed according to tone and shade.

Operate as follows: Fill a white basin with a sufficient quantity of alcohol to completely wet the feathers in it; add, according to shade, a smaller or greater quantity of the clear alcoholic solution of the required dyestuff, or mixture of dyestuffs, pass the feathers singly, without previously wetting them, three or four times through the alcohol bath; then press them out between clean muslin, put a few handfuls of sifted potato starch upon a clean sheet of paper, and rub the feathers with it until thoroughly dry; finally, shake out the starch.

RECAPITULATION OF GENERAL RULES.

At all times have the feathers, which are to be dyed, scoured well, that is, washed clean from all externally adhering impurities, fat, etc.; naturally colored feathers bleached for all light and medium shades to be dyed upon them, and rinsed perfectly clean from the scouring or bleaching bath, first in two or three warm waters and then in cold water.

On taking the feathers from any bath, always squeeze the liquid out first by drawing the feathers through the hand closed upon them, then by placing them straight between several laps of clean dry muslin and repeatedly passing the hand with quite a smart pressure over it. Never transfer the feathers, in any case, from one bath to another in a wet, but in a moist condition, or nearly dry.

Never allow the feathers to become dry in the course of operations. If it is necessary to interrupt work, or to put feathers to one side for further treatment, dry them properly by first passing them through a bath of raw starch, in order to have the flues at all times as well opened as possible.

In no case let the temperature of a bath, in which feathers are treated, rise to actual boiling, although for some dyestuffs a temperature near the boiling point is required to make them dye up, to become level or to fix them.

In every instance, where an acid or acid salt is employed, either in a separate mordanting or fixing bath, or as a component of the dyebath, rinse well before drying.

When sulphuric acid is used in the composition of a bath, add only so much of it as to give the water a very slight, scarcely perceptible acid taste.

Although some artificial dyestuffs dye up without an addition of acid to the dye bath (basic dyestuffs), the addition of sulphuric acid, in a very small quantity, to the dye-bath is advantageous, rendering the colors brighter and also faster.

When bisulphate of soda is employed, it is not necessary to also add sulphuric acid to the dye-bath; if it is added, however, it must only be in a very small quantity; careful rinsing in several warm and cold waters after dyeing is required.

When alum alone is used without any other addition as mordant, sulphuric acid may be added, but only in the proportion of one tenth or, at the most, up to one fifth of the weight of alum, and careful rinsing in several warm and cold waters is the more indispensably required the more acid has been employed.

All solutions of dyestuffs, as well as of chemicals, ought to be carefully filtered, and decoctions of woods, etc., strained before adding them to the bath; never add dyestuffs, drugs or chemicals in substance to any bath, in order to prevent solid particles from settling upon the feathers.

Never add all the dyestuff probably required or prescribed by a recipe to the dye-bath at one time, but in several small quantities, each time after taking up the feathers, stir the bath after making the addition, re-enter the feathers and watch the progress of the dyeing carefully; when approaching the desired shade, add the dyestuff very cautiously, by drops if necessary, particularly with mixed colors, such as modes.

Sample in proper time, and take not a whole feather for it, but pull off two or three fibres from the lower part of a feather, dry them quickly by squeezing between dry muslin, match, correct the bath and finish dyeing.

While drying keep the feathers as much as possible in constant motion, shake and beat them.

Do not interrupt operations, if it can be avoided, but do the work rapidly and continuously, without pausing.

Keep every utensil scrupulously clean.

THE END.

CONTENTS.

PAGE. Preface i Growth of the Ostrich Feather Trade, etc. 1 The Bird, Its Plumage and Habits 3 Sketch of Dyestuffs, etc. 5 Logwood 5 Turmeric 7 Bichromate of Potash 7 Archil 8 Safranine 10 Oxalic Acid 11 Indigo Blue 11 Sulphuric Acid 12 Copperas 13 Bismarck Brown 14 Concentrated Cotton Blue 14 Roceline 15 Recipes for Dyeing 16 Hints about the Dye-house 85 Miscellaneous Information 88 Washing Raw Stock 91 Shading 94 Paring, Steaming and Curling 95 Note of the Publisher 99

INDEX TO RECIPES.

B. PAGE. BEIGE 62 BLACK 53 BLEACHING LIGHT COLORS WHITE 18 BLEACHING NATURAL GRAYS OR BLACKS WHITE 82 BLUE, ARMY 59 BLUE, ELECTRIC 65 BLUE, GENDARME 57 BLUE, LIGHT 21 BLUE, MEDIUM 67 BLUE, NAVY 31 BRONZE 74 BROWN, BISMARCK 28 BROWN, MEDIUM 66 BROWN, OLIVE 81 BROWN, SEAL 29

C. CARDINAL 33 CHOCOLATE 75 COFFEE 79 CORN 64 CREAM 25

D. DRAB, FELT 46 DRAB, PLAIN 78

E. ECRU 23

G. GARNET 40 GRAY, SILVER 26 GREEN, BOTTLE 43 GREEN, MEDIUM 61 GREEN, PEA 80

L. LAVENDER 38 LEMON 52 LILAC 56

M. MAGENTA 69 MAROON 51 MOSS 76

O. OLD-GOLD 39 OLIVE 36 ORANGE 48

P. PINK, LIGHT 20 PLUM 35 PURPLE 60

S. SALMON 71 SCARLET 50 SEA-FOAM 70 SLATE 47 STEEL 45 STONE 73 STRAWBERRY, CRUSHED 34

T. TERRA COTTA 42 TRILEUL 58

W. WHITE 16

INDEX TO SAMPLES.

B. PAGE. BEIGE 34a BLACK 70a BLUE, ARMY 46a BLUE, ELECTRIC 70a BLUE, GENDARME 40a BLUE, LIGHT 26a BLUE, MEDIUM 24a BLUE, NAVY 64a BRONZE 64a BROWN, BISMARCK 76a BROWN, MEDIUM 82a BROWN, OLIVE 52a BROWN, SEAL 76a

C. CARDINAL 82a CHOCOLATE 34a COFFEE 52a CORN 34a CREAM 26a

D. DRAB, FELT 40a DRAB, PLAIN 58a

E. ECRU 30a

G. GARNET 40a GRAY, SILVER 30a GREEN, BOTTLE 52a GREEN, MEDIUM 82a GREEN, PEA 64a

L. LAVENDER 26a LEMON 20a LILAC 20a

M. MAGENTA 64a MAROON 46a MOSS 70a

O. OLD-GOLD 82a OLIVE 58a ORANGE 76a