Part 4

Prepare bath by diluting a quarter pound of turmeric in a gallon of boiling water and bring to a boil; after which enter your feathers, and let remain in bath about five minutes, keeping them well under the surface, and gently moving while in bath; after which take feathers out and rinse twice in clear cold water. Meantime dilute one pound of logwood in about one and a half gallons of boiling water, and boil for about fifteen minutes; after which enter your feathers and let them remain in bath about four minutes; then take out and rinse thoroughly in two waters. Dilute one ounce of bichromate of potash in one gallon, more or less, of boiling water, enough to completely cover up your feathers, dissolving bichromate of potash thoroughly. Enter your feathers, let them remain in bath about three minutes; after which take them out and rinse thoroughly. Meantime have logwood bath boiling, and return feathers to it. Cover up, and let them remain about eight minutes; take out and rinse twice as before. After rinsing, prepare a bath of about half an ounce of bichromate of potash and salts of tartar about the size of a pea in a gallon of boiling water; dissolve thoroughly. Let them remain in bath about three minutes; after which take out and rinse thoroughly in cold water. Then mix a bath of hot soap-suds, and enter feathers; wash well and rinse in luke warm water.

The washing and rinsing is not absolutely necessary, in fact, it can not much improve what is already a clean, glossy black. Washing, however, if productive of a change at all, must be beneficial. Then proceed to mix a small handful of starch in a small quantity of cold water; pass feathers through and dry. While your feathers are in the bichromate of potash bath, they must be kept moving in bath constantly and well under the surface. There is nothing to be added to make a successful result, except it be to caution you to adhere as strictly as possible to the recipe.

It often occurs that feathers are brought in to be dipped over that have faded out, or have grown rusty looking from exposure to light and long wear. The color can be restored by simply passing them through the last two baths for the same length of time that is allotted to the regular recipe. During the process of drying black be sure to have the starch beaten out as fast as it dries. It is best to dry them in the open air, and, if possible, allow them to hang in the sun for a while, as it improves the color. One especial advantage this black has over most others, is that it improves with age; and, instead of fading, the black will grow more intense.

LILAC.

Wash and rinse thoroughly in hot soap water, and rinse in about four waters to remove any particle of soap that may adhere to the feathers; next prepare bath of one gallon of hand warm water, and add a handful of starch. Enter feathers and rub thoroughly between the hands; remove and add to bath a few drops of diluted violet, according to shade required; add about two drops of diluted saffranine, and re-enter feathers, let remain in bath about three minutes, squeeze out and dry in powdered starch in the usual way. Be sure your starch is clean and free from acid, and also that your board is in the same condition. Great care should be exercised to see that every particle of the violet is dissolved to avoid spots on the feathers. Should quite a bluish shade be desired, a drop of diluted aniline green added will produce the desired result.

GENDARME BLUE.

Prepare feathers by washing thoroughly, and rinse about four times in hot water to remove any particle of soap that may adhere to the feathers. Prepare a bath of a teaspoonful of indigotine powder to one gallon of boiling water. Mix thoroughly and enter feathers, and let remain in about one minute, after which remove and add about one teaspoonful of oxalic acid or same quantity of sulphuric acid, and re-enter feathers, letting them remain in bath about five minutes longer; then remove from bath and cool off. Reserve a small portion of bath, and cool off with cold water, adding a drop of sulphuric acid and a small handful of starch; pass feathers through and dry in powdered starch by rubbing between the hands or by simply beating out on a clean board, used only for drying acid colors.

Should you find your color too dark, thoroughly rinse off all the starch and pass feathers through a bath of boiling water and let remain about half a minute; pass through starch bath and dry. If found too light, simply increase temperature of bath by adding boiling water and few drops more indigotine; re-enter feathers and let them remain in bath a couple of minutes longer.

TRILEUL.

Wash and rinse feathers thoroughly in hot water and soap, and rinse thoroughly in about four hot waters; then pass through a bath of plain boiling water; next prepare a bath of one gallon of luke warm water, and add a handful of starch. Enter feathers and rub thoroughly between the hands; remove and add a teaspoonful of oxalic acid; enter feathers and let them remain in bath about two minutes; then remove and add to bath a few drops of diluted picric acid, and re-enter feathers; let remain in about one minute longer, take out and dry in the usual way by rubbing in powdered starch between the hands and beating out on a clean board until all the starch has been removed from the fibre. Should you find your color a shade too dark, mix a luke warm starch bath, and pass feathers through, keeping them under about half a minute, and dry as usual. Be careful that your picric acid is thoroughly dissolved, as otherwise it will be likely to spot your feathers, if the particles come in contact with the flues, and the spots are very hard to remove, as it would be necessary to put them through a bleaching process.

ARMY BLUE.

Prepare feathers by washing and rinsing thoroughly in hot water. Be careful about rinsing to remove every particle of soap that may adhere to the fibre, after which prepare bath as follows: One teaspoonful of indigotine powder, diluted in one gallon of boiling water, and add thereto about half a teaspoonful of oxalic acid, stirring around well to thoroughly dissolve every particle of color. Enter feathers and let them remain in bath about four minutes; after which take out and rinse in luke warm water to remove the acid in feathers; next prepare a bath of one gallon of hand warm water and add a small handful of starch; add thereto a cupful of boiled logwood liquor and a few grains of copperas, enter feathers, let remain in bath about three minutes; take out and dry by rubbing between the hands in powdered starch, and beat out on a clean board until all the starch has been removed. Should you find your color darker than shade required, prepare a bath of half a teaspoonful of oxalic acid in a gallon of hand warm water, and pass feathers through about half a minute; take out and pass through boiling water, after which pass through starch bath and dry. Should you find shade too light, add more logwood to bath, increase temperature, let remain in a couple of minutes longer and dry.

PURPLE.

Prepare feathers by washing in hot water and soap thoroughly, and afterwards rinse in about four hot waters to remove every particle of soap and dirt; after which prepare bath as follows: Take one gallon of water about 200° Fah.; dilute therein half a teaspoonful of Violet 3 B., stirring it around thoroughly to dissolve every particle. Enter your feathers and let remain about five minutes; after which take out and pour out the bath, reserving some, and cooling it off with cold, clean water, add a small handful of starch and pass feathers through, first cooling them off by shaking them in the air; rub them between the hands in starch bath to aid the flue or fibre to expand; after which squeeze out and rub thoroughly between the hands, and beat out on a clean board until every particle of starch has been removed. Should you find the top or tips a darker shade than the bottom, or should they bronze or assume a metallic appearance, pass feathers through a bowl of boiling water with a small pinch of soda added, and rinse; after which pass through a new starch bath with a few drops of diluted violet added; take out and dry.

MEDIUM GREEN.

Prepare your feathers same as for bottle green. Prepare bath by diluting about one ounce of turmeric in a gallon of boiling water, and enter feathers, letting them remain in bath about two minutes; after which take out and rinse in cold water twice. Have boiling a medium strong bath of logwood, and pass feathers through for a few seconds, first cooling off temperature of logwood bath a few degrees with cold water; after which rinse off thoroughly, and prepare a bath of a quarter of an ounce of bichromate of potash in a gallon of boiling water, dissolve it thoroughly, and enter feathers; let them remain in this bath about ten seconds, and take them out and rinse thoroughly in cold water. Proceed to dilute one teaspoonful of turmeric and a half teaspoonful of aniline green in a gallon of boiling water, and reduce temperature a few degrees with cold water. Enter your feathers, and let them remain in bath about three minutes; then take them out and cool off a small portion of bath, and add a small handful of starch, and dry in the usual way.

If found to be too dark, add a few drops of diluted oxalic acid to starch bath, and pass your feathers through for a few seconds. If found too light, rinse off the starch in cold water and return to logwood bath for a few seconds, without increasing the temperature any, and rinse off and give a weak bath of bichromate of potash, rinse off and dry.

BEIGE.

Prepare your feathers by washing and rinsing thoroughly, or if old light colors, bleach with permanganate of potash, being sure to rinse out in hot water to remove acid from feathers, before putting in bath. Dilute a small quantity of starch in a gallon of boiling water, and enter your feathers, rubbing them around in bath between the hands to expands the flues and admit the color evenly on feathers. After which add to bath a small pinch of copperas, about the size of a bean, and about a teaspoonful of turmeric, and enter your feathers, letting them remain in bath about one minute; take them out, and add about a teaspoonful of logwood liquor; re-enter your feathers, and let them remain in bath about one minute, first increasing the temperature by adding hot water; after which remove feathers from bath, and add thereto a few drops of diluted Bismarck brown. To bring the ecru tint desired, a few seconds before taking feathers from bath to dry, add a couple of drops of diluted violet, squeeze out and dry.

If a very dark shade of beige is wanted use a greater amount of logwood and Bismarck brown, and if lighter shade is desired, less color should be used. Should your color be found altogether too dark for sample, dilute about half a teaspoonful of oxalic acid in a gallon of hot water, more or less. Pass your feathers through for a few seconds, and rinse off twice in luke warm water and once in boiling water. Then mix a fresh bath of luke warm water and starch, and add thereto a small proportion of turmeric and diluted Bismarck brown, and copperas about the size of a pea. Enter your feathers, and, using care, bring to the desired shade.

CORN COLOR.

Prepare feathers by washing and rinsing thoroughly if dirty greasy whites, or bleach with permanganate of potash if faded out light colors. Prepare your bath as follows: Take one gallon of luke warm water and dilute therein a small handful of starch, and rub your feathers around between the hands. Add about a half teaspoonful of turmeric and dilute well in bath. Enter your feathers and rub around well between the hands. Increase the temperature of your bath by adding hot water, and allow your feathers to remain in bath about one minute; then take them out and add a couple of drops of diluted aniline brown; re-enter feathers and let them remain in bath about one minute longer; then squeeze out and dry as usual.

If your shade to match be considerably on the yellow shade, use very little aniline brown, about one drop, and if more on the brown, use less turmeric. If your color be entirely too dark and dull looking, dilute half a teaspoonful of oxalic acid, and pass feathers through for a few seconds and rinse off in luke warm water. Prepare a fresh bath and enter your feathers, as per recipe; or, if wanted a very bright shade, wash off with soap and hot water, and rinse thoroughly in hot water. Then prepare a bath of one teaspoonful of turmeric, one teaspoonful of oxalic acid and one teaspoonful of diluted Bismarck brown in a gallon of luke warm water. Enter your feathers and keep in bath about two minutes, add a little starch to bath, and pass feathers through for a few seconds longer, squeeze out and dry in the usual way.

ELECTRIC BLUE.

Feathers must be white, or nearly so, to make a good clear shade of electric blue. Prepare your feathers by washing with soap and hot water if dirty whites, and if old, faded light colors bleach with permanganate of potash. Prepare your bath as follows: Take half a teaspoonful of cotton blue and a half teaspoonful of oxalic acid,--a little more or less matters not,--in a gallon of boiling water. Enter your feathers, and let them remain in bath about five minutes; after which take out and rinse twice in cold water and once in hot water to remove all acid and loose color. Prepare a bath of about one cupful of logwood liquor and a small pinch of copperas in a gallon of hot water, not quite boiling, however, and pass feathers through for a couple of minutes. Cool off a little of your bath, and add a small handful of starch and a few drops of violet, pass feathers through and dry.

MEDIUM BROWN.

All light colors can be made a handsome shade of medium brown without removing the color by bleaching or without washing, unless very dirty and greasy. Prepare your bath by diluting about two ounces of turmeric and a half ounce of copperas in one gallon, more or less, of boiling water. Enter your feathers, keep them well under the surface of bath, and let them remain therein about two minutes; after which take out, rinse twice in cold water. Have boiling meantime a medium strong bath of logwood, about the same proportion as for black; boil about fifteen minutes, and enter your feathers, allowing them to remain in about one minute; after which take out and rinse off twice in cold water; then dilute about a half teaspoonful of aniline brown in a gallon of boiling water, and after dissolving well, enter your feathers, and let them remain in bath about two minutes; take out and rinse in cold water; after which dilute a small handful of starch in a small quantity of luke warm water, and add to that a couple of drops of sulphuric acid; pass feathers through for a few seconds, squeeze out and dry.

Should your color be too dark to match sample, return to starch bath, add a few drops of sulphuric acid, let feathers remain in about half a minute, and dry. If a darker shade is wanted, it is necessary to rinse off starch in cold water, and return your feathers to logwood bath for a few seconds, rinse off and repeat Bismarck brown bath as before. By this process, with a little judgment, all shades of brown can be produced in the most satisfactory manner.

MEDIUM BLUE.

Prepare your feathers by washing and rinsing thoroughly in hot water; light faded out colors need not be bleached, but thoroughly washed in hot soap suds instead. Prepare your bath as follows: Take one teaspoonful of concentrated cotton blue and one teaspoonful of oxalic acid, dilute it in one gallon of boiling water. Be careful to see that the blue crystals are well dissolved. Enter your feathers, and let them remain in bath about four minutes, keeping them well under the surface. Meantime keep them gently agitated to insure an even color; after which take out, rinse, starch and dry.

If your feathers be found too dark for sample, or too much on the purple, rinse off, starch in cold water thoroughly, and pass through a bowl of boiling water, starch and dry, using a few grains of oxalic acid diluted in starch bath.

If a very light shade be desired, use but half the quantity of cotton blue, and do not allow them to remain in bath quite so long a time. If a much darker shade be required than the foregoing recipe will produce, then rinse off your feathers thoroughly in cold water, to remove all starch, and pass feathers through a medium strong bath of logwood at boiling temperature for a few seconds, and rinse off twice in cold water; dilute a half ounce of bichromate of potash in a gallon of boiling water, and pass your feathers through for a few seconds only; rinse, starch and dry. Should you get your color too dark by this process, pass your feathers through a solution of half a teaspoonful of oxalic acid in a gallon of boiling water, and rinse off in boiling water twice; then dilute a small quantity of starch in luke warm water, add a few grains of oxalic acid to it, pass feathers through and dry as usual.

MAGENTA.

Prepare your feathers, whether dirty whites or faded out light colors, by washing thoroughly in hot soap suds and rinsing well in hot water. Prepare your bath as follows: Take about a half teaspoonful of safranine and dilute in one gallon, more or less, of boiling water, and add thereto a half tablespoonful of extract of archil. Enter your feathers and let them remain in bath about two minutes; after which take out and add to bath a few drops of diluted violet, and re-enter your feathers, letting them remain in bath about one minute longer. Then take out and rinse in cold water, and dilute a small handful of starch in bowl of luke warm water; pass feathers through and dry.

If found too red for sample, rinse off and add to bath a tablespoonful of extract of archil; return feathers to bath for about one minute, first, however, increasing temperature; next rinse, starch and dry.

If found to be too much on the plum for sample, rinse off and add to bath about a quarter teaspoonful of safranine, increase temperature of bath to almost boiling; enter feathers and let them remain in bath about one minute; after which rinse, starch and dry. If found to be too light, add a few drops of diluted violet to bath; and, if too dark, dilute a half teaspoonful of oxalic acid in one gallon of luke warm water, and pass feathers through for a few seconds, rinse off twice or more in boiling water; then prepare bath same as per recipe, and allow them to remain until desired shade is obtained.

SEA FOAM.

This is a very delicate shade of color bordering on pea green. Your feathers must be white, or nearly so. If dirty whites, wash and rinse thoroughly; and, if old faded out colors, pass through bleach of permanganate of potash; after which prepare your bath of one gallon of luke warm water and a small handful of starch, and enter your feathers, rubbing them around between the hands. Take feathers from bath and add about a half teaspoonful of turmeric; re-enter your feathers, keeping them moving around in bath about half a minute. Then take out your feathers and add to bath a couple of drops of diluted aniline green. Re-enter feathers, first increasing the temperature of your bath a few degrees by adding hot water, let them remain in bath about two minutes longer, squeeze out and dry in the usual way.

Should your sample be more on the green, you will simply add a few drops more diluted aniline green; and if more on the yellow, you can use less. If the shade to be matched be darker than your feathers, add more of each color in the preparation of first bath. If a rather dull shade be desired, which in this color is quite frequently the case, a small pinch of copperas about the size of a pea will have the desired effect.

Should you find your color entirely too dark for your sample, wash off thoroughly in soap suds, and rinse in hot water; after which dilute a half teaspoonful of oxalic acid in a gallon of luke warm water, pass feathers through for a few seconds and rinse off in luke warm water. Then prepare your bath as per recipe, using a little more care and judgment in your second attempt.

SALMON.

Have your feathers white, or nearly so, by washing if dirty, or bleaching with permanganate if needed, being careful to rinse thoroughly for the purpose of removing any acid or soap; after which prepare your bath as follows: Take one gallon of luke warm water and a small handful of starch. Enter your feathers and rub around between the hands for a few seconds; then add to bath a few drops of diluted safranine and copperas about the size of a pea. Let your feathers remain in bath about one minute; after which take out and add to bath about one teaspoonful of diluted Bismarck brown, first increasing temperature of bath a few degrees with hot water; re-enter your feathers and allow them to remain in bath about a minute; after which squeeze out and dry in the usual way.

If your sample to be matched be more on the pink, use less aniline brown; and if more on the yellow, use less safranine and more aniline brown. Should you desire a much darker shade, use more of each color than laid down in recipe, and add a few drops of logwood liquor. If your feathers be found altogether too dark for sample, rinse off starch in cold water and dilute a half teaspoonful of oxalic acid in luke warm water, and pass your feathers through for a few seconds, take out and rinse a couple of times in hot water (not boiling). Prepare bath again as per recipe, using greater care. This shade of color is on the order of the terra cotta and crushed strawberry, and can be made in the same bath by adding color or diluting. Be careful in drying to use only clean starch and a clean board that has not been used with any acid colors.

STONE COLOR.

Stone color is a shade varying very slightly from slate and smoke color. All light shades can be used for this color; first preparing them by washing and rinsing them thoroughly. Prepare a medium strong bath of logwood by boiling for about fifteen minutes; after which enter your feathers, and let them remain in bath about two or three minutes, longer if a very dark shade be required; then take them out and rinse in cold water twice. Prepare a bath of half ounce of bichromate of potash in one gallon of boiling water, and dissolve thoroughly. Enter your feathers, and let them remain in bath about two minutes, keeping them well under the surface of bath and moving at the same time, to assist in producing an even color; after which take out and rinse off about three times in cold water, and prepare a bath of hot soap water. Enter your feathers, and wash thoroughly, adding to bath a small pinch of soda; after which rinse carefully in hot water; dissolve a small handful of starch in cold water, pass your feathers through, squeeze out and dry in the usual way.

If your feathers be found much too light for your sample to be matched, rinse off starch in cold water, and return your feathers to logwood bath for a few seconds; dissolve a small pinch of copperas in a gallon of boiling water, reduce temperature a little and enter your feathers, letting them remain in bath a few seconds. Take out and pass through starch and dry. If found to be altogether too dark, dilute a teaspoonful of oxalic acid in a gallon of hot water; pass feathers through a few seconds and rinse off in boiling water twice; wash, starch and dry.

BRONZE.