Old faded out light colors need only to be thoroughly washed and rinsed
to prepare them for this color; and darker colors can be prepared by
bleaching with permanganate of potash, taking care to rinse thoroughly
in hot water for the purpose of removing all the acid. Prepare your
bath of about one teaspoonful of turmeric and copperas about the size
of a bean in a gallon of boiling water. Enter your feathers and let
remain in bath about two minutes; remove feathers from bath and add a
half cupful of logwood liquor and return feathers to bath, letting them
remain in about one minute; after which remove feathers and add to
your bath about two tablespoonfuls of diluted Bismarck brown and hot
water to increase temperature of bath; re-enter feathers and allow them
to remain in about two minutes; after which cool off a small quantity
of the bath and add a small handful of starch; pass feathers through
and dry.
If found to be too light, return to bath, first adding more logwood
liquor and Bismarck brown, and let them remain in bath about one
minute. If too dark for your sample to be matched, dilute a few grains
of oxalic acid in luke warm water; pass feathers through for a few
seconds and rinse off three times in luke warm water. Then prepare bath
as per recipe, using more care in the preparation.
If found too much on the yellow, a few drops of diluted safranine added
to your bath will produce the desired effect. Use clean starch in
drying; if a table or board is used, see that it is perfectly clean and
free from acid.