In the re-dying of old feathers the first thing necessary is to enter
them in book by whatever system you may think best; after which they
are assorted as to color, the blacks, browns, greens, blues, etc. Put
in separate lots and then string them and mark your tickets. You will
often find when you have selected your colors a number of different
shades to be dyed one color; as, for example, when you come to string
your browns, you will find a blue, a green, a garnet, a drab, and
perhaps a dozen different shades of colors; string them all on at once
and enter together, and dye a good medium shade of seal brown and dry;
after which you proceed to take them off the string, and place them
with their respective tickets. You will now find, perhaps, one a shade
too dark for your sample, another perhaps a shade too light. The former
you would pass through a weak solution of sulphuric acid in starch
bath, and the latter through a weak solution of bichromate of potash.
Another one you may find a little too red for sample, or too yellow.
These, in turn, you can bring to match your sample as per recipe for
brown.
In beginning the days work, it is well to do all your bleaching and
cleaning first, while your hand basins and dyehouse are in a clean
condition; after which the blacks, as they require logwood good and
pure, and the same logwood used for them can be used for all other
colors where logwood enters into their composition. Consequently one
bath of logwood boiled in the morning will do all the work for the day.
In Chicago I remember, while giving instruction to a gentleman, who had
come down from St. Paul, Minn., for the purpose of learning the art,
that in one afternoon I taught him how to make every color and shade of
color known, and my logwood bath that was used during the whole day's
work was boiled in a small sauce-pan that held about two quarts. It had
been used in making black, browns, greens and navy blues of all shades,
and was still in good enough condition to make any color, excepting
perhaps black.
Keep your bath of logwood covered at all times when not in actual use,
and, indeed, then, if convenient, to prevent any foreign substance from
entering it. It is the custom of a great many ostrich feather dyers to
keep a quantity of starch in the dyehouse for the purpose of dipping
their feathers into it and partially beating them out prior to removing
them from the bath for the purpose of drying the ends up to see if
they match sample. This is a very bad practice, for the loose starch
flying through the dyehouse will settle on the uncovered colors and
cause not a little annoyance and trouble. Keep the starch out of the
dyehouse; keep it in the drying-room where it belongs. In drying your
feathers out of the baths in starch it is well to have two boxes,--one
to be used for colors that contain acid; as, for example, light blues,
lemon, etc.,--the other for those colors that contain none; such as
drabs, pinks, etc. In dissolving colors use ordinary bottles, and be
sure to always use boiling water for the purpose of diluting. Let the
proportions be about one teaspoonful of color to one pint of boiling
water. Shake gently to thoroughly dilute aniline, and cork or cover
bottles to keep out dirt.
Colors that are used in making very delicate shades, such as pinks or
light blues, it is well to tie around the top of the bottle in place of
a cork a small piece of muslin. It will act as a strainer, and prevent
particles of color that may not have been thoroughly dissolved from
passing into the bath and spotting your goods. Do not be too careful
of the hands and afraid of getting them covered with dyestuffs; use
them in the bath instead of sticks at all times, excepting where the
liquid is too hot to permit it. The best method of cleaning the hands,
no matter how dirty, is to pass them through a solution of soda, about
one-quarter ounce in a small quantity of hot water; rinse off in cold
water, and take about a teaspoonful of chloride of lime, moisten with
water and rub the hands gently with it until all color has entirely
disappeared; then wash with soap and hot water.