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.