I. Clean the feathers by laying them down for six hours, or over night,
in a weak warm solution of soda crystals (1° B.) to which add so much
ammonia as to give it a faint odor; take up when completely ungreased
and rinse well in lukewarm and cold waters. Prepare the dyebath with
five per cent., of the weight of feathers, bisulphate of soda, to which
add filtered solutions of indigo carmine, archil and fast yellow as
required for the sample. As the indigo carmine is slow to dye up and
requires boiling heat or a temperature near it, dye first the feathers
blue with indigo carmine, then let the bath cool down to 170° F.,
and add the solutions of archil and fast yellow in small successive
quantities, so as to be able to give the accurate tone.
Instead of extract of archil, fast red or bordeaux may be employed.
To avoid any possible injury to the feathers by the high temperature
necessary for indigo carmine to run up, in its stead a solution of
alkaline blue or of acid Victoria blue. Take up and dry the feathers
without rinsing.
II. Scour well and rinse the feathers, and prepare a bath with three
per cent. alum (of the weight of feathers), to which add azo orange
and some indigo carmine; enter at 170° F., dye for fifteen or twenty
minutes, then raise the temperature slowly to near the boiling point
and dye to shade. Lift and dry.
By beginning with small quantities of the dyestuffs and successively
increasing them and varying their proportions, a series of fine shades
from light old gold to the deepest olive, near black can be produced.
III. Prepare a boiling bath, in which dissolve one per cent., of the
weight of feathers, alum, one per cent. Glauber salt, and add a little
sulphuric acid; let cool down to 170° F., add some fast yellow, a
little solution of archil and of sulphate of indigo, work for fifteen
minutes while raising the temperature to the boiling point, and sadden
with blue black, lift, rinse and dry with starch.
IV. Prepare a sharp handwarm bath with a little sulphuric acid, to
which add the clear solution of a little quinoline yellow or turmeric,
and acid green; enter the feathers and work for fifteen minutes, or
until they have taken a sufficiently nourished yellow-green color;
then take them up, add to the bath some solution of fast brown, as
required by the sample and dye at 170° F. to shade; rinse, squeeze,
starch and dry. The brown dyestuff must be added very carefully in
small doses, best by drops, in order to obtain with certainty any of
the great varieties of shades, from olive green to olive brown, as
required.