Dyes

Pow-Wows, or Long Lost Friend, by John George Hoffman, [1820], at sacred-texts.com

TO DYE A MADDER RED.

For each pound of cloth, soak half a pound of madder in a brass kettle over night, with sufficient warm water to cover the cloth you intend to dye. Next morning put in two ounces of madder compound for every pound of madder. Wet your cloth and wring it out in clean water, then put it into the dye. Place the kettle over the fire, and bring it slowly to a scalding heat, which will take about half an hour; keep at this heat half an hour, if a light red is wanted, and longer if a dark one, the color depending on the time it remains in the dye.

When you have obtained the color, rinse the cloth immediately in cold water.

TO DYE A FINE SCARLET RED.

Bring to a boiling heat, in a brass kettle, sufficient soft water to cover the cloth you wish to dye; then add

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11/2 oz. cream of tartar for every pound of cloth. Boil a minute or two, add two oz. lac dye and one oz. madder compound (both previously mixed in an earthen bowl), boil five minutes; now wet the cloth in warm water and wring it out and put it into the dye; boil the whole nearly an hour, take the cloth out and rinse it in clear cold water.

TO DYE A PERMANENT BLUE.

Boil the cloth in a brass kettle for an hour, in a solution containing five parts of alum and three of tartar for every 32 parts of cloth. It is then to be thrown into warm water, previously mixed with a greater or less proportion of chemic blue, according to the shade the cloth is intended to receive. In this water it must be boiled until it has acquired the desired color.

TO DYE A GREEN.

For every pound of cloth add 31/2 oz. of alum and one pound of fustic. Steep (not boil) till the strength is out; soak the cloth till it acquires a good yellow, then remove the chips, and add the chemic blue by degrees till you have the desired color.