Vegetable Dyes Part 9

_CATECHU_

Catechu (Cutch) is an old Indian dye for cotton. It can also be used for wool and silk, and gives a fine rich brown. It is obtained from the wood of various species of Areca, Acacia and Mimosa trees. Bombay Catechu is considered best for dyeing purposes.

Catechu is soluble in boiling water. It is largely used by the cotton dyer for brown, olive, drab, grey and black. (See pp. 46, 47, 48.)

LIGHT GREY

(For 6 lbs.) 1 oz. cutch, 1 oz. iron. Boil for 1/2 an hour in the cutch, then put into boiling iron, being very careful to stir well.

Wash very thoroughly.

These proportions can be varied according to the shade of grey required; the more iron makes the colour browner, the more cutch the bluer grey.

CATECHU BROWN

The wool is boiled for 1 to 1-1/2 hours, with 10 to 20 per cent catechu, then sadden with 2 to 4 per cent of copper sulphate, ferrous sulphate, or chrome, at 100C., in a separate bath for 1/2 hour.

_ALDER BARK_

The bark and twigs of alder are used for dyeing brown and black. For 1 lb. wool use 1 lb. alder bark. Boil the wool with it for 2 hours, when it should be a dull reddish brown. Add 1/2 oz. copper as for every pound of wool for black.

_SUMACH_

Sumach is the ground up leaves and twigs of the _Rhus coraria_ growing in Southern Europe. It dyes wool a yellow and a yellow brown, but it is chiefly used in cotton dyeing.

_WALNUT_

The green sh.e.l.l of the walnut fruit and the root are used for dyeing brown. The husks to be used for dyeing must be collected green and fresh, then covered with water and kept from the light to prevent them oxidizing. In the walnut tree there is an astringent colourless substance which gives a greenish yellow dye. This has the property of absorbing oxygen from the air and turning dark brown. It is only the unoxidized pale greenish stuff that can act as the dye, the dark brown itself has no affinity for the wool. Acids should be added to the dye bath to prevent oxidization. Without a mordant the colour is quite fast, but if the wool is mordanted with alum a brighter and richer colour is got. When used they are boiled in water for 1/4 hour, then the wool is entered and boiled till the colour is obtained. Long boiling is not good as it makes the wool harsh. It is much used as a "saddening" agent; that is, for darkening other colours.

"The best and most enduring blacks were done with this simple dye stuff, the goods being first dyed in the indigo or woad vat till they were a very dark blue, and then browned into black by means of the walnut root."--_William Morris._

PEAT SOOT gives a good shade of brown to wool. Boil the wool for 1 to 2 hours with peat soot. Careful washing is required in several changes of water. It is used sometimes for producing a hazel colour, after the wool has been dyed with weld and madder.

OAK BARK. Mordant with alum and dye in a decoction of oak bark.

ONION SKINS. (Brown.) Mordant the wool with alum. Drying two or three times in between makes the colour more durable. Dry. Wash. Boil a quant.i.ty of onion skins, and cool; then put in wool and boil lightly for 1/2 an hour to 1 hour; then keep warm for a while. Wring out and wash.

BLACK. Mordant with 3% Bichromate of Potash for 45 minutes. Dye with 1 oz. Hematin crystals, 3/4 oz. madder, 1/2 oz. Persian berries. After boiling for 1 hour remove wool and add 1/4 oz. cream of tartar, 1 oz.

cochineal, 3/4 oz. iron, 1/2 oz. copper sulphate. Return wool and boil again for 1/2 hour. Wash in soap.

VARIOUS RECIPES

MADDER for BROWN. (1 lb. wool.) Mordant with 1 oz. copperas and 1 oz.

cream of tartar. Dye with 6 ozs. madder.

MADDER, etc., for FRENCH BROWN. Mordant with 3 per cent chrome. Dye with 8 per cent fustic, 2 per cent madder, 1 per cent cudbear, 2 per cent tartar. If not dark enough add 1 per cent logwood. Boil for 1/2 hour. Wash and dry.

TAN SHADE. (6-1/2 lbs. wool.) Mordant with 3 ozs. Chrome for 45 minutes and wash in cold water. Boil for 1/2 hour in a bag 5 oz.

madder, 4 oz. Fustic, 1/2 oz. logwood. Enter the wool, raise to the boil, and boil for 45 minutes. By altering the proportions of madder and fustic various shades of brown can be got.

GREENISH BLACK. (For 1 lb.) Mordant with 3 per cent Chrome. Dye with 2 ozs. Fustic, 2 ozs. logwood, 1 oz. madder, and 1 oz. copperas.

DARK GREENISH-BROWN. (1 lb.) Mordant with 3 per cent chrome. Dye with 2 ozs. logwood, 4 ozs. madder, 1 oz. fustic, 1-1/2 ozs. copperas. Boil for 1 hour.

CHAPTER IX

GREEN

Green results from the mixing of blue and yellow in varying proportions according to the shade of colour required.

Every dyer has his particular yellow weed with which he greens his blue dyed stuff. But the best greens are undoubtedly got from weld and fustic.

The wool is first dyed in the blue vat; then washed and dried; then after mordanting, dyed in the yellow bath. This method is not arbitrary as some dyers consider a better green is got by dyeing it yellow before the blue. But the first method produces the fastest and brightest greens as the aluming after the blue vat clears the wool of the loose particles of indigo and seems to fix the colour.

If a bright yellow green is wanted, then mordant with alum after the indigo bath; if olive green, then mordant with chrome.

The wool can be dyed blue for green in three different ways:--1st in the Indigo vat, 2nd with Indigo Extract with Alum mordant, 3rd with logwood with Chrome mordant. For a good bright green, dye the wool a rather light blue, then wash and dry; Mordant with alum, green it with a good yellow dye, such as weld or fustic, varying the proportion of each according to the shade of green required. Heather tips, dyer's broom, dock roots, poplar leaves, saw wort are also good yellows for dyeing green. If Indigo Extract is used for the blue, fustic is the best yellow for greening, its colour is less affected by the sulphuric acid than other yellows.

According to _Bancroft_, Quercitron is the yellow above all others for dyeing greens. He says:--"The most beautiful Saxon greens may be produced very cheaply and expeditiously by combining the lively yellow which results from Quercitron bark, murio sulphate of tin and alum, with the blue afforded by Indigo when dissolved in sulphuric acid, as for dyeing the Saxon Blue."

"For a full bodied green" he says "6 or 8 lbs. of powdered bark should be put into a dyeing vessel for every 100 lbs. wool, with a similar quant.i.ty of water: When it begins to boil, 6 lbs. murio-sulphate of tin should be added (with the usual precaution) and a few minutes afterwards 4 lbs. alum: these having boiled 5 or 6 minutes, cold water should be added, and then as much sulphate of Indigo as needed for the shade of green to be dyed, stirring thoroughly. The wool is then put into the liquor and stirred briskly for half an hour. It is best to keep the water just at the boiling point."

RECIPES FOR DYEING GREEN

(1) GREEN WITH QUERCITRON FOR WOOL

Dye the wool blue in the indigo vat, wash well. For 100 parts of wool put 3 of chalk and 10 or 12 of alum. Boil wool in this 1 hour. Then to same bath add 10 to 12 parts quercitron and continue boiling for 15 minutes, then add 1 part of chalk, this addition is repeated at intervals of 6 to 8 minutes till a fine green is brought out.

(2) WITH INDIGO EXTRACT AND WELD FOR WOOL

Mordant 1 lb. wool with 4 ozs. alum and 1/2 oz. cream of tartar. Dye blue with sufficiency of indigo extract, wash and dry. Prepare a dye bath with weld which has been previously chopped up and boiled. Enter wool and boil for half an hour or more.

(3) GREEN FOR WOOL

Mordant with alum and cream of tartar, add to the mordanting bath a little weld or fustic. Dye with 6 ozs. fustic (or weld). Dye in a separate bath with indigo extract, a rather bluer green than is wanted. Then put into a yellow bath till the right shade of green is got.

(4) GRa.s.s GREEN

For 1 lb. wool: 1-1/2 oz. alum, 1/2 oz. sulphuric acid, 1/2 oz. salt, 1/4 oz. Tin crystals. Dissolve tin in separate saucepan and mix half of it with 1/4 oz. Flavin, add both to the bath together with indigo extract (1/2 tablespoonful). When hot enter yarn and boil hard for 1 to 1-1/2 hours. It turns a green when exposed to air. Wash very thoroughly.