Read Ebook: Vegetable Dyes: Being a Book of Recipes and Other Information Useful to the Dyer by Mairet Ethel

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Ebook has 643 lines and 23534 words, and 13 pages

Glossary 60

Bibliography 63

Index 65

WOOL SILK COTTON AND LINEN

WOOLS are of various kinds:--

The colour of wool varies from white to a very dark brown black, with all shades of fawn, grey and brown in between. The natural colours are not absolutely fast to light but tend to bleach slightly with the sun.

The principal fleeces are:

Wool can be dyed either in the fleece, in the yarn, or in the woven cloth. Raw wool always contains a certain amount of natural grease. This should not be washed out until it is ready for dyeing, as the grease keeps the moth out to a considerable extent. Hand spun wool is generally spun in the oil to facilitate spinning. All grease and oil must be scoured out before dyeing is begun, and this must be done very thoroughly or the wool will not take the colour.

WATER

A constant supply of clean soft water is an absolute necessity for the dyer. Rain water should be collected as much as possible, as this is the best water to use. The dye house should be by a river or stream, so that the dyer can wash with a continuous supply. Spring and well water is, as a rule, hard, and should be avoided. In washing, as well as in dyeing, hard water is injurious for wool. It ruins the brilliancy of the colour, and prevents the dyeing of some colours. Temporary hardness can be overcome by boiling the water before using. An old method of purifying water, which is still used by some silk and wool scourers, is to boil the water with a little soap, skimming off the surface as it boils. In many cases it is sufficient to add a little acetic acid to the water.

TO WASH WOOL

In a bath containing 10 gallons of warm water add 4 fluid ounces of ammonia fort, .880, 1 lb. soda, and 2 oz. soft soap, . Stir well until all is dissolved. Dip the wool in and leave for 2 minutes, then squeeze gently and wash in warm water until quite clear.

Fleece may be washed in the same way, but great care should be taken not to felt the wool--the less squeezing the better.

There are four principal methods of dyeing wool.

A separate bath can be used for each of these processes, in which case each bath can be replenished and used again for a fresh lot of wool.

SILK

Raw silk is that directly taken from the cocoons. Waste silk is the silk from cocoons that are damaged in some way so that they cannot be reeled off direct. It is, therefore, carded and spun, like wool or cotton.

Silk in the raw state is covered with a silk gum which must be boiled off before dyeing is begun. It is tied up in canvas bags and boiled up in a strong solution of soap for three or four hours until all the gum is boiled off. If it is a yellow gum, the silk is wrought first in a solution of soft soap at a temperature just below boiling point for about an hour, then put into bags and boiled. After boiling, the soap is well washed out.

Generally speaking, the affinity of silk for dyes is similar but weaker in character to that of wool. The general method for dyeing is the same as for wool, except, in most cases, lower temperatures are used in the mordanting. In some cases, soaking in a cold concentrated solution of the mordant is sufficient. The dyeing of some colours is also at low temperature.

COTTON

Cotton is the down surrounding the seeds in pods of certain shrubs and trees growing in tropical and semi-tropical countries. First introduced into Europe by the Saracens, it was manufactured into cloth in Spain in the early 13th century. Cotton cloth was first made in England in the early 17th century.

The colour of cotton varies from deep yellow to white. The fibre differs in length, the long stapled being the most valued. It is difficult to dye and requires a special preparation.

A few of the natural dye stuffs are capable of dyeing cotton direct, without a mordant, such as Turmeric, Barberry bark, safflower, annatto. For other dyes cotton has a special attraction, such as catechu.

LINEN

Linen is flax, derived from the decomposed stalks of a plant of the genus Linum.

It grows chiefly in Russia, Belgium, France, Holland and Ireland. The plants after being gathered are subjected to a process called "retting" which separates the fibre from the decaying part of the plant. In Ireland and Russia this is usually done in stagnant water, producing a dark coloured flax. In Belgium, Holland, and France, retting is carried out in running water, and the resulting flax is a lighter colour. Linen is more difficult to dye than cotton, probably on account of the hard nature of the fibre. The same processes are used for dyeing linen as for cotton.

MORDANTS

There are thus two processes concerned with the dyeing of most colours; the first is mordanting and the second is the colouring or actual dyeing. The mordanting prepares the stuff to receive the dye .

The early French dyers thought that a mordant had the effect of opening the pores of the fibre, so that the dye could more easily enter; but according to Hummel, and later dyers, the action of the mordant is purely chemical; and he gives a definition of a mordant as "the body, whatever it may be, which is fixed on the fibre in combination with any given colouring matter." The mordant is first precipitated on to the fibre and combines with the colouring matter in the subsequent dye bath. But, whether the action is chemical or merely physical, the fact remains that all adjective dyes need this preparation of the fibre before they will fix themselves on it. The use of a mordant, though not a necessity, is sometimes an advantage when using substantive dyes.

In early days the leaves and roots of certain plants were used. This is the case even now in India and other places where primitive dyeing methods are still carried on. Alum has been known for centuries in Europe. Iron and tin filings have also been used. Alum and copperas have been known in the Highlands long ages.

Different mordants give different colours with the same dye stuff. For example:--Cochineal, if mordanted with alum, will give a crimson colour; with iron, purple; with tin, scarlet; and with chrome or copper, purple. Logwood, also, if mordanted with alum, gives a mauve colour; if mordanted with chrome, it gives a blue. Fustic, weld, and most of the yellow dyes, give a greeny yellow with alum, but an old gold colour with chrome; and fawns of various shades with other mordants.

Silk and wool require very much the same preparation except that in the case of silk, high temperatures should be avoided. Wool is generally boiled in a weak solution of whatever mordant is used. With silk, as a rule, it is better to use a cold solution, or a solution at a temperature below boiling point. Cotton and linen are more difficult to dye than wool or silk. Their fibre is not so porous and will not hold the dye stuff without a more complicated preparation. The usual method of preparing linen or cotton is to boil it first with some astringent. The use of astringents in dyeing depends upon the tannic acid they contain. In combination with ordinary mordants, tannic acid aids the attraction of the colouring matter to the fibre and adds brilliancy to the colours. The astringents mostly used are tannic acid, gall nuts, sumach and myrobalams. Cotton has a natural attraction for tannic acid, so that when once steeped in its solution it is not easily removed by washing.

ALUM

This is the most generally used of all the mordants, and has been known as such from early times in many parts of the world. For most colours a certain proportion of cream of tartar should be added to the alum bath as it helps to brighten the ultimate colour. The usual amount of alum is a quarter of a pound to a pound of wool. As a rule, less mordant is needed for light colours than for dark. Excess of alum is apt to make the wool sticky. The usual length of time for boiling is about an hour. Some dyers give as much as 2-1/2 hours.

IRON

Iron is one of the oldest mordants known and is largely used in wool and cotton dyeing. It is almost as important as alum. The temperature of the mordanting bath must be raised very gradually to boiling point or the wool will dye unevenly. A general method of dealing with copperas is to boil the wool first in a decoction of the colouring matter and then add the mordant to the same bath in a proportion of 5 to 8 per cent of the weight of the wool, and continue boiling for half an hour or so longer. With some dyes a separate bath is needed, such as with Camwood or Catechu. Great care is needed in the using of copperas, as, unless it is thoroughly dissolved and mixed with the water before the wool is entered, it is apt to stain the wool. It also hardens wool if used in excess or if boiled too long. A separate bath should always be kept for dyes or mordants containing iron. The least trace of it will dull colours and it will spoil the brilliancy of reds, yellows and oranges.

Copperas is mostly used for the fixing of wool colours to produce brown shades; the wool being boiled first in a decoction of the dye for about 1 hour, and then for 1/2 an hour with the addition of 5 to 8 per cent of copperas. If used for darkening colours, copperas is added to the bath after the dyeing, and the boiling continued for 15 to 20 mins.

TIN

CHROME

Chrome is a modern mordant, unknown to the dyer of fifty years ago. It is excellent for wool and is easy to use and very effective in its action. Its great advantage is that it leaves the wool soft to the touch, whereas the other mordants are apt to harden the wool. The wool should be boiled for 1 to 1-1/2 hours with bichromate of potash in the proportion of 2 to 4 per cent of the wool. It is then washed well and immediately dyed. Wool mordanted with chrome should not be exposed to light, but should be kept well covered with the liquid while being mordanted, else it is liable to dye unevenly. An excess of chrome impairs the colour, 3 per cent of chrome is a safe quantity to use for ordinary dyeing. It should be dissolved in the bath while the water is heating. The wool is entered and the bath gradually raised to the boiling point, and boiled for 3/4 of an hour.

COPPER

BRITISH DYE PLANTS

On the introduction of foreign dye woods and other dyes during the 17th and 18th centuries, the native dye plants were rapidly displaced, except in some out of the way places such as the Highlands and parts of Ireland. Some of these British dye plants had been used from early historical times for dyeing. Some few are still in use in commercial dye work ; but their disuse was practically completed during the 19th century, when the chemical dyes ousted them from the market.

The majority of these plants are not very important as dyes, and could not probably now be collected in sufficient quantities. Some few, however, are important, such as woad, weld, heather, walnut, alder, oak, some lichens; and many of the less important ones would produce valuable colours if experiments were made with the right mordants. Those which have been in use in the Highlands are most of them good dyes. Among these are Ladies Bedstraw, whortleberry, yellow iris, bracken, bramble, meadow sweet, alder, heather and many others. The yellow dyes are most plentiful and many of these are good fast colours. Practically no good red, in quantity, is obtainable. Madder is the only reliable red dye among plants, and that is no longer indigenous in England. Most of the dye plants require a preparation of the material to be dyed, with alum, or some other mordant, but a few, such as Barbary and some of the lichens, are substantive dyes, and require no mordant.

PLANTS WHICH DYE RED

PLANTS WHICH DYE BLUE

PLANTS WHICH DYE YELLOW

Birch. Leaves.

Pear. Leaves.

Plum. "

Polygonum Hydropiper.

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