Fashion and fancy sometimes requires the dyer of ostrich feathers to dye upon one feather two, or even three contrasting colors, or different shades of the same color, that is, the tips of the feathers in another color or shade than that of the lower part of the feather. Generally in these combinations the tip is dyed the lighter color or shade, and the lower part considerably deeperor in a heavier color. Very popular combinations are: the tip light blue and the bottom brown, the tip rose and the lower part bordeaux, the tip light orange or dark yellow and the lower part garnet brown, tip rose with olive bottom part, or even three colors, such as the tip rose, the part below it medium olive green, and the lowest part deep violet. That such combinations are very handsome cannot be asserted; but fashion dictates, and fancy sometimes prefers oddity to beauty. More rational are at any rate the ombrées, or combinations of two or three shades of the same color upon one feather. The operation is the same for both styles; but contrasts are generally dyed only upon single feathers, while ombrées, being in greater demand, are dyed by strings or even in greater lots. The feathers being scoured and rinsed as usual, are first dyed wholly in the lightest color or shade to be produced, according to recipe, say light blue for the tip, and dried. Then wrap the top, as far as it is to be light blue, in paper (some dyers use for this purpose oiled or waxed paper) and tie the paper firmly, but not so hard as to injure the feather, with a string, not so loosely as to allow the paper envelope to slip out of place during the manipulation. Then, holding the feathers by the top, dip them into the boiling hot bath for the other color, or shade, to be dyed, butonly so deep that the paper just touches the surface of the dye-liquid. This method is the safest for learners or new beginners. For more experienced workers it is unnecessary to use the paper wrapping; they simply first dye the light bottom shade, dry or not, according to the characters of the two colors (for shadings, half-dry feathers, that is, drained and squeezed out, are rather preferable), and loosely hold them in the bath for the second color, or deeper shade. They have it thereby in their power to effect a more gradual transition from one color or shade to the other. As the color becomes deeper, the longer the feather is immersed in the bath, it is plain that the dyer can easily produce upon one feather a complete graduated scale of shades. Each time, after a shade has been dyed to the required depth, the feathers are rinsed in cold water and some more dyestuff solution added to the bath. These additions require good judgment, because too much dyestuff added would cause an abrupt, dull contrast instead of a desirable gradual shaking off, or transition from one shade to the other. There ought only a little more dyestuff be added each time, than has been absorbed from the bath by dyeing the preceding shade. If paper wrappings are used, they must naturally be untied for rinsing and replaced by longer pieces before enteringthe bath for the following darker shade. After rinsing the feathers must always be well squeezed out. If two colors are to be dyed, for instance light blue tip with brown lower part, dye first the whole feather light blue, rinse, dry, tie up the tip in paper, and dye the lower half brown.
It needs not to be mentioned that for dyeing two or three contrasting colors upon one feather only such dyes must be chosen as can serve for bottoming and topping one another without materially altering the character of the topping color.
For this style of feather dyeing, use feathers of good quality, with wide and well developed vanes. They are dyed in two colors and shades only, presenting one color, mostly of a light shade, or a white "black" on both sides along the stems, while the outer edges for the vanes, or ends of the fibres, are dyed in a different color or darker shade. They make a particularly handsome effect when curled over the stem, setting off the edges in a fine contrast against the black showing through the curls.
To produce edgings an oval pan, as described in the beginning, or other dye-vessel of greater length than the feathers, and three or four inches deep must be used. The well scoured, respectively bleached, and rinsed feathers are first dyed the color for the middle part, as usual on strings. After rinsing and drying they are taken off from the strings and "edged" singly. For this purpose prepare the dye-bath for the edging color, heat to the proper temperature, take the tip and quill respectively between the fore-finger and the thumb of both hands, dip the feathers edgewise, that is, with the ends of the fibres on one side of the stem, or the edge of the vane only, into the dye-bath as deep as the edging is to be wide, and move the feather in this position horizontally forward and backward in the bath until the shade is obtained. Then place the feather between several laps of clean dry muslin, squeeze it out by passing the hand over it, and dye the other edge in the same manner as the first. Finally rinse, starch and dry the feather as usual.
In this connection a chemical reaction is worthy of mention, which was discovered about two years ago by an accident, and may be advantageously employed for the production of edgings upon ostrich feathers, if further developed by experiments. In a large feather-dyeingestablishment, in Berlin, a sheet of paper which had been wetted with ammonia, and had become dry, had been left on a work-table, when one of the employees, who was handling a lot of feathers freshly dyed with methyl violet, inadvertently put one of the feathers, which was still moist, upon the impregnated paper. After a while, when the feather was picked up, it was found that the violet, all round the edge of the feather, had turned brilliant green, producing a very pleasing effect. It is rational to suppose that with mixed colors, in whose composition methyl violet largely enters, similar effects can be produced by the action of ammonia; and probably the same is the case with other aniline dyestuffs.
Gilded and silvered ostrich feathers are but seldom in demand, and then only for grand evening dresses or stage effects, and for short seasons, which generally return far between. Their production is by no means a dyeing process, but rather an operation of surface ornamentation, still the dyer is sometimes requested to perform it. While goose feathers and other feathers of small value are wholly gilded or silvered, the gilding ofostrich feathers consists chiefly in a sprinkling with metallic dots, or sometimes in an edging, or is only applied to the tip of the feathers, which, from the nature of the operation, are treated singly. Such ornamented feathers, white as well as dyed, being only used for short periods, a permanent fixation of the gold or silver upon them is not required, but rather undesirable, as they will soon be redyed for other uses.
For gilding, respectively silvering, a sufficiently adhesive solution of possibly colorless gum arabic is prepared and distributed by hand, and by means of a fine hair-brush, in smaller or larger dots, as required, over the upper side of the feather or along the edges, and before the gum solution becomes dry, sprinkled over with finely divided gold-leaf or silver-leaf. The feather is then turned over, given a few light taps with the hand to remove the loose dust of metal, and vigorously shaken, partly to prevent the fibres from sticking together, partly to remove the remaining loosely adhering particles of metal. The operation must be performed as rapidly as possible to prevent the gum solution from drying before the metallic dust is shaken off. The smaller the gum-dots are made, the quicker must the work be done, but the less is the danger of the fibres being pasted together, and the more elegant the appearanceof the feather. The dots or spangles are made of different shapes, in little circles or squares, and sometimes arranged so as to form angular designs, according to taste and skill of the operator.
Another very pretty, scarcely more permanent, but more frequently applied ornamentation of ostrich feathers, is the following.
For this purpose the feathers are first dyed in a light or medium shade of any color, the effect of frosting feathers of a dark color being rather unfavorable. The feathers are then, after drying, covered on the upper side with a solution of clear gum arabic, as for gilding, but more closely, or may even be entirely brushed over with the gum solution, and are then, before the gum dries, sprinkled over with finely ground white glass, or mica, the latter giving the appearance of frosted silver. The glass powder or mica powder is then quickly and vigorously shaken off, to open the fibres and flues as much as possible, while drying. Finally, to complete the opening of the fibres, the feathers are steamed at the under side, and shaken in the air until open and dry.
Great care is required in curling gilded or frosted feathers, that the metal or glass powder is not rubbed off in passing the fibres of the vane over the curling-knife. This operation being extremely difficult and dangerous, the use of a curling-iron, like that used by hair-dressers, is preferable to that of the knife. The iron is moderately heated, so as not to singe the feathers; then, beginning at the lower end of the feather, a part of the fibres on one side of the stem are taken by their ends between the shanks of the iron, the latter closed and the fibres wound downwards around it, the iron being carried on the under side of the feather towards the stem. Then first one side of the vane is successively curled from the quill up to the tip, when the same operation is repeated upon the other half of the feather. If, in this manner, the feather should be curled too strongly, the fibres are taken between the shanks of the warm curling-iron at the stem and simply drawn through the iron.
Numerous ostrich feather dyers and dressers use the curling-iron altogether, instead of the knife; the only difficulty for the beginner is to get the proper heat, which, however, is soon learned.
Very pretty effects are also obtained by dyeing the feathers a light shade of color, drying, gumming andsprinkling them with either powdered black glass or jet.
White ostrich feathers which, by long exposure to the show-window, or by lying in store for a protracted time, have lost their whiteness and turned yellow, and dyed feathers which, from the same causes, have become dirty, pale and discolored, can be restored to their former beauty by washing, respectively redyeing, as follows:
I. A washing process, which is ordinarily only applied to white feathers which have become yellow, is as follows: Prepare a bath of two gallons of water at 145°F., to which add half a gallon of liquid ammonia (spirits of sal ammoniac, ammonia water); enter the feathers, work them once well through with the hands, and lay them down in the bath over night. On the following day take them up, wash them once through a soap-bath at 145°F., pass them again through the first ammoniacal bath, and rinse well and let them drain. Then prepare a bath of cold water, to which add so much of a clear solution of methyl violet 6 B., that a white china plate held about a foot below the surface ofthe water, appears with a faint bluish tint, or such a blue tone as is desired; and add to the bath so much sulphurous acid, that it gives the liquid a well defined odor. When the sulphurous acid mixes with the tinted liquid, the violet color of the latter disappears and changes to a greenish tint, which, however, turns again to blue upon the feathers when they are afterwards exposed to the action of the air. The feathers are then passed, singly, if possible, through the blue-bath, well drained, centrifugated or whizzed, starched and dried as usual.
Colored feathers which have lost their freshness, and are to be redyed, are simply washed clean with soap and rinsed, or they are stripped of their color, as much as possible, with soap and oxalic acid, or bleached with peroxyd of hydrogen, as described in the beginning; whereupon they are dyed and treated like bleached new feathers, always taking into consideration, however, what of the old color may remain upon the feathers, may be utilizable as a bottom for the new color, or even as a component of it, for instance, in the case of many modes and several browns.
II. Another method of renovating ostrich feathers presents the advantages that it is executed without the application of heat, that it is a simple cleaning processwhich attacks no color, and that it leaves the curling of the feathers intact, which is unavoidably taken out of them by washing with warm water and soap, or any other alkaline detergent substance. It is, therefore, only applied to feathers which have lost their purity of color by exposure, and whose curling is to be preserved, or is worthy of preserving. It is, in part, the same process which is known as "dry washing" among scourers and dyers of garments, and can be applied to feathers of any color and shade, white and even black, without exception.
For this operation fill a basin or small wooden hand-tub with benzene, add a handful or two of potato flour (sifted potato starch), enter the feathers and rub them well through with the starch until clean; then squeeze then out by hand and press between muslin, finally whiz or shake them in the air until dry.
This process is partly chemical, in so far as the benzene loosens the dust and other impurities which have settled upon the feathers, partly mechanical, as the numerous fine particles of the potato starch, which do not dissolve in benzene as soap does in water, rub these impurities off from the feather. By the combined action of the benzene and starch, and the friction applied, the feathers are not only cleaned, but the flues completelyopened, so that the feather thus treated looks perfectly like new.
A remarkable feature of this process is that the starch carries nearly all the impurities down with itself to the bottom of the wash-basin, and becomes soiled, while the benzene takes up every little of them, and can, therefore, after settling, be poured off from the starch sediment, and can be used several times before it needs to be purified or eventually becomes unfit for use.
In using benzene, which is a highly combustible substance, the utmost precaution must be observed that no open flame or fire be in the work-room, neither open lamps nor a fire in the stove burning. Even doors leading to adjoining rooms, where lights or fires are burning, ought to be kept closed while working with benzene, because the benzene vapors, which may be carried to the flame by a draft of air, would inevitably ignite and cause an explosion and fire. Occurrences of this kind have been not unfrequently observed.
Feathers which have been cleaned by this process, as well as new feathers, may be dyed by the following process.
This process is a real dyeing process, as well as a renovating process, both, however, to a limited extent, inasmuch as it can be applied only to white feathers or to such as are dyed with light and medium shades of certain colors which are to be freshened up; but it does not answer for dark colors. It is, however, extremely simple and easy to execute; besides, almost instantaneous, and therefore of great utility where rapid work is required, because it leaves the feathers perfectly in shape, like the benzene washing process, and does not affect the curling of the feather, if there is such. Old feathers which were already dyed cream, rose, salmon, light blue, light gray, light green, sea green, golden yellow, heliotrope or beige, can be redyed in the same colors, but must previously be washed with benzene; new white feathers do not require such washing.
For this method of dyeing, aniline dyestuffs soluble in alcohol are used, viz.: for
Cream,Curcumine or Aniline Orange,Rose,Eosine or Ponceau,Salmon,Curcumine and Eosine,Light Blue,Water Blue and Methylene Blue,Gray,Nigrosine,Sea-green,Malachite Green,Golden Yellow,Orange and Fast Brown,Heliotrope,Methyl violet 6 B.,Beige,Methylene Blue, Curcumine and Fast Brown,mixed according to tone and shade.
Operate as follows: Fill a white basin with a sufficient quantity of alcohol to completely wet the feathers in it; add, according to shade, a smaller or greater quantity of the clear alcoholic solution of the required dyestuff, or mixture of dyestuffs, pass the feathers singly, without previously wetting them, three or four times through the alcohol bath; then press them out between clean muslin, put a few handfuls of sifted potato starch upon a clean sheet of paper, and rub the feathers with it until thoroughly dry; finally, shake out the starch.
At all times have the feathers, which are to be dyed, scoured well, that is, washed clean from all externally adhering impurities, fat, etc.; naturally colored feathers bleached for all light and medium shades to be dyed upon them, and rinsed perfectly clean from the scouringor bleaching bath, first in two or three warm waters and then in cold water.
On taking the feathers from any bath, always squeeze the liquid out first by drawing the feathers through the hand closed upon them, then by placing them straight between several laps of clean dry muslin and repeatedly passing the hand with quite a smart pressure over it. Never transfer the feathers, in any case, from one bath to another in a wet, but in a moist condition, or nearly dry.
Never allow the feathers to become dry in the course of operations. If it is necessary to interrupt work, or to put feathers to one side for further treatment, dry them properly by first passing them through a bath of raw starch, in order to have the flues at all times as well opened as possible.
In no case let the temperature of a bath, in which feathers are treated, rise to actual boiling, although for some dyestuffs a temperature near the boiling point is required to make them dye up, to become level or to fix them.
In every instance, where an acid or acid salt is employed, either in a separate mordanting or fixing bath, or as a component of the dyebath, rinse well before drying.
When sulphuric acid is used in the composition of a bath, add only so much of it as to give the water a very slight, scarcely perceptible acid taste.
Although some artificial dyestuffs dye up without an addition of acid to the dye bath (basic dyestuffs), the addition of sulphuric acid, in a very small quantity, to the dye-bath is advantageous, rendering the colors brighter and also faster.
When bisulphate of soda is employed, it is not necessary to also add sulphuric acid to the dye-bath; if it is added, however, it must only be in a very small quantity; careful rinsing in several warm and cold waters after dyeing is required.
When alum alone is used without any other addition as mordant, sulphuric acid may be added, but only in the proportion of one tenth or, at the most, up to one fifth of the weight of alum, and careful rinsing in several warm and cold waters is the more indispensably required the more acid has been employed.
All solutions of dyestuffs, as well as of chemicals, ought to be carefully filtered, and decoctions of woods, etc., strained before adding them to the bath; never add dyestuffs, drugs or chemicals in substance to any bath, in order to prevent solid particles from settling upon the feathers.
Never add all the dyestuff probably required or prescribed by a recipe to the dye-bath at one time, but in several small quantities, each time after taking up the feathers, stir the bath after making the addition, re-enter the feathers and watch the progress of the dyeing carefully; when approaching the desired shade, add the dyestuff very cautiously, by drops if necessary, particularly with mixed colors, such as modes.
Sample in proper time, and take not a whole feather for it, but pull off two or three fibres from the lower part of a feather, dry them quickly by squeezing between dry muslin, match, correct the bath and finish dyeing.
While drying keep the feathers as much as possible in constant motion, shake and beat them.
Do not interrupt operations, if it can be avoided, but do the work rapidly and continuously, without pausing.
Keep every utensil scrupulously clean.
THE END.
PAGE.PrefaceiGrowth of the Ostrich Feather Trade, etc.1The Bird, Its Plumage and Habits3Sketch of Dyestuffs, etc.5Logwood5Turmeric7Bichromate of Potash7Archil8Safranine10Oxalic Acid11Indigo Blue11Sulphuric Acid12Copperas13Bismarck Brown14Concentrated Cotton Blue14Roceline15Recipes for Dyeing16Hints about the Dye-house85Miscellaneous Information88Washing Raw Stock91Shading94Paring, Steaming and Curling95Note of the Publisher99
PAGE.B.BEIGE62BLACK53BLEACHING LIGHT COLORS WHITE18BLEACHING NATURAL GRAYS OR BLACKS WHITE82BLUE, ARMY59BLUE, ELECTRIC65BLUE, GENDARME57BLUE, LIGHT21BLUE, MEDIUM67BLUE, NAVY31BRONZE74BROWN, BISMARCK28BROWN, MEDIUM66BROWN, OLIVE81BROWN, SEAL29C.CARDINAL33CHOCOLATE75COFFEE79CORN64CREAM25D.DRAB, FELT46DRAB, PLAIN78E.ECRU23G.GARNET40GRAY, SILVER26GREEN, BOTTLE43GREEN, MEDIUM61GREEN, PEA80L.LAVENDER38LEMON52LILAC56M.MAGENTA69MAROON51MOSS76O.OLD-GOLD39OLIVE36ORANGE48P.PINK, LIGHT20PLUM35PURPLE60S.SALMON71SCARLET50SEA-FOAM70SLATE47STEEL45STONE73STRAWBERRY, CRUSHED34T.TERRA COTTA42TRILEUL58W.WHITE16
PAGE.B.BEIGE34aBLACK70aBLUE, ARMY46aBLUE, ELECTRIC70aBLUE, GENDARME40aBLUE, LIGHT26aBLUE, MEDIUM24aBLUE, NAVY64aBRONZE64aBROWN, BISMARCK76aBROWN, MEDIUM82aBROWN, OLIVE52aBROWN, SEAL76aC.CARDINAL82aCHOCOLATE34aCOFFEE52aCORN34aCREAM26aD.DRAB, FELT40aDRAB, PLAIN58aE.ECRU30aG.GARNET40aGRAY, SILVER30aGREEN, BOTTLE52aGREEN, MEDIUM82aGREEN, PEA64aL.LAVENDER26aLEMON20aLILAC20aM.MAGENTA64aMAROON46aMOSS70aO.OLD-GOLD82aOLIVE58aORANGE76aP.PINK, LIGHT20aPLUM58aPURPLE46aS.SALMON26aSCARLET70aSEA-FOAM30aSLATE40aSTEEL46aSTONE52aSTRAWBERRY, CRUSHED76aT.TERRA COTTA58aTRILEUL30aW.WHITE20a
PAGE.General Remarks103Utensils107Preparation of Feathers107Cleaning, Bleaching, etc.109Drying or Starching111Bleaching or Decolorizing Natural Grays112Peroxyd of Hydrogen114Light Blue115Navy Blue117Gendarme Blue119Plum or Prune119Light Yellow121Medium Yellow121Dark Yellow122Golden Yellow123Old-Gold124Gray125Pearl Gray126Silver Gray126Brown127Light Brown129Rust Brown130Red Brown130Coffee Brown131Puce132Fawn133Chestnut Brown133Havanna134Mushroom135Light Drab136Beige137Modes138Reseda140Ordinary Green141Light Green142Moss Green143Bog Green143Grass Green144Russia Green144Rose146Red147Fast Alizarine Red147Scarlet148Ponceau150Bordeaux151Red Garnet152Brown Garnet152Ruby153Salmon153Amaranth154Bronze155Olive156Violet158Heliotrope and Lilac159Cream160White and Black161White164Black166Contrasts, Shadings, etc.173Edging or Borders176Gilding and Silvering178Frosting180Renovating Feathers182Dyeing in the Cold Way186Recapitulation of General Rules187