COFFEE COLOR.
Old faded out light colors need only to be thoroughly washed and rinsed to prepare them for this color; and darker colors can be prepared by bleaching with permanganate of potash, taking care to rinse thoroughly in hot water for the purpose of removing all the acid. Prepare your bath of about one teaspoonful of turmeric and copperas about the size of a bean in a gallon of boiling water. Enter your feathers and let remain in bath about two minutes; remove feathers from bath and add a half cupful of logwood liquor and return feathers to bath, letting them remain in about one minute; after which remove feathers and add to your bath about two tablespoonfuls of diluted Bismarck brown and hot water to increase temperature of bath; re-enter feathers and allow them to remain in about two minutes; after which cool off a small quantity of the bath and add a small handful of starch; pass feathers through and dry.
If found to be too light, return to bath, first adding more logwood liquor and Bismarck brown, and let them remain in bath about one minute. If too dark for your sample to be matched, dilute a few grains of oxalic acid in luke warm water; pass feathers through for a few seconds and rinse off three times in luke warm water. Then prepare bath as per recipe, using more care in the preparation.
If found too much on the yellow, a few drops of diluted safranine added to your bath will produce the desired effect. Use clean starch in drying; if a table or board is used, see that it is perfectly clean and free from acid.