OLIVE BROWN.
Wash feathers thoroughly in hot water and soap, and rinse about four times in hot water; after which prepare a bath of half a pound of logwood; first enter feathers in one-quarter pound of turmeric and one gallon of boiling water; let them remain in bath about four minutes. When logwood bath has boiled sufficiently, say ten minutes, rinse feathers out of turmeric in cold water; and enter in logwood, letting them remain in bath about six minutes; take out and rinse. Prepare a bath of half an ounce of bichromate of potash and one gallon of boiling water; enter feathers and let remain in bath about one minute; take out and rinse thoroughly in cold water. Mix a bath of one ounce of turmeric to one ounce of archil and half the old logwood bath; bring to a boil and enter feathers, letting them remain in bath about six minutes; take out and rinse. Then mix a bath of luke warm water and starch, add a couple of drops of sulphuric acid and a couple of drops of picric acid diluted, pass feathers through, squeeze out thoroughly and dry by rubbing in powdered starch between the hands; beat out on a clean board until all the starch is removed from the feathers.
MEDIUM BROWN—page [66]. OLD-GOLD—page [39].
CARDINAL—page [33]. MEDIUM GREEN—page [61].
PROCESS OF DEGRADING OR BLEACHING NATURAL GRAY OR BLACK WHITE.
Begin by washing and rinsing your feathers thoroughly; after which soak in a bath of compound of one gallon of ammonia to eight gallons of water for about eight hours; take feathers out and squeeze out the excess of ammonia which is in the flues. Put your feathers in the peroxide of hydrogen with an addition of twelve to sixteen ounces of ammonia to one five gallon can or demijohn, and let it work slowly, stirring feathers from time to time for about six hours; after which lay your feathers on one side of the tub and add to the peroxide of hydrogen bath about four ounces more of ammonia; stir the bath well to insure a thorough mixture of the peroxide of hydrogen with the ammonia.
The peroxide of hydrogen will continue to work for about twelve hours more, until it becomes thoroughly exhausted; after which take out your feathers and rinse a few times in luke warm water. Then proceed to put them in a second bath of peroxide of hydrogen to be prepared as follows: To a half gallon demijohn of peroxide of hydrogen add two and a half gallons of water, and add thereto about eight ounces of ammonia. Then enter your feathers, and allow the bath to work a few hours; again add about two ounces of ammonia by the same process as before, and then let it work a few hours longer, or until the bath becomes exhausted. To ascertain whether total exhaustion has taken place, take a small portion of the bath in a glass and dilute therein a few grains of permanganate of potash; if it be not totally exhausted, bubbles will appear on the surface; if exhausted, none will be noticeable.
After your feathers have been removed from the bath they must be carefully rinsed off in three or four waters, a few degrees more than luke warm. Then prepare a warm soap bath, and allow your feathers to remain in a few minutes; after which rinse off thoroughly in luke warm water; dilute a small handful of starch in a quantity of cold water, pass your feathers through and dry.
All natural color will have entirely disappeared. Whatever portion of the amount of feathers you have just bleached are for whites, before drying them up, prepare a bath as per recipe for white, pass through and dry in the usual way. This process of bleaching is used only when it is desirable to make light colors from gray or natural black feathers, but feathers for navy blue, seal brown, bottle green, etc., will not be improved by bleaching. The shade of color can be evened off in the bath.
HINTS ABOUT THE DYEHOUSE.
In dyehouses where steam is used, it is necessary to boil your bath a longer time than where the bath comes in direct contact with the fire. The accommodations of a dyehouse for the re-dying of ostrich feathers need be very simple and inexpensive; in fact, I have seen a dyehouse where old re-dyed transient work to the amount of fifty dollars per day was accomplished with a small cooking stove, a wash-boiler, a wash-bowl and a tin dipper; costing in all less than six dollars. Of course, in the manufacture of raw stock it is necessary to have larger vessels and much better facilities; for instance, instead of from ten to fifty, or even a hundred feathers, you will of necessity be compelled to dye lots of from five to ten pounds of goods at one time. Two stationary tubs or vats, one for use in washing white and bleaching, and the other for black, with water pipes and steam pipes and connections; a few large porcelain lined or copper basins for dark colors are essential; it is also well to have an outer room or inclosed closet to keep your dyestuffs in, as it is important that they be kept clean. When cans of color are opened for the purpose of diluting a portion or making a color, have the cover replaced and returned to closet when through with it.
Have bench or table whereon rests your basins, while you match shades in making colors, if possible, where a north light will strike it; and if cold weather and the windows closed, keep the glass clean. You will often get various reflections in the dyehouse that cause a great deal of trouble to the dyer; as, for example, if the sun should be shining on a red brick wall and the reflection beating into the dyehouse, it will often lead the dyer astray, and while he thinks he has a perfect match, when the color goes into the office there is a decided difference.
The great majority who are expected to be benefitted by this work are not ostrich feather manufacturers, but the job dyer; and it is my object to simplify the dyehouse as well as the methods of dyeing. A small corner of the dyehouse can be used, and a couple of ordinary wash-bowls, a common wash-boiler and a tin dipper are really all the utensils that are practically necessary to complete the dyehouse for the renovator. A couple of hours in the morning devoted to feather dyeing, and a good practical man can turn out fifty dollars worth at a cost of only his two hours labor, and perhaps fifty cents worth of color. Feathers can be dried in an ordinary hot room or, if warm weather, out in the open air. The dry room where large quantities of feathers are dried should never be too warm, as the feathers are apt to dry up quicker than the boys can beat the starch out of them; and, as a consequence, the flues or fibres are not expanded as they should be, and the feathers are much harder to curl. The board or table used to beat the feathers on must be perfectly smooth, as there is otherwise danger of tearing out the flues.
The drying of feathers is quite an important operation, and if not understood, can result in ruining a great many by drying them improperly, allowing the starch to dry up on the flues without beating it out, and by breaking the quills. The dry room is only used when the weather is too inclement to dry in the open air, or when you have not got outside accommodations. The yard or roof is far preferable to the dry room, and especially so for white and black feathers. After having been washed and the starch thoroughly removed, it will improve them greatly to expose them to the sun for an hour or two. Colors, especially delicate shades, should not be allowed to hang in the sun only during the actual time required for drying a black made by our process; it greatly improves upon exposure to the sunlight, giving it an advantage over all others. Baths of logwood or old garnet baths that you are desirous of saving for future use, it will be well to remove them from the copper or tin basins or pans to wooden buckets or crockery jars, and cover them up for the purpose of excluding all foreign matter.