MODERN BATIK

The application of the artificial dyestuffs to this ancient process has simplified it greatly, and has brought it within the scope of craftsmen in general.

Apparatus—Brushes.—You will soon find that for a good deal of the work, such as covering large surfaces with wax, or filling in large and bold designs, a small-sized paint brush is all that is necessary. The wax is melted in a cup or casserole, and painted on the cloth wherever the design calls for it. It will be found, however, no easy matter to get sharp and clear outlines in this way, and intricate or delicate patterns cannot be worked out by the brush only. When the wax is hot, it is hard to prevent it from spreading and running too far over the cloth, and, on the other hand, it cools so rapidly on the brush that, unless applied at once, it is hard to spread it at all, and the wax is liable not to stick to the cloth.

Much is saved both in time and in accuracy and clearness of outline, by using the brush in combination with the tjanting, drawing the outlines with the latter, and filling in with the brush.

When large surfaces have been covered with the wax, and the characteristic “crackle” effect is desired, it is often well to cool the goods, by placing them in the ice box or out of doors for a few minutes, and then to crumple them in the hands, before dyeing them. The composition of the wax, also, has much to do with this part of the work, as will be explained later.

The brush can also be employed for painting molten wax on to the goods through a stencil, in resist stencil work. This, however, is not satisfactory, even with metallic stencils, and fails completely with paper stencils, because the wax, on cooling, fastens stencil and cloth together so that they cannot be separated without injury.

It is much better practice, where a stencil design is to be worked with wax resist, to make an outline of the design on the goods with a sharp pencil, and then, removing the stencil, to fill in the pattern with tjanting and brush. This same practice of drawing the outline on the goods with pencil, or tracing paper, or by transferring from a charcoal drawing, by rubbing, is always to be recommended: except for those craftsmen who are such thoroughly trained draughtsmen that they can draw their designs free-hand, with the tjanting, without danger of slip or mistake. A pencil or crayon line, if not quite true, can be erased without spoiling the whole design, but it is quite a troublesome matter to correct a mistake made in molten wax.

Tjantings.—The real interest in this Batik process lies in the use of some form of pouring instrument by which the molten wax can be applied to the material in a fine stream, with much the same freedom that a drawing can be made with soft pencil or crayon. This practice has been developed in Java to its fullest extent, and a fine sarong, containing two or three yards of calico, will be completely covered, from one end to the other, with wonderfully intricate and elaborate designs in two or three colors, all produced, perfectly free-hand, by curious little tjantings, in the light fingers of the little Javanese women.

FIG. 20—“TEAPOT” MODEL OF TJANTING

FIG. 21—WALTHER GLASS TJANTING

FIG. 22—“WAX PENCIL” MODEL OF TJANTING

Teapots.—When we began experimenting with Batik, in our laboratory, we had no model of the Javanese tools to work with, and, from the drawings, we could not see how they could be used without constant dripping. So we designed a little brass apparatus, which we and our friends nicknamed a “teapot,” which, with some modification, is shown in Fig. [20], in which the molten wax remains in the cup until it is poured out. This, with practice, works fairly well, and some very interesting work has been done with it.

It is hard, however, to draw with it on a horizontal surface, such as we are accustomed to work on. And to follow Javanese practice, and have the cloth hanging over a frame, and to press it out with the left hand while the wax is applied with the instrument in the right, is oftentimes a nuisance.

The Walther Glass Tjanting.—It is evident that we were not alone in our fear of the Javanese models with spouts at the bottom, because, in Germany, Dr. C. Walther of Crefeld has designed and introduced a glass tjanting, shown in Fig. [21], which also delivers only on tipping the instrument forward. This we have experimented with but without much success. For we have found it difficult and awkward to draw with it on a horizontal surface, and also, being made of glass, while it is cheaper than the metal models, it is at the same time more fragile.

Wax Pencil.—An entirely new idea has recently been applied to the art of Batik by the introduction of a (patented) “wax pencil” (see Fig. [22]), made on the principle of the early stylographic pens.

This tool is made of heavy brass, with a removable wooden holder, and the wax, in cylinders, is shoved into it from the top after removing a cap. To melt the wax the wooden holder is slipped off, and the pencil is heated over a flame or on a hot electric plate, while the liquid wax is prevented from flowing out by a “needle valve” held in place by a small spiral spring. To use the tool, the holder is slipped over the pencil, taking care not to burn the fingers in so doing, and the pattern is traced in just the same way that it would be in ink, pressure on the projecting needle, by raising the valve, permitting a greater or lesser flow of wax.

These instruments are certainly more convenient to draw with than any of the forms previously mentioned, and, on hard smooth surfaces, such as leather, wood, bone, metal, etc., are satisfactory enough. But it is no easy matter to make them so that they will work well. For the valve which regulates the flow of wax works with a spiral spring. Now, if this spring is, or becomes, lax, the wax drips incessantly. If on the other hand it is too stiff, it is quite troublesome to press down the pin, at the tip, just hard enough to deliver a fine stream, without opening it too wide.

In our experience these instruments, which are quite expensive, do not work well with cloth and, especially, with rough weaves of cloth, like crash, scrim, pongee, coarse calico, and the like. For the pin is liable to catch and jump on the threads, and then it delivers the wax very unevenly.

FIG. 23—JAVANESE TJANTINGS

FIG. 24—AMERICAN MODIFICATION OF JAVANESE TJANTING

The Javanese Tjanting.—After much experimenting one of our friends finally brought us, from Holland, a real tjanting copied directly from the Javanese, and five minutes’ practice with it satisfied us that it was superior to any of the “improved” models that we had been working with. Since then we have seen, and studied, several different styles of Javanese tjantings, and have learned how they must be used to get the best results.

The secret of these instruments is two-fold. First, the size of the delivery tube, and second, the temperature of the wax.

The genuine Javanese tjanting (see Fig. [23]) is a little bit of a tool, holding only about 15 or 20 cubic centimeters of wax, made of very thin hammered copper, and fastened into a little bamboo handle, some four or five inches long. At the lowest part of the cup, which is drawn out at that point into a spout, is fastened the delivery tube, which is ofexceedingly small calibre, what chemists would call, in fact, a “capillary” tube. It will be noticed that the wooden handle extends forward, under the bowl, making it impossible to heat the bowl itself, or melt the wax in it, by a direct flame.

The wax is melted in a separate pot or large cup, and kept at a high temperature throughout; and the operator scoops out the wax from this pot with the bowl of the tjanting, wipes off the drip with a rag, and then proceeds to draw on the cloth. In Java, or wherever the cloth is kept upright, by hanging from a frame, the drip from the outside of the cup and the end of the handle is not so important, for it will fall in front of the cloth. When, however, the cloth is laid flat, for drawing, it is of the utmost importance to avoid all unnecessary dripping, and so it is probably advisable to ladle the wax from the pot into the tjanting, with a small casserole or ladle, rather than to dip it out directly.

Now, if the size of the delivery hole is right, and the wax is neither too hot nor too cold, it will form a little globule on the end of the tube, and stay there; and when this drop is wiped off and the tube at once applied to the cloth or other material, the wax will flow out in a fine thin stream, as long as it is drawn along in contact with the cloth, and when lifted up it will stop flowing until again applied to it. If the wax is too hot, so that it runs too freely, it is easy to cool it to the proper temperature by blowing on it. If it is too cool, so that it begins to chill in the tube, and to flow slowly and unevenly, it must be warmed by being again dipped into the hot wax for a new supply. Great pains must be taken to have the wax free from dust or grit, or else the delivery tube will be constantly stopping up. A fine but stiff bristle or a very thin whisk of broom corn should be always on hand for cleaning the tube. And after using the tjanting pains must be taken to clean out all the wax thoroughly before laying it aside, so that the tube will be clear for the melted wax, when it is next filled. The whole tjanting, tube and cup, should be gently warmed before filling, for fear of the wax chilling in the capillary tube before it can be applied. But the arrangement of the handle is such as to call for the use of an outside melting pot for the wax, while the small size of the cup is evidently so that the melted wax can be all poured out before it has time to chill.

Modification of the Javanese Tjanting.—We have with much trouble had some tjantings made here (see Fig. [24]), following closely the Javanese principles, which have proved extremely satisfactory. The delivery tube is equally fine, and the general action is the same. But the cup has been made somewhat larger, and very considerably heavier, so that it will hold more wax, and will hold the heat better. While, for economy’s sake, instead of hammered copper, the cup is made of spun brass, and the wooden handle is attached to its side, and not to the bottom of it. This enables the worker to heat the cup directly over the alcohol lamp, without danger of scorching the handle. Of course, when this is done carelessly, it is liable to char some of the wax in and near the tube, and so to cause stoppages. And also, it is hard to draw a series of fine lines of exactly the same thickness, unless the wax in the tjanting is always of practically the same temperature.

But there is no difficulty in filling these modified tjantings, just as the Javanese do, by scooping up the melted wax from a pot, or by pouring the melted wax into them from a casserole or ladle. While, in case the wax gets chilled in the tjanting, it is very convenient to be able to warm the cup quickly over a low clean flame, or by setting it upon the corner of a hot plate.

Composition of the Wax.—As a general rule we have found that ordinary unrefined beeswax, carefully melted and strained, or poured off, free from dust and sediment, is fairly satisfactory. It is, however, pretty expensive, and so can be replaced, without disadvantage, by the cheaper mineral wax, known in a crude state asOzocerite, and in its refined form, which alone should be employed, asCeresine. To make the wax more brittle, and thus to improve the “crackle,” it is well to add more or less paraffin. And it is well, too, to add considerable rosin, to make the wax adhere better to the goods, and not be so liable to rub or peel off. On the Continent, it is customary to use Japanese vegetable wax instead of beeswax, but we have not found this to be advantageous.

Where economy is desirable, or where it is hard to replace supplies, it is well to save the once used wax and use it over again, by extracting the wax from the goods, after dyeing, with boiling water, and then, when this cools, collecting the wax as a cake floating on the top.

Dyeing Batiked Goods.—In Holland and, to some extent, elsewhere on the Continent, where this process has been introduced, great stress has been laid upon the importance of using the old vegetable colors of the Javanese, along with their tjantings. It is hardly necessary to tell my readers that this practice is both unscientific and, in a true sense, uncraftsmanlike. The object of any intelligent craftsworker should be to produce beautiful and interesting and characteristic results in the most durable and effective manner possible, with the minimum expenditure of energy upon the mechanical, as opposed to the artistic, details. Why, after carefully batiking a good design on a piece of silk or calico, must the craftsman spend hour after hour of valuable time in some tedious, complicated, and expensive dyeing process, simply because “That is the way they do things in Java,” especially when, by using modern dyestuffs, he can get results quite as beautiful and far more permanent, in a few minutes’ time, and with far less danger of spoiling his work. Even the clever and skilful little Javanese could learn something from modern dyeing chemists.

The class of dyestuffs to use depends, of course, on the kind of materials that are being worked on. One of the great charms of this process is that it can be applied to all sorts and kinds of textiles and, indeed, of a host of things never included under that name.

Batik can be applied to cotton, linen, wool, silk, and other woven goods. It can also, if desired, be used upon basketry. And charming effects can be produced, by its aid, upon leather, pasteboard, parchment, vellum, and other bookbinding materials, as well as upon wood, bone, or indeed anything that possesses a smooth surface, and will hold a dyestuff.

On copper, brass, and other metals it can also be used, not, indeed, for dyeing, but for etching, with acids and other chemicals, with great success.

(a)Calico and Linen.—There is no doubt that for vegetable fabrics in general Batik is very well fitted, especially since the introduction of modern dyes, which are applied in a cold bath and are set by oxidation. The Sulphur dyes work extremely well, in cold or lukewarm baths, especially if used in a strong dye-bath. But they, it will be remembered, are not very bright colors, and are very short on the red side. For soft, quiet colorings, however, extremely fast to washing, and quite fast to light, which can be applied easily and readily, they will be found very useful.

But the fastest colors known, both for light and for washing, are the modern Vat colors, many of which, once reduced, will dye in a lukewarm or even a cold dye-bath. While indigo, the type of these colors, and still most useful, gives a soft rather greyish shade of blue, more effective by itself than when mixed, there can be found among the Helindones, Thio indigoes, and the rest, a full palette of dyes which, properly mixed, will furnish any shade that may be desired.

The dyeing directions for batiked goods are the same as for ordinary calico. The materials, well wetted, are immersed, drained, wrung, and oxidized as usual. The wax is usually removed in one or more boiling soap baths, which help as well to set the color and to remove unattached dyestuff.

(b)Silk.—Silk, as in other processes, can be dyed in several different ways, according to the fastness to light and washing desired.

The easiest way, especially when trying to match shades, is to dye, with the Acid dyes, in a soap bath acidified with a little sulphuric, or, preferably, with acetic acid. These shades, however, while brilliant and fast to light, are not at all fast to washing, and so the wax must be removed later, with benzine or gasoline, and not with a hot soap bath.

The sulphur dyes, with a little glucose in the bath, and plenty of dyestuff, will give extremely fast colors on silk, but in most cases these shades will be too dull for proper effect. They can be greatly improved in color, though with some sacrifice of fastness, by topping them, without removing the wax, in a cold bath of Basic dyes, dissolved with a little acetic acid.

For extremely fast colors the Vat dyes can be used. Easier to apply, especially for rather light shades, are some of the Salt colors which, though they do not take as well on silk, in the cold, as they do on cotton will, nevertheless, color it well, with prolonged immersion, in a strong bath, in the presence of formic acid, and once on, will stand a very considerable amount of washing.

(c)Wool.—In case it is necessary to apply this process to wool, the latter will probably be dyed in the cold with Acid dyes, in the presence of some sodium sulphate (Glauber’s salt) and dilute sulphuric acid.

To make this color faster to washing, steaming, and the like, it is best, after dyeing, drying, and removing the wax with benzine, to boil the dyed goods for half an hour or more in a bath containing a little Glauber’s salt and dilute sulphuric acid, but no dyestuff.

(d)Leather.—As a rule, the Batiked leather should be dyed with Acid colors, acidified with acetic or formic acid, though they can be shaded afterwards, if desired, by staining with Basic colors.

After dyeing, the wax can be removed by benzine or, softened carefully by the cautious approach of a hot iron, can be incorporated with the polishing wax, used for rubbing down and finishing the surface.

(e)Wood.—Batiked wood can be stained by soaking it in, or by brushing it with, a solution of an acid color, acidified with a little acetic acid. These dyes are more soluble than most of the other classes, and hence soak into and penetrate the fibres better. They may bleed, however, if exposed to warm water.

The Basic colors or even the Salt colors can be used, but, while they are apt to adhere more firmly, they do not soak in as well.

The wax is either used for polishing, or is removed by benzine.

(f)Baskets.—Basketry can be decorated by Batik, although it is but rarely done. The baskets would be dyed with Basic colors and acetic acid, excepting where yellows and reds were needed, fast to light, in which case the Acid colors would be used.

(g)Bone.—Very pretty effects can be produced with Batik upon polished surface of bone or ivory. These are dyed carefully with Acid colors in a bath containing acetic acid.

This process is a combination of dyeing and etching, for the acid attacks the exposed surfaces, removing the polish and opening the way for the action of the dyestuff later.

Batik Used for Etching.—The talents of Batik are numerous, for the usefulness of the Batik tjanting and brush are not confined to the dyer, but can be readily availed of by any metal or wood worker who happens to be a skilled draughtsman as well. Wax is a good resist, not only against dyes and the weak chemicals used in connection with them, but also against many of the most powerful reagents known to the chemist, such as sulphuric acid, for instance, or strong caustic alkali.

Accordingly, if a piece of smooth wood is carefully batiked and then, instead of being painted with dyestuff in solution, it has some strong sulphuric acid, or a concentrated solution of caustic potash poured and spread upon it, in a few minutes, after the reagent is washed off and the wax removed with gasoline or otherwise, the exposed surfaces of the wood will be found softened and corroded, so that on scrubbing with a stiff brush, they can be readily rubbed away, and the waxed portions will stand out in relief.

Metal work, like copper or brass plates and dishes, can be etched readily in the same way, the pattern of the relief being drawn in wax, and the metal exposed for a greater or less time to the action of dilute nitric acid.

Without going further into details it is hoped that enough has been stated here to impress on the student the possibilities of this beautiful process in a large number of different directions.

Chapter XVIII
THE INFLUENCE OF THE WAR UPON THE DYESTUFF INDUSTRY

In Chapter II of this book it has been explained how the dyeing industry of the whole world was changed by the discovery and commercial preparation of the first aniline dyestuff, mauveine, in 1856, by the English chemist Perkin. Under his leadership the supremacy in this new industry was kept in England; but when he retired from the field the manufacture of dyestuffs was soon concentrated in Germany. For over forty years before the beginning of the Great War, the Germans had almost complete and absolute control over the whole color business, including many allied industries like the manufacture of organic chemicals, drugs, perfumes, flavoring matters and the like, derived originally from coal tar. In Germany were four or five great and splendidly equipped factories, and some ten or fifteen others of less importance, all thoroughly organized and working together most harmoniously under what would, in the United States, be called a most perfect specimen of a Trust. Opposed to them all over the world there could be found but a handful of comparatively small and unimportant firms in Switzerland, France, England and the United States—producing altogether not over about ten per cent of the output of their German competitors.

Compared to other industries the output of dyestuffs needed for the whole world’s consumption is not a very large one—some sixty or seventy million dollars a year all told; and it was freely boasted, and more or less accepted by the rest of the world, that “the dyestuff industry is a one-nation industry, and that nation is Germany!”

Rise of the German Dyestuff Monopoly.—The story of how this came about was once told the writer by Sir William Perkin, when he was in New York, in 1896, at the time of the “Coal Tar Color Jubilee,” the fiftieth anniversary of his famous discovery.

He said that in the early days, when he was running his plant near Manchester, the most dangerous competitors he had to face were the French. He described them as excellent chemists and keen, but fair-fighting business men; and the Germans, in those days, were far inferior to them in every way—in ability, in originality, and, above all, in honesty.

He went so far as to say that, for years before he left the business, he and other English chemists had entirely abandoned attempts to patent their discoveries in Berlin. He had found, by sad experience, that whenever he sent over an application for a patent on a new dyestuff, or new chemical compound of importance, the German Patent Office would at once call in, for consultation, the leading German chemists who were interested in that line of work. He would get request after request for more and more detailed information about every part of the process; and then, when they had got from him every bit of information that they could, they would grant the patent to some one of his German competitors, who, in many cases at least, had never even dreamed of the thing, until Perkin had sent his application to Berlin. In fact, he said the English and French chemists considered them as rank, bare-faced pirates, and none too successful pirates at that.

Two Germans however, in 1869, did work out the composition of alizarine, the dyestuff of madder, and published their discovery in the chemical journals. But while they discovered and patented one method for preparing this Alizarine from coal tar on a commercial scale, Perkin in England, and some dyestuff chemists in France discovered other methods equally good or perhaps better for producing the same identical color at less expense. So they still kept well ahead of the Germans even in that.

Soon after this, in 1870, the Franco-Prussian war broke out. At once the French and German factories closed, at any rate for any foreign trade, and as the cultivation of madder had by that time been abandoned, Perkin found that all the Turkey red for the whole Eastern market must be dyed with his Manchester alizarine. Orders came pouring in, and in order to keep up with the demand, it would be necessary for him to greatly increase the size of his plant, and to put back into it all his savings of the past fourteen or fifteen very profitable years.

This, he told me, he was unwilling to do. But, just at that moment, he was approached by a firm of Manchester business men, who had been supplying his works with some of the raw materials from coal tar (crudes and intermediates as they call them now), with an offer to buy his works and his interest in the business. He was perfectly frank and open with them, showed them his books, his profits for the past few years, his present orders and the rest, and after a little bargaining he sold out to them for a very fair price, which he immediately invested in the best of securities and on which he lived in comfort for the rest of his long and extremely happy life.

Ruin of the English Dyestuff Industry.—As soon as they had gained possession of his factory, the Manchester people began to pass word around among their friends, that they were going to show the whole world how to run a chemical industry. Perkin, they agreed, was indeed a clever fellow in his way, and undoubtedly a good chemist, but he was nobusiness man. They were going to run those works on good, practical, common-sense business lines, and they and their few friends whom they allowed to join them, boasted loudly and deeply of their expected profits. Their motto was the well-established one “Manufacture cheap and sell dear”—and they proceeded to follow it implicitly.

They went over all the details of the business with the greatest care, and soon found what seemed to them a willful piece of extravagance. Perkin himself, and three or four other chemists, were drawing salaries, not for the actual making of the dyestuffs but forexperimental purposes, and they had quite an expensive laboratory used for that purpose alone!

Of course this was at once eliminated—and great was their satisfaction when they found that they had thereby cut down the price of making their dyes two or three cents a pound.

Then it came to the “selling dear” part of it. Perkin told me that the last few years that he ran his factory, he kept the price of his dyestuffs at a reasonable figure, so that, indeed, he would get a good profit from them, but that, on the other hand, it would be no easy matter for competitors to break into his field with success. His alizarine, in particular, he had kept at a price just below what it would pay to grow madder in opposition to it, and he had not raised the price to any great extent since the war had given him a monopoly. These Manchester people, however, fully recognized that they were the only manufacturers of alizarine, anywhere, and were over-flooded with orders—so they instantly jumped up the price of their alizarine to four or five times its former figures.

Barely had they completed their “business” reorganization of the plant when the war came to an end, and the Germans marched back to their own country, with “five milliards” of French money, full of self-confidence (to use a very mild term) and looking around for new fields to conquer in peace, now that they had won all that they could at that time by war. Instantly every German with any knowledge of the textile or dyestuff industries turned his eyes at once in that direction. “What! Alizarine at five dollars a pound instead of a dollar; why, any fool can make a profit on colors at that price!” And immediately, in different parts of the country, factory after factory was started, each one centered around some first-class chemist, of national if not international reputation, with instructions to gather around himself a staff of the most brilliant and best trained organic chemists he could find, to be used first of all in experimental and investigating work as well as for the mere preparation of dyestuffs.

As a result, in a very short time, these new German firms were supplying alizarine and other dyestuffs to the Manchester Turkey red manufacturers at lower prices than they could be made for in Perkin’s old factory in the immediate neighborhood; and, before the end of the year, those clever business men were complaining bitterly to Perkin that he had cheated them in the sale of his works, and were wanting him to give them their money back, which, as the old gentleman told me with a chuckle, he very positively and decidedly refused to do.

From that time until the beginning of the Great War the great English textile industry, with its enormous trade all over the world, was obliged to buy practically all its dyestuffs from Germany.

Dyestuff Industry in the United States.—The manufacture of dyestuffs in this country was a little better than in England, because of the tariff protection granted it by the Government for many years. Four or five factories of very moderate size kept up a rather precarious existence, because their chief raw materials, the so-called “intermediates,” organic chemicals made from coal tar and from which the principal products, dyes, drugs, perfumes and the like are made in turn, all had to be imported from Europe, and, in most cases, from their German rivals who naturally kept a tight rein upon the quantity and quality of their output.

In 1913 even this industry was destroyed by the abolition of the duties on dyestuffs in the new tariff, thanks to the pressure for free raw materials brought by the great textile industries, probably at the instigation of the foreign color houses.

Changed Conditions Due to the War.—Since 1914 this whole situation has been radically and completely changed all over the world. Appreciating the great danger to their textile trades from the lack of dyestuffs, and also the vast military importance of a large and highly developed coal tar products industry, for the manufacture of high explosives, smokeless powder and the like, nation after nation has given government assistance not only in the line of money, but also with patent legislation and new tariff. England with its British Dye Works, Ltd., France with the St. Denis Works, now greatly enlarged and strengthened, Italy, Japan, all have made arrangements for supplying their trade with home-made dyestuffs, of excellent quality, not only during but after the temporary disturbance due to the actual fighting.

In the United States there soon were made many more or less independent and spasmodic efforts to supply at least the principal and most generally used colors, notably the Basic dyes, Methylene Blue, Methyl Violet and the like, so much used in calico printing, silk and wool dyeing, leather and other lines, and the simpler Sulphur colors, like Sulphur Black, Blues, and Browns. These were selling, before the end of 1914, at comparatively huge prices, and until the peace will probably still command from five to ten times their usual values.

But out of these scores of generally quite small and isolated factories, there have sprung, by the fourth year of hostilities, a few large, well equipped and fully financed organizations which will be able, within a very short time, indeed probably before these lines appear in print, to fully provide this country with the main standard dyes, quite as good in every respect as the same dyes made by the best German color houses. And, unless very adverse tariff legislation should be introduced, they should be in a position, after the close of the war, to hold their trade against any foreign competition. It will, of course, take several years before they can supply in this country the very finest special dyestuffs, of which but small quantities are ever needed or used, and which in most cases are fully protected by patents, as well as by secret methods of manufacture. But, with the exception of the vat colors, of which artificial Indigo and the closely allied Brom-indigo are at present the only ones made in this country, the dyeing trade will be, in a short time, well supplied with excellent standard colors “made in America.”

The three important American dyestuff houses already started with the addresses of their New York offices are as follows:—

American—American Aniline Products. Inc.,
80 Fifth Avenue.
Marden—Marden, Orth and Hastings,
61 Broadway.
National—National Aniline and Chemical Co.,
244 Madison Avenue.

And also, soon to engage in the manufacture of dyestuffs on a large scale:—

The Dupont de Nemours Chemical Co.,
of Wilmington, Del.

Lists of the Best Dyestuffs, in the Different Classes, Made Thus Far by the American Manufacturers

At the present moment, November, 1917, but few of the home-made colors are as fast to light as the specially selected dyes of the great German houses, listed on pages 66, 89, 103 and 127. Those in the following lists are the best made at present, in the United States, and will be steadily improved upon as time goes on.

Direct Cotton or Salt Dyes.—

American—Benzo Fast Yellow, A
Direct Sky Blue
Marden—Stilbene Yellow
Direct Blue
Direct Brown
National—Delta Red, 2 B
Niagara Fast Yellow, F
Niagara Blue, 2 B
Erie Black, G X OO

Sulphur Colors.—

Marden—Sulphur Black
Sulphur Brown
National—Sulphur Brown, W F
Sulphur Yellow, B W
Sulphur Direct Navy Blue
Sulphur Black, F conc.

Vat Colors.—

Dibrom Indigo, powder and paste
Synthetic Indigo, 20% paste

Made by the Dow Chemical Company of Midland, Michigan. New York Agents, Geisenheimer & Co., 134 Cedar Street.

Synthetic Indigo and Sodium hydrosulphite can also be obtained from Klipstein, 634 Greenwich Street, New York.

Basic Colors.—

Many of these such as Methylene Blue, Methyl Violet, Phosphine, Bismarck Brown and others, including leather Black, are being made by American, Marden and National, as well as by many firms that so far have not gone into the general color business. One of the most important of these last, who, besides the above, make a brilliant basic Green, called by them Methylene Green, is the Meth-O-Lene Co., Inc., 81-83 Fulton Street, New York.

Auramine, at present, can best be obtained from Klipstein. Nigrosine soluble in water, in jet black and bluish shades, is made by Marden, Meth-O-Lene and other firms, and is largely used for dyeing leather fast brilliant shades of black.

Acid Colors.—

American—Fast Yellow, H Ex.
Brilliant Blue, conc.
Cloth Red, H
Acid Black, L conc.
Marden—Metanril Yellow
Orange, No. 2
Fast Acid Red
Croceine Scarlet
National—Azo Yellow, A S W
Scarlet, B R
Acid Black, 4 A B

Also Tartrazine, a fast acid yellow much used for wool, not for silk.