Vegetable Dyes: Being a Book of Recipes and Other Information Useful to the Dyer

by Ethel Mairet

E-text prepared by Julie Barkley, Diane Monico,
and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
(http://www.pgdp.net)

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Vegetable
Dyes

Being a book of Recipes and other
information useful to the Dyer

by

ETHEL M. MAIRET

FABER AND FABER LTD
24 Russell Square
London

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First published in Mcmxvi
by the Ditchling Press
Reprinted, for the sixth time April Mcmxxxviii
and published by Faber and Faber Limited
24 Russell Square, London
Printed at the Ditchling Press, Ditchling
All rights reserved

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CONTENTS

CHAPTER		PAGE
I.	Wool, Silk, Cotton and Linen	[1]
II.	Mordants	[6]
III.	British Dye Plants	[11]
IV.	The Lichen Dyes	[16]
V.	Blue	[24]
VI.	Red	[31]
VII.	Yellow	[35]
VIII.	Brown and Black	[40]
IX.	Green	[43]
X.	The Dyeing of Cotton	[46]
XI.	The Dyeing of Silk	[56]
	Glossary	[60]
	Bibliography	[63]
	Index	[65]

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CHAPTER I

WOOL SILK COTTON AND LINEN

WOOLS are of various kinds:—

Highland, Welsh and Irish wools are from small sheep, not far removed from the wild state, with irregular short stapled fleeces.

Forest or Mountain sheep (Herdwick, Exmoor, Cheviot, Blackfaced, Limestone) have better wool, especially the Cheviot, which is very thick and good for milling.

Ancient Upland, such as South Down, are smaller sheep than the last named, but the wool is softer and finer.

Long Woolled sheep, (Lincolns, Leicester) with long staple wool (record length, 36".) and fleeces weighing up to 12 lbs. The Leicester fleece is softer, finer and better than Lincoln.

To the end of the 18th century Spanish wool was the finest and best wool in the world. Spanish sheep have since been introduced into various countries, such as Saxony, Australia, Cape Colony, New Zealand; and some of the best wools now come from the Colonies.

Alpaca, Vicuna and Llama wools are from different species of American goats.

Mohair from the Angora goat of Asia Minor.

Kashmir Wool from the Thibetan goat.

Camel hair, the soft under wool of the camel, which is shed annually.

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:

Lambs, 3 to 6 months growth, the finest, softest and most elastic wool.

Hogs and Tegs: the first shearing of sheep that have not been shorn as lambs.

Wethers: all clips succeeding the first shearing.

Wool comes into the market in the following condition. 1. In the grease, not having been washed and containing all the impurities. 2. Washed, with some of the grease removed and fairly clean. 3. Scoured, thoroughly cleaned and all grease removed.

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.