The Dyer's Guide / Being a compendium of the art of dyeing linen, cotton, silk, wool, muslin, dresses, furniture, &c. &c.; with the method of scouring wool, bleaching cotton, &c., and directions for ungumming silk, and for whitening and sulphuring silk and wool; and also an introductory epitome of the leading facts in chemistry, as connected with the art of dyeing

by Thomas Packer

Crimson by Brazil wood.

The silk should be first alumed, and then passed through a strong decoction of Brazil wood, half a pail to a pound of silk, which is to be worked, and put through an additional and strengthened dye of Brazil wood, and then washed off: if in hard water this will generally crimson the Brazil wood sufficiently; but if in soft water a little pearl-ash must be added; about one pound of the clear solution of pearl-ash, or rather the clear solution of a pound of pearl-ash, as one pound of water will not, we believe, dissolve a pound of pearl-ash: this is enough for forty pounds of silk.

The decoction of Brazil wood is prepared thus: one hundred and fifty pounds of Brazil wood chips are put into a copper which holds about sixty buckets of water; the copper is then filled with water and boiled for three hours, the waste by evaporation being occasionally supplied. The fire is now damped, the clear liquor drawn off, the copper filled again, and again boiled for three hours more. This process is repeated four times in all, when the dye of the wood will be fully extracted.

Logwood and old fustic are treated in the same manner, but only two boilings are required for these.

In regard to crimson generally, see forward, observations on dyeing silk crimson and scarlet, and also some observations on the dyeing of wool scarlet, page 85.