All light colored feathers can be used for navy blue without first either washing or bleaching out any of the color. But if your feathers be very dirty or greasy, especially the latter, wash them well in warm soap water and rinse. Prepare bath by diluting about one teaspoonful of concentrated cotton blue in one gallon of boiling water; add about a teaspoonful of oxalic acid. Stir around well to thoroughly dissolve aniline; then enter your feathers, and raise temperature of your bath to boiling. Let feathers remain in about three minutes; a minute more will not do any harm, only have a tendency to make your color a little richer; after which take feathers out of bath and rinse thoroughly in cold water for the purpose of removing all loose particles of color and the acid; having boiling meantime a bath of logwood of medium strength; enter feathers, letting them remain therein about one-half a minute; take out and rinse in cold water; dilute about half an ounce of bichromate of potash in a gallon of boiling water; enter feathers, let them remain in about half a minute, and stir them around well in bath; after which take them out and rinse in cold water and starch and dry. Should you desire a darker shade, rinse off starch, and return to logwood bath for a few seconds, rinse off and repeat bichromate of potash bath; then rinse, starch and dry. In this way, by repeating the logwood and bichromate of potash, you can darken your color down almost to a black.
Should you get your color darker than your sample to be matched, rinse off starch in clear cold water, and dilute a teaspoonful of oxalic acid in a gallon of hot water almost boiling and enter feathers, passing them through about a half minute; after which take out and pass through a basin of boiling water a few seconds. This will draw off the surplus of logwood and chrome, and then mix a starch bath luke warm; add thereto a half teaspoonful of oxalic acid for the purpose of bringing up the blue. This process will reduce your color three or four shades; then pass feathers and dry. This process of dyeing navy blue produces a rich, even shade that is perfectly fast to light and alkali, and with the smallest degree of judgment by the dyer it is impossible to have a failure.
CARDINAL.
Years ago the most successful shades of cardinal were produced by taking about equal parts of turmeric and oxalic acid and diluting in boiling water, entering feathers in same for a while; then adding thereto about half a cupful of extract of safflower and about the same amount of extract of archil, letting them remain in until the bath was cold. Not a bad recipe, but very expensive.
Prepare your feathers by washing and rinsing thoroughly, after which take about one gallon of boiling water, and add to it about one teaspoonful of oxalic acid, and enter feathers for a few seconds. Take out and add to bath a teaspoonful of rocceline powder, thoroughly dissolved, and re-enter feathers; raise temperature of bath to boiling, either with steam or fire, and let feathers remain in about four minutes. If quite a dark shade of cardinal be required, add to bath about a tablespoonful of extract of archil and let remain in a little longer, or a few drops of diluted violet in bath will answer instead. Then empty out all but a small quantity of your bath and cool off with cold water, and add a small handful of starch. Pass feathers through, squeeze out and dry. The result is a most beautiful shade of cardinal. This color is perfectly fast to light. If your shade to match should happen to be slightly on the yellowish order, a few drops of diluted aniline brown added to bath with rocceline will produce the yellowish tint. It is hardly possible to spoil this color, except by the extravagant use of one of the ingredients.
CHOCOLATE—page [75]. CORN—page [64].
MEDIUM BLUE—page [67]. BEIGE—page [62].
CRUSHED STRAWBERRY.
Prepare feathers by washing and rinsing thoroughly in luke warm water; or if old, dark, faded out colors, pass them through bleaching process of permanganate of potash; afterwards being careful to rinse all the acid out before entering bath. Prepare bath by diluting a small handful of starch in about a gallon of luke warm water, enter feathers and manipulate thoroughly between the hands for a few seconds; take out, and add to bath a few drops of diluted safranine; re-enter feathers and let remain in bath about one minute, or until they have assumed a dark shade of pink; then add to bath a few drops of diluted aniline brown and a small pinch of copperas, and enter feathers, letting them remain a minute longer. Take feathers out, and dry in the usual way.