LIGHT BROWN.
Clean and rinse them as usual, prepare a bath of 170-190° F., with redarine, a trace of orange O, and some acid green; enter feathers and work for one-half hour, then lift, rinse and dry. By varying the proportions of dyestuffs, a series of modes is obtainable. (Dyestuffs manufactured by Leonhardt & Co., of Mannheim).
RUST BROWN.
Prepare a slightly acidulated warm bath with three per cent., of the weight of feathers, fast aniline brown, one per cent. azo yellow, one percent. extract of indigo, and a little sulphuric acid; enter the well scoured and rinsed feathers at 120-140° F., work the feathers for one-half hour, while slowly raising the temperature to the boiling point; continue dyeing at that degree of heat, but not boiling, for five minutes; lift, rinse, starch and dry.
RED BROWN.
I. Scour and rinse well; prepare a warm bath, in which dissolve three per cent., of the weight of feathers, alum, add twenty-five per cent. extract of archil, one and one half per cent. azo yellow, and if required for shade, one-half per cent. indigo carmine; enter at 170° F., dye to shade while slowly raising the temperature to near the boiling point, continue at that temperature for ten to fifteen minutes longer; then lift, rinse and dry. Instead of indigo carmine, cloth-blue S. may be used, in which case enter at 120° and raise the temperature slowly, not above 190° F. Or,
II. Prepare a bath at 190° F., add five per cent. bisulphate of soda, when dissolved, add solution of extract of archil, fast yellow and indigo carmine as required for the shade, and dye at that temperature to sample. Instead of archil, any red or orange azo dyestuff may be used, preferably bordeaux.
COFFEE BROWN.
Have the feathers will cleaned and rinsed, bleaching being not required, prepare a bath with three per cent. alum (of the weight of feathers), at 170° F., add indigo carmine, bordeaux and azo yellow, according to sample, and dye to shade while slowly raising the temperature to near the boiling point, but bring not to boil, but continue until the indigo carmine is well up. A less fast color is obtained with archil, indigo carmine and picric acid. When finished dyeing, rinse, starch and dry as usual.
The dyestuffs for brown being nearly the same for all shades, while the depth and tone of the color is produced by differently proportioning the quantities of the different dyestuffs and the time of dyeing, it is advantageous to have the solutions of dyestuffs near by on hand; it is advisable, however, if good work is intended, to always filter before using solutions which have been standing for some time. This precaution is necessary, because from most solutions, if allowed to stand for a day or longer, some dyestuff which was not dissolved but only suspended in the liquid, separates out forming a more or less copious sediment which, if it passes into the dye bath, settles upon the feathers causing spots or streaks of a different shade than the rest of the feathers.