202. GREEN STAIN FOR VIOLINS, &c.
Take of strong vinegar, 3 pints; of best verdigris, 4 ozs., ground fine; of sap green, 1/2 oz.; of indigo, 1/2 oz.; mix all together.
203. GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR DYEING
The materials should be perfectly clean; soap should be rinsed out in soft water; the article should be entirely wetted, or it will spot; light colours should be steeped in brass, tin or earthen; and, if set at all, should be set with alum. Dark colours should be boiled in iron, and set with copperas; too much copperas rots the thread.
204. FOR COLOURING SKY BLUE
Get the blue composition; it may be had at the druggist's, or clothier's, for a shilling an ounce. If the articles are not white, the old colours should all be discharged by soap or a strong solution of tartaric acid, then rinsed; 12 or 16 drops of the composition, stirred into a quart-bowl of warm water, and strained if settlings are seen, will dye a great many articles. If you want a deeper colour, add a few drops more of the composition. If you wish to colour cotton goods, put in pounded chalk to destroy the acid, which is very destructive to all cotton; let it stand until the effervescence subsides, and then it may be safely used for cotton or silk.
205. FOR LILAC COLOUR
Take a little pinch of archil, and put some boiling-hot water upon it, add to it a very little lump of pear-lash. Shades may be altered by pear-lash, common slat, or wine.
206. TO COLOUR BLACK
Logwood and cider, boiled together in iron, water being added for the evaporation, makes a good durable black. Rusty nails or any bits of rusty iron, boiled in vinegar, with a small piece of copperas, will also dye black; so will ink powder, if boiled with vinegar. In all cases, black must be set with copperas.