Proportion of wool, one pound; of alum, two ounces and a half; of white tartar in powder, one ounce and a half. Having the water properly cleared by bran, let the alum and tartar be boiled in it; when it begins to boil, stir the mixture well, and put in the worsted, which boil in the liquor for two hours; then prepare a fresh liquor for the cochineal, one ounce of which, in powder, is to be used for every pound of wool; when it begins to boil, stir it well, put in the worsted, and boil it till the liquor in the vessel is free from colour, it having parted with the colouring matter of the cochineal, which should now all be upon the worsted. If a series of shades be required, less quantities of cochineal, alum, and tartar, must be used; the lightest shade is dyed first.
The preparation of archil to finish the CRIMSON.
Put as much archil as the goods may require, and according to the deepness or lightness of the shades of the crimson required, into a copper of water of a suitable size, and boil it, (the best canary archil will bear boiling); damp the fire, let the archil settle, and then have a fresh liquor for the goods to be put in, to receive a proportion of archil according to the pattern desired to be matched. Begin with the lightest and end with the deepest, reserving the remains of the archil liquor, if it be not all spent, for common compound colours of such shades as it will be advantageous to use it in. (See the next article.)
On dyeing wool SCARLET.
Scarlet owes its beauty to a solution of tin in muriatic acid. For this purpose some use muriate of ammonia, commonly called sal-ammoniac, others use common salt. It is of little consequence whether common salt or sal-ammoniac be used: different preparations are employed by different persons. The author has found the following to answer every expectation.
Melt an ounce of grain tin in an iron ladle, till an oxide is formed on the surface; then pour it from a height or distance into cold water. Pour the water from it, and it is fit for use, being then called feathered tin. Put this tin into a glass vessel or stone jar, and add to it eight ounces of nitric acid, eight ounces of water, half an ounce of sal-ammoniac, and two drachms of nitrate of potash. This preparation is better if made some time before it is used; it is a compound of nitrate and muriate of tin.
Should any one prefer a pure muriate of tin, the method of making it will be found in the last chapter, in observations on crimson and scarlet upon silk.
Into a copper of cleared boiling water, the heat being reduced, and having the worsted wetted out ready; for every pound of which (dry) put two ounces of cream of tartar or white tartar in powder, and one drachm and a half of cochineal in powder. When the liquor is ready to boil, add two ounces and a half of the first-mentioned solution of tin, which immediately changes the colour; stir it well: as soon as the liquor boils put in the worsted, and boil it till the colour of the cochineal is taken up by it. The worsted must now be taken out, when it will be of a flesh-colour, the water in the copper having lost its colouring matter. To finish the worsted, another quantity of clean water is made warm, into which six drachms and a half of cochineal are to be put; just before it boils, two ounces of the same solution of tin are to be poured in, the liquor undergoing a similar change as before. The worsted is again put in, and boiled till it has imbibed the colour; it is then taken out, wrung, and rinsed in clean water, when the scarlet is in perfection.
One ounce of cochineal to a pound of wool, will impart a colour sufficiently deep, if managed according to the method above described, no colour being left in the remaining liquor.
For many shades of scarlet it will be, however, necessary, and, in a fresh liquor, to add either a certain portion of turmeric or young fustic, to give the scarlet that fiery red which some scarlets have. If not in an entire fresh liquor, a part of the old liquor must be taken out before the yellow is added.