Nor need the craftsman of today spend idle time mourning the disappearance of vegetable colors and his necessity for using coal tar dyes. We must remember that only the best of the vegetable dyeing has come down to us. The proportion of poor work with vegetable dyes has always been as large or even larger than with the present-day colors. We are too prone to compare the ordinary home dyeing of today or the cheaper commercial dyeing with the good pieces that have been preserved from the past. When in justice the comparison is made of the best with the best, the coal tar dyes not only do not suffer but they really gain.
The coal tar dyes are like the vegetable dyes in the sense of being organic. In many instances they are identical chemically with corresponding dyes formerly obtained from vegetables. The one difference, as we have indicated, is their purity. Just as our granules of sugar have displaced the sweetening of former days; just as our modern medicines have succeeded the herb-teas of our grandparents, so also have come our dyes. All are achievements of science.
Coal tar dyes have come to stay, vegetable dyes for the most part have gone and will not return, and there is no sadness in the word. It is rather for us to rise to the challenge that has come, to recognize our greater heritage, and by pains, patience and intelligence in our work to ply the art worthily.
COLOR MIXING
The following general principles of color mixing apply to dyeing, both when colors are mixed in a dye-bath and when they are dyed one color over another:
Red is grayed by small amounts of yellow and blue or by any color containing both of these, as green, brown or gray.
Yellow is grayed by small amounts of red and blue or by any color containing both of these, as purple, brown or gray.
Blue is grayed by small amounts of red and yellow, or by any color containing both of these, as orange, brown or gray.
Red plus yellow gives orange or yellowish red or reddish yellow. These are grayed by a small amount of blue or any color containing blue, as green, purple, brown or gray.
Red plus blue gives purple or reddish blue or bluish red. These are grayed by a small amount of yellow or any color containing yellow, as orange, green, brown or gray.