| Muskrat, dyed and plucked | sold as seal |
| Nutria, plucked and dyed | sold as seal |
| Nutria, plucked and natural | sold as beaver |
| Rabbit, sheared and dyed | sold as seal or electric seal |
| Otter, plucked and dyed | sold as seal |
| Marmot, dyed | sold as mink or sable |
| Fitch, dyed | sold as sable |
| Rabbit, dyed | sold as sable |
| Rabbit, dyed and sheared | sold as beaver |
| Muskrat, dyed | sold as mink or sable |
| Hare, dyed | sold as sable, fox, or lynx |
| Wallaby, dyed | sold as skunk |
| White rabbit, natural | sold as ermine |
| White rabbit, dyed | sold as chinchilla |
| White hare, dyed or natural | sold as foxes, etc. |
| Goat, dyed | sold as bear, leopard, etc. |
This list serves to indicate but a few of the great number of possibilities which are available for the fur dyer to produce imitations of the better classes of furs. Needless to say, these imitations cannot, as a general rule, equal the originals, because while the color is one of the most important features in judging the fur, the nature of the hair, gloss, waviness, thickness, and also the durability are essential considerations, and it is only in certain instances that skins used for imitations approach the originals in these respects. However, for the purposes and desires of the majority of people who wear furs, the imitations are deemed quite satisfactory, and they also have the advantage of being cheaper than the natural originals.
For whichever reason furs are dyed, there is no doubt that the art of fur dyeing is one of the most difficult kinds of application of dye materials. In the dyeing of the various textiles, either as skein or woven fabric, the material is of a uniform nature, and therefore the dye is absorbed evenly by the fibres. Moreover, textiles are dyed at, or near the boil, the dyestuff being more uniformly and permanently taken up from solution by the fibre at elevated temperatures.
How different is the case with furs! Far from being homogeneous, furs present the greatest possible diversity of fibres to be dyed. As already noted elsewhere, fur consists of two principal parts, the hair and the leather, differing widely in their actions toward dyes. As a general rule, the leather absorbs dyestuffs much more readily than the pelage, and inasmuch as fur dyeing is intended mainly and primarily to apply to the hair, there is usually an appreciable loss of dye material due to its being absorbed by the leather, and thereby rendered unavailable for dyeing the hair. This fact must be taken into account in the dyeing of furs, and the methods must be adapted accordingly.
With reference to the hair itself, not only has each class of furs hair of a different kind, but even in the same group there is always a considerable divergence in the properties of the hair. The fur-hair, being more or less of a woolly nature, takes up the dye with comparative ease, while the top-hair is quite resistant to the action of all dye materials. As pointed out in the discussion of the nature of fur, on different parts of the same pelt the hair varies in its capacity for absorbing coloring matters. The color of the hair, also frequently presents a great variety throughout the skin, both in fur-hair and top-hair. Yet with all this lack of uniformity and homogeneity, the dyed fur must be of an even color, closely approaching the natural, gently graded and without any harsh or unduly contrasted effects. The natural gloss of the hair, one of the most valuable qualities of the fur, must be preserved. This is by no means a simple matter, for the luster is affected by dyes and chemicals with comparative ease, and especially careful treatment is necessary to prevent any diminution of the gloss.
When the leather part of the fur is exposed to solutions of a temperature exceeding 40°–50° centigrade, it soon shrivels up or shrinks, and on drying the pelt, becomes hard and brittle, and therefore quite useless. Methods of fur dyeing have to take into consideration this fact, and the temperature of the dyebath must not be greater than 35°–40° centigrade. To be sure, certain dressings make furs capable of withstanding much higher temperatures, but their applicability is not universal, being suited only for a very limited special class of dyestuffs. (V. Fur Dressing). The necessity for employing comparatively low temperatures, coupled with the great resistance of the hair to the absorption of dye, even at much higher temperatures, makes fur-dyeing a very difficult operation indeed. Another obstacle which must be surmounted, is the possibility of extraction by the dye solution, of those materials, chemical or otherwise, which are contained in the leather, and which are the basis of its permanence, softness and flexibility. For in the majority of dressing processes, the action of the ingredients is a preservative one, and when these are wholly or partially removed from the leather during the dyeing, it becomes, on drying, hard and horny, like the original undressed pelt. In cases where furs are to be dyed, special dye-resisting dressings must be used, or the dyed skins must receive an additional dressing before drying.
Dyeings on furs, to have any value, must possess great fastness to light, rubbing and wear, and must not change color in time, either when the furs are stored, or when made up into garments. The necessity for fur dyeings to have these properties, together with the difficulties outlined above, has greatly limited the field of available dyeing materials, as well as the methods of application. These will now be taken up in detail.
CHAPTER IX
FUR DYEING
General Methods
Before the furs can be dyed, they have to undergo certain preparatory processes: first, killing, which renders the hair more susceptible to the absorption of the dye; and second, mordanting, which consists in treating the killed fur with chemicals which help the dye to be fixed on the hair. Then the skins are ready to be dyed.