COMMON SIMPLE DYES

To DTE BLACK. — Allow a pound of logwood to each pound of goods that is to be died. Soak it over night in soft water, then boil it an hour, and strain the water in which it is boiled. For each pound of logwood, dissolve an ounce of blue vitriol in lukewarm water sufficient to wet the goods. Dip the goods

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in — when saturated with it, turn the whole into the logwood dye. If the goods are cotton, set the vessel on the fire, and let the goods boil ten or fifteen minutes, stirring them constantly to prevent their spotting. Silk and woolen goods should not be boiled in the dye-stutf, but it should be kept at a scalding heat for twenty minutes. Drain the goods without wringing, and hang them in a dry shady place, where they will have the air. When dry, set the color by, put them into scalding hot water, that has salt in it in the proportion of a tea-cupfull to three gal- lons of the water. Let the goods remain in it till cold, then hang them where they will dry; they should not be wrung. Boiling hot suds is the best thing to set the color of black silk — let it remain in it till cold. Soaking black-dyed goods in sour milk, is also good to set the color.

GREEN AND BLUE DYE, FOR SILKS AND WOOLENS. — For green dye, take a pound of oil of vitriol, and turn it upon half an ounce of Spanish indigo, that has been reduced to a fine powder. Stir them well together, then add a lump of pearl-ash, of the size of a pea — as soon as the fermentation ceases, bottle it — the dye will be fit for use the next day. Chemical blue is made in the same manner, only using half the quantity of vitriol. For woolen goods, the East indigo will answer as well as the Span- ish, and comes much lower. This dye will not answer for cot- ton goods, as the vitriol rots the threads. Wash the articles that are to be dyed till perfectly clean and free from color. If you cannot extract the color by rubbing it in hot suds, boil it out — rinse it in soft water till entirely free from soap, as the soap will ruin the dye. To dye a pale color, put to each quart of soft warm water that is to be used for the dye, ten drops of the above composition — if you wish a deep color, more will be neces- sary. Put in the articles without crowding, and let them remain in till of a good color — the dye-stutf should be kept warm — take the articles out without wringing, drain as much of the dye out of them as possible, then hang them to dry in a shady, airy place. They should be died when the weather is dry — if not dried quick, they will not look nice. When perfectly dry, wash then) in lukewarm suds, to keep the vitriol from injuring the texture of the cloth. If you wish for a lively bright green, mix a little of the above composition with yellow dye.

YELLOW DYES. — To dye buff color, boil equal parts of an- natto and common potash, in soft clear water. When dissolved, take it from the fire ; when cool, put in the goods, which should previously be washed free from spots and color; set them on a moderate fire, where they will keep hot, till the goods are of the shade you wish. To dye salmon and orange color, tie annatto in a bag, and soak it in warm soft soap suds, till it becomes

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soft, so that you can squeeze enough of it through the bag to make the suds a deep yellow — put in the articles, which should be clean, and free from color; boil them till of the shade you wish. There should be enough of the dye to cover the goods — stir them while boiling, to keep them from spotting. This dye will make a salmon or orange color, according to the strength of it, and the time the goods remain in. Drain them out of the dye, and dry them quick, in the shade — when dry, wash them in soft soap suds. Goods dyed in this manner should never be rinsed in clear water. Peach leaves, fustic, and saifron, all make a good straw or lemon color, according to the strength of the dye. They should be steeped in fair soft water, in an earthen or tin vessel, and then strained, and the dye set with alum, and a little gum arabic dissolved in the dye, if you wish to stiffen the article. When the dye-stuff is strained, steep the articles in it.

RED DYES. — Madder makes a good durable red, but not a bril- liant color. To make dye of if, allow for half a pound of it three ounces of alum, and one of cream of tartar, and six gallons of water. This proportion of ingredients will make sufficient dye for six or seven pounds of goods. Heat half of the water scalding hot, in a clean brass kettle, then put in the alum and cream of tartar, and let it dissolve. When the water boils, stir the alum and tartar up in it, put in the goods, and let them boil a couple of hours; then rinse them in fair water — empty the kettle, and put in three gallons of water, and the madder; rub it fine in the water, and then put in the goods, and set them where they will keep scalding hot for an hour, without boiling — stir them constantly. When they have been scalding an hour, increase the fire till they boil. Let them boil five minutes; then drain them out of the dye, and rinse them, without wringing, in fair water, and hang them in the shade, where they will dry. To dye a fine crimson, take for each pound of goods two and a half ounces of alum, an ounce and a half of white tartar — put them in a brass kettle, with sufficient fair water to cover your goods ; set it where it will boil briskly for several minutes ; then put in the goods, which should be washed clean, and rinsed in t'air water. When the goods have boiled half an hour, take them out, without wringing, and hang where they will cool all over alike, without drying; empty out the alum and tartar water, put fresh water in the kettle, and for each pound of goods to be dyed, put in an ounce of cochineal, powdered fine. Set the kettle on the fire, and let the water boil fifteen or twenty

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should be washed clean and free from color, then rinsed in fai/ water, and boiled in the strained dye, with a small piece of alum To dye a fine delicate pink, use a carmine saucer — the directions for dying come with the saucers. It is too expensive a dye fot bulky goods, but for faded fancy shawls and ribbons, it is quite worth the while to use it, as it gives a beautiful shade of pink.

SLATE-COLORED DYE. — To make a good dark slate color, boij sugar-loaf paper with vinegar, in an iron utensil — put in alum to set the color. Tea grounds, set with copperas, makes a good slate color. To produce a light sl:,fce color, boil white maple bark in clear water, with a little alurn — the bark should be boiled in a brass utensil. The dye for slate color should be strained be- fore the goods are ptxt into it. They should be boiled in it, and then hung where they will drain and dry.

To SET COLORS, &c. — An ox's gall will set any color — silk, cotton, or woolen. I have seen the colors of calico, which faded at one washing, fixed by it. When one lives near a slaughter- house, it is worth while to buy cheap, fading goods, and set them in this way. The gall can be bought for a few cents. Get out all the liquid, and cork it up in a large phial. One large spoonful of this in a gallon of warm water is sufficient. This is likewise excellent for taking out spots from bombazine, bombazet, &c. After being washed in this, they look about as well as when new. It must be thoroughly stirred into the water, and not put upon the cloth. It is used without soap. After being washed in this, cloth which you want to clean should be washed in warm suds, without using soap.

To MAKE SOAP. — If you burn wood, you can use your own

lye ; but the ashes of coal are not worth much. Bore small holes in the bottom of a barrel, place four bricks around, and fill the barrel with ashes. Wet the ashes well, but not enough to drop ; let it soak thus three or four days ; then pour a gal- lon of water in every hour or two, for a day or more, and let it drop into a pail or tub beneath. Keep it dripping till the^color of the lye shows the strength is exhausted. If your lye is not strong enough, you must fill your barrel with fresh ashes, and let the lye run through it. Some people take a barrel without any bottom, and ky sticks and straw across to prevent the ashes from falling through. To make a barrel of soap it

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will require about five or six bushels of ashes, ivith at least four quarts of unslacked stone lime; if slacked, double the quantity.

When you have drawn off part of the lye, put the lime (whe- ther slack or not) into two or three pails of boiling water, and add it to the ashes, and let it drain through.

It is the practice of some people, in making soap, to put the lime near the bottom of the ashes when they first set it up; but the lime becomes like mortar, and the lye does not run through, so as to get the strength of it, which is very important in making soap, as it contracts the nitrous salts which collect in ashes, and prevents the soap from coming, (as the saying is.) Old ashes are very apt to be impregnated with it.

Three pounds of grease should be put into a pailful of lye. The great difficulty in making soap u come" originates in want of Judgment about the strength of the lye. One rule may be safely trusted — If your lye will bear up an egg, or a potato, so that you can see a piece of the surface as big as a shilling, it is just strong enough. If it sink below the top of the lye, it is too weak, and will never make soap ; if it is buoyed up half way, the lye is too strong ; and that is just as bad. A bit of quick- lime, thrown in while the lye and grease are boiling together, is of service. When the soap becomes thick and ropy, carry it down cellar in pails and empty it into a barrel.

Cold soap is less trouble, because it does not need to boil ; the sun does the work of fire. The lye must be prepared and tried in the usual way. The grease must be tried out, and strained from the scraps. Two pounds of grease (instead of three) must be used to a pailful; unless the weather is very sul- try, the lye should be hot when put to the grease. It should stand in the sun, and be stirred every day. If it does not begin to look like soap in the course of five or six days, add a little hot lye to it; if this does not help it, try whether it be grease that it wants. Perhaps you will think cold soap wasteful, be- cause the grease must be strained ; but if the scraps are boiled thoroughly in strong lye, the grease will all float upon the sur- face, and nothing be lost.

BAYBERRY, OR MYRTLE SOAP. — Dissolve two pounds and a quarter of white potash in five quarts of water, then mix it with ten pounds of myrtle wax, or bayberry tallow. Boil the whole over a slow fire, till it turns to soap, then add a tea-cup of cold water — let it boil ten minutes longer — at the end of that time turn it into tin moulds, or pans, and let them remain a week or ten days to dry, then turn them out of the moulds. If you wish to have the soap scented, stir into it any essential oil, that has an agreeable smell, just before you turn it into the moulds. This kind of soap is excellent for shaving, and chapped hands— 5*

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it is also good for eruptions on the face. It will be fit for use in the course of three or four weeks after it is made, but it is better for being kept ten or twelve months.

SOAP FROM SCRAPS. — Dissolve eighteen pounds of potash in three pailfuls of water ; then add to it twenty-five pounds of grease, and boil it over a slow fire for a couple of hours. Turn it into a barrel, and fill it up with water.

COLD SOAP. — Heat twenty-six pounds of strained grease, When melted, mix it with four pailfuls of lye, made of twenty * pounds of white potash. Let the whole stand in the sun, stir- ring it frequently. In the course of a week, fill the barrel with weak lye. This method of making soap is much easier than to make a lye of your ashes, while it is as cheap, if you sell your ashes to the soap-boiler.

HARD SOAP. — Dissolve twenty weight of white potash in three pailfuls of water. Heat twenty pounds of strained grease, then mix it with the dissolved potash, and boil them together till the whole becomes a thick jelly, which is ascertained by taking a little of it out to get cold. Take it from the fire, stir in cold water till it grows thin, then put to each pailful of soap a pint of blown salt — stir it in well. The succeeding day, separate it from the lye, and heat it over a slow fire. Let it boil a quarter of an hour, then take it from the fire. If you wish to have it a yellow color, put in a little palm oil, and turn it out into wooden vessels. When cold, separate it again from the lye, and cut it in bars — let them remain in the sun several days to dry.

WINDSOR AND CASTILE SOAP. — To make the celebrated Wind- sor soap, nothing more is necessary than to slice the best white soap as thin as possible, and melt it over a slow fire. Take it from the fire when melted, and when it is just lukewarm, add enough of the oil of caraway to scent it. If any other fragrant oil is liked better, it may be substituted. Turn it into moulds, and let it remain in a dry situation for five or six days. To make Castile soap, boil common soft soap in lamp oil three hours and a half.

SHAVING SOAP. — A very nice soap for shaving may be made by mixing a quarter of a pound of Castile soap, one cake of old Windsor soap, a gill of lavender water, the same of Cologne water, and\i very little alcohol. Boil all these together, until thoroughly mixed.