Dictionarium polygraphicum. To dye woollen a pearl colour. To dye silk a pearl-colour.

Dictionarium Polygraphicum:
Or, The Whole Body of Arts Regularly Digested.
Vol II.
London: Printed for C. Hitch and C. Davis in Pater-noster Row, and S. Austen in St. Paul's Church Yard. MDCCXXXV.
1735
To dye woollen a pearl colour.
For one pound of stuff, take one ounce of blue lac, half an ounce of blue wood, and half an ounce of burnt alum.
First boil the blue wood for a quarter of an hour in a bag, then take it out, and having powdered and sifted the lac through a hair sieve, skim the liquor, and stir it very well for a quarter of an hour, and help it with a quarter of an ounce of pot-ashes.

To dye silk a pearl-colour.
To every pound of silk, take one ounce of Orleans, dissolve it in water, and wave the dry silk in it till it lathers; but it must not boil; then rinse and beat the silk clean, and take for every pound of silk four pound of wild saffron very well press'd, and four ounces of pot-ashes, with half a pint ot lime-juice. The Italian carnation or flesh-colour is prepared the same way.

Another.
Take a clean vessel, put fair water into it, and for every pound of silk, take a quarter of a pound of soap, and boil the silk in it for two hours, then pour some rain-water in a vessel, to which add a bowl-full of the blue lye; or if that be too much, you may use half the quantity only at pleasure, then rinse out the silk and dry it.