Dictionarium polygraphicum. Of dying Violet and Purple colours.

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
1. To make a purple dye.
Take water q. s. alum twenty ounces, madder five ounces; boil, enter twenty yards of stuff, and boil it two hours and an half; take it out, and wash it well; wash the lead, and then put in clean water a sufficient quantity, logwood ground two pounds, boil it a while, and enter your cloth, handle it well, and take it out and cool it; enter it again, and put it in and out 'till the colour is strong enough.

2. To make a Violet colour in grain out of a sad Blue.
Take fair water, clear bran-liquor, of each equal parts, a sufficient quantity; alum nine pounds and an half, tartar five pounds and an half; melt them, and enter thirty pounds weight of wool, yarn, stuffs cloth, &c. of a sad blue colour: boil four hours, cool, wash it in cold water. Take fresh bran-liquor a sufficient quantity, cochineal, tartar, both in fine powder, of each fifteen ounces; mix, enter your cloth, handle it to a good heat, boil it two hours, handle it well, take it out and wash it, and it will be a pure violet or purple colour.

3. Another purple colour without bluing.
Take clear stale wheat bran-liquor, or sour tapwort, a sufficient quantity; alum three pounds, enter twenty yards of broadcloth, boil it three hours, cool and wash it well. Take fresh bran-liquor a sufficient quantity, madder twenty ounces, enter your cloth, boil with a quick fire, cool and wash. Take clear or fair water a sufficient quantity, logwood ground twenty-four pounds, boil half an hour, and put in some urine; then enter your cloth, and handle it, and boil half an hour; take it out and cool it, add nut-galls bruised two ounces, and enter your cloth again, handle it, and boil it half an hour, cool and wash it.

4. Another Violet or purple colour.
Take clear stale bran-liquor a sufficient quantity, alum three pounds, enter twenty yards of broadcloth, and boil two hours and an half; cool and wash well. Take fresh liquor a sufficient quantity, madder twenty ounces, enter your cloth, and boil with a quick fire, cool and wash well. Take fair water a sufficient quantity, logwood ground eight ounces, Brasil ground two ounces; let them boil a quarter of an hour, enter your cloth at a boiling heat, handle it, and boil a quarter of an hour; take it our, and cool it; add urine a sufficient quantity; enter your cloth again, boil a quarter of an hour, then cool and wash it well.

5. A good Violet or purple colour.
Take water four gallons, myrtle-berries eight pounds, alum ten ounces, calcined brass one ounce, mix them in a brass kettle or vessel, boil half an hour, and strain it.

6. Another purple colour.
Take orchal, mix it with half urine, and let it boil 'till it is of a dark colour; then put in the matter you would dye, letting it lie twenty-fours or more.

7. An excellent Violet colour.
Take calcin'd tartar, turnsole, of each a pound, beat them and tye them up in a linnen-cloth, and steep them twenty-four hours in water, and then put in the matter, which you would have to be of a violet colour.



To dye stuffs, &c. of a beautiful Violet colour.
Alum the stuffs with half a pound of alum, two ounces of tartar, and a handful of madder in clear rainwater made hot, for every pound of stuff; let these ingredients be stirred well together, and when they are dissoiv'd and begin to boil, put in the stuffs to be dyed, boil them for half an hour, take them our, let them cool, and rinse them out.
Put fresh water to the liquor, and put in a quarter of a pound of brown wood in a clean bag, boil it for an hour and an half, and then put in the goods again, and boil it for an hour and an half; then tike it out, and put into the hor suds a quarter of a pound of verdegrease, it being first dissiilv'd in warm water. Stir it well about, and then put in the stuff; again, stirring it about for a quarter of an hour, 'till it begins to boil; then take it out, cool and rinse it, and it will be of the most beautiful violet colour.


Another.
Having alumed the ware as usual with one half starch-water, allowing for every pound two ounces of alum, and an ounce of tartar; boil them together for an hour: then having hung other fresh water over the fire, when it is hot, for every pound of ware put in two ounces and an half of Brasil shavings, and a sufficient quantity of great pot-ashes; boil them together for a quarter of an hour, and then put in the stuffs, and there keep them 'till they take the dye; then cool them, and rinse them out.


To dye Thread of a lasting Violet colour.
Boil half a pound of tartar; half a pound of alum, two ounces of Brasil wood, and half an ounce of salt-petre together, then lay the thread four hours in the liquor; then rinse it out, and dry it. Then brown it as follows;
Boil a pound of brown wood, and half a pound of Brasil in a large vessel; and use the dye in the following manner:
Divide it into four equal parts; remembring that each part is to be used warm, and the thread dyed after each operation; and when the first part is us'd, let there be added to it half an ounce of sumach, and one drachm of salt-petre.
The second time, a quarter of an ounce of calcin'd tartar, and one drachm of verdegrease powdered.
The third time, a quarter of an ounce of sumach, and one drachm of salt-petre.
The fourth and last time, if the thread remains a little reddish, pour in a quart of hot sharp lye, and you will find the thread of a beautiful violet brown.
But if the thread be boiled in alum, and blued with woad, and then browned with Brasil, the colour will be more beautiful and lasting.


To dye a good crimson Violet.
First dye the stuff a deep blue green, and boil it as for right crimson, rinse it very clean out of the suds, and finish it with three drachms of cochineal, in proportion to one pound of ware, and you will have a right good colour.

A brown Violet colour.
For twenty-five yards of fustian, frize, or other goods, take three quarters of a pound of alum, half a pound of tartar, half an ounce of sal-armoniac, boil the stuff in this liquor for two hours, rinse it out in clean water, and dry it in order to blue it, as follows.

The Blue dye.
Dye it a deep lasting blue with woad or indigo, then rinse it clean and dry it.

The brown Violet.
Boil a pound of Brasil in a large pot by itself, and divide it into four equal parts; then with a clean ladle, put one part into the kettle before you put in the stuff, and also salt-petre and sal armoniac pulveriz'd, of each one drachm; after this pass the stuff very well through the dye, then dry it, and put in another part of the Brasil, and add a quarter of an ounce of powdered galls; then pass the stuff through the dye again, and dry it again; thus repeating the operation twice or oftener; and after the fourth time, you will find it of a beautiful violet colour. But you ought to remember, that the fourth time you must use a clean sharp lye, in order to brighten the lustre, adding to it one drachm of calcin'd alum.
This colour may be produe'd from brown wood, and a quarrer of a pound of Brasil in four or five operations, and by adding galls twice, but it is not so durable as the other; but in order to render it more lasting, you may add more brown movd and indigo, and may in the last place brown it with Brasil.

To dye silk of a Violet colour.
For every pound of silk, take one pound of blue, or Provence wood, boil and stir the silk in it, as in the red dye; put into the last suds a few galls, then rinse the silk and dry it.

A good lasting Violet.
To every pound of silk take one pound ot galls, and one pound of blue wood; and put in the silk when the suds are cold, for the colder the suds, the bluer the violet colour will be, which must always be bluer than the tawneys: let it lie a night in the sods, then in the morning rinse and dry it.
From the following dye are compos'd the best tawnies grey and crimson goat-colours.

To dye silk a Violet brown.
Let the silks be alumed as for tawney; and to every pound of silk, take two pound of Provence wood, boil it in a bag for a full hour; then take it our, put in the silk, boil that for an hour, and then take it out, and put in the bag again; then rinse it in a lye, as is directed to be made for other colours, and with out bole-armoniac, and after that in running water.



Crimson violet.
The manner of dying silk a purple.
First boil and alum the silk as for madder-red; then put a sufficient quantity of clean water into a clean kettle, and for every pound of silk take an ounce of galls, and an ounce and an half of cochineal tedue'd to a fine powder, one ounce of;mh, boil them together as you do the crimson; then lay the silk to soak in it for one night, afeer which cleanse it, and you have a good purple.