Dictionarium polygraphicum. (To dye madder red.)

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 silk a Madder red.

The preparatory liquor is made as for the crimson.

Put half a pound of madder into the quantity of a pail of river-water, let it boil for a full hour, but take an especial care that it does not boil over; then pour it off into a far, adding half an ounce of turmeric, and stir it about with a stick; and when it is cold, put in the silk; and when you take it out, rinse it very well, and beat it on the block; then boil half a pound of good Brasil wood, in about a pail-full of preparatory liquor, for full half an hour; then pour it off into a fat, into which put the silk, and afterwards cleanse and scour it as with soap; then rinse it in river-water, &c. according to art.



Another Madder.
Put clear rain-water into a very clean kettle, and having first aUm'd and prepar'd the silk, as before directed (see the article CRIMSON;) for every pound of silk take one pound of madder, and a quarter of a pound of galls; put these together with the silk into the suds, but do not suffer them to boil; let it lie half an hour in the aforementioned liquor; then rinse it, beat it, and hang it upon sticks; then rinse it in a tub of cold water, with a sew pot-ashes, and if the dye is finished, rinse and dry it.


To dye woollen cloth, or stuff, madder red.
Boil three pound of alum, two pound and a half of white tartar, a quarter of a pound of fenugreek, and two quarts of wheatbran in the copper, then put in the stuff, and let it boil for two hours and an half; then take it out, and cool it very well, and hang it out for one night; then in order to dye it, put into the copper seven pounds of madder, an ounce and a half of aqua fortis, a pint of wheat-bran, and stir them about very well, and rinse the stuff in the dye, and then wind it very swiftly upon the roller, and tumble it about the copper for an hour at least, taking care that the fire keep it boiling hot; after which, take it out and rinse it.


To dye a Genoa madder red.
Take three pound of alum, one pound and a half of tartar; boil the stuff in it an hour and a half; then pour oft' the water, and pour fresh water into the kettle; then make a liquor of ten pound of madder, a quarter of a pound of pot-ashes, and some urine, and when it hath dissolved one night, boil it off.


To dye red.
First take three pound of alum, two pound of tartar, half a pint of wheat-bran, in proportion to twenty three yards of cloth, then put more water into the copper, and add six pound of good madasr, and a glass full of vinegar, let the dye be hot, and then put in the cloth, stirring it about 'till it hath sufficiently imbib'd a red colour, then rinse it out, and you will find it of a beautiful red colour; but take notice, that the cloth must always be boil'd three hours in alum and tartar.


Another madder red.
For every twelve pound of stuff rake a good handful of wheaten bran, one pound and an half of alum, three quarters of a pound, half an ounce of turmerick, in which boil the stuffs for two hours; pour off the water, till the copper again, and rinse the stuffs; then add one pound and a half of madder, the third pair of which must be before dissolv'd, and then put into the suds; to which you must add a little beaten white starch and vinegar, then roll the stuff' upon a roller in it, 'till it is dyed of a colour sufficiently deep.


Another.
Hang over the fire an equal quantity of starch- water and rain-water, and for every pound of stuff put in two ounces of alum, and let it boil for an hour, and stir it well about; then take it out, and rinse it very well, then hang the liquor over the fire again, and for every pound of stuff put in three ounces of Brajil, and a sew pot-ashes; then put in the stuffs, and boil them till they are sufficiently tinged; after which take them out, and dry them as usual.


To dye madder red a light tawney.
Soak the stuffs one or two nights in the black-dye, roll them and work them well about, to prevent their growing black; and you may take them out, when they are dyed of a tawney, according to the degree of light or dark, as you would have them, and rinse them &c.


To dye the English madder red.
Take two pound and a half of alum, one pound of pulverized white-wine tartar, boil them in water, and when it is proper put in your wet cloth; then put into the suds, for the quantity of twenty-six pound weight of cloth, half a pound of tempered aqua-fortis; and afterwards put in the cloth, stir it about very well, and very swiftly, boil it for two hours, and let it remain in the suds twelve hours, and then rinse it out.
To finish it.
Take four pound of madder, an ounce and half of gummigitta, an ounce and half of purified pot-ashet, one pound of wheat-bran; mix them in water, and pour them with the liquor into the suds; then stir it, and work it as is proper, that it may not be spotted, and you will find this an extraordinary dye.


To dye wool or silk of the Polish red.
For every pound of wool or silk take a pail-full of water, warm it, and put in four ounces of galls pulveriz'd; and when it begins to boil, put in the madder, which is to be proportioned according to the depth or lightness of the dye; stir them together, and dve the silk or wool for a quarter of an hour; and while it is boiling put in some pot-ashes, and dye it a quarter of an hour more, then rinse it out, and you have the true Polish red.

To dye a brown red.
First dye the stuff red, then having mix'd slacked lime and brasil together, boil them, and then pass the stuff through it once or oftener.
Some persons make use of pot-ashes lye, but that sometimes renders the dye too deep or brown; and lime is really preserable.
But particular care must be us'd in this operation, for if it is work'd too slowly, it is very apt to spot.