Dictionarium polygraphicum. To prepare raw silk for dying.

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
First put the silk into a bag, or make it up so as to prevent it from being tangled; and for every pound of silk allow one quarter of a pound of soap; boil them together for the space of two hours, and afterwards cleanse it very well, and this being done, it being also alum'd, it will be fit for dying any colour.

Another way.
Take for every pound of raw silk a quarter of a pound of green or black soap, smear the silk very well, and thoroughly with the soap; then put it up in a linnen bag, and boil it for six hours.
Then take out the bag, and let the silk cool, that you may handle it the better; then rinse it in a river or running water for a quarter of an hour. Beat the water out and rinse it well; then dry it, and it is ready for dying.
This preparation is absolutely necessary for all raw silks before they can be dyed.

How to alum the boiled silk.
For every pound of silk melt a quarter os a pound of alum in a kettle or skillet, and then throw it into a tub of water; then put in the sili, and let it lie in steep all night.
You must caresully observe the proportion of alum directed before, for the quantity of silk.

To make or dye silk a silver-colour.
The silk having been first boiled and rinsed, and taken off the sticks, put it into a vessel of cold water; then put in a little of the former rinsing water, and a few galls, in proportion to the quantity of silk; which you must stir about in the liquor, till it is brown, and then rinse and dry it.

To dye silk a silver-green.
For every pound of silk put twelve ounces of galls in fair water, let them boil for two hours; then pour them into an other vessel, and stir the silks about in it for a quarter of an hour; then let the silk lie and soak in it one night, and in the morning wring it out, rinse and beat it, and hang it out upon poles; then make another tub of liquor with a sufficient quantity of Provence-wood, suds and cold water; stir the silks therein, for a quarter of an hour, then brown them with vitriol, madder or copperas, and wring them out and dry them.

To recover, the colour of black silk or cloth.
Boil the leaves of a forward summer sig-tree in rain or riverwater, till a third part of the water is consum'd; wash the silk or cloth in this water, and then rinse it or bruin it over with a little alum-water, and it will be restor'd to a curious fair black.

To gild silk and linnen.
Lay parchment glue on the silk or linnen, &c. do this gently that it may not fink in; then take cerusse, bole and verdigrease, of each a like quantity, mix and grind them upon a stone; then having mixt a little varnish with it in a glaz'd earthen vessel, let it simmer over a gentle fire, and keep it for use.

Another of a pure gold colour.
Take the juice of fresh saffron, or for want of it ground saffron, and the best clear orpiment, of each a like. quantity; grind them with goat's-gall or gall of a pike (which is better,) digest twenty-eight days in horse-dung, and it is done.

How to stiffen caffa and the like sorts of silk, and give them a beautiful lustre.
Pound an ounce of gum arabick, and half an ounce of gum tragacanth, very well in a mortar; dissolve them in water; then boil two pound of linseed in water so long till it becomes glutinous, then put in the gum-water, make it hot and strain it through a cloth, and with a spunge smear it on the wrong side of the silk, taking care that the piece of silk be stretch'd both in length and breadth, otherwise it will be apt to rumple.

To scent or perfume silks.
After the silk has been dyed, for every pound of silk take an ounce of orris, dry it well. Lay the silks in rose-water in a thick sieve, and betwixt every row strew powder of orris, and shut it up close in a box or chest, till the next day, and the silk will emit an agreeable odour.

How to keep silk from staining in the washing.
Heat rain-water very hot, then put into it Castile-soap, dissolve it well; then let it stand till it is almost cold, and then sprinkle in a small quantity of fuller's-earth, then scour out the silks; when you have done, clap them between dry cloths, (not suffering them to lie on heaps,) and they will look fresh and fair.

To restore silks of any colour that have been soiled or greased.
Take an ounce of unflak'd lime, and the like quantity of the ashes of vine-branches, and as much oak-bark; mix them well together in fair water, and make with them a kind of lye over a gentle fire; let this settle, then take the clear part, and rub over the faded part with a brush or spunge, and it will in a short time restore it.