Valuable Recipes. To Color Straw Black. Vehicle for Color.

Scientific American 10, 2.9.1865


To Color Straw Black.
The following is given to us as a black color fro straw hats. The quantities of material are intended for 25 hats or bonnets. They are kept for two hours in a boiling decoction of 4 lbs. of log wood, 1 lb. of sumach, and of 5 ox. of fustic; afterwards they are dopped into a solution of nitrate of iron of 4 degrees Bæume, then well rinsed with water, and when dry, are painted over with a solution of gum or dextrine. The iron liquor, as well as the other ingredients, are kept by all dealers in dye-stuffs.

Vehicle for Color.
By boiling shellac and borax in water you will obtain a solution of the lac, which may be used as a varnish or as a vehicle for colors; mixed with lamp-black, it has been used as an ink that will resist acids.