Encyclopedia of Practical Receipts and Processes

How to silver a mirror, brew ginger beer, kill moths, make fireworks, tan a hide, bronze iron, cure a ham and clean a straw hat: William B. Dick's numbered encyclopedia answered the questions a nineteenth-century household actually had.

HomeThe Art Of Dyeing › Chocolate Brown

Chocolate Brown

Steep the silk for an hour in a solution of 1 pound alum to each gallon of water; wash once in warm water, and then work for half an hour in a pound cudbear, and boil in a bag for 15 minutes; and work the silk in this for 1/2 an hour. For a bluish tint, lift, and add 3 fluid ounces liquid ammonia; work 10 minutes, wring and dry.

For a red tint, lift, and instead of the ammonia, add 2 fluid ounces red spirits (sce No. 108); work 10 minutes, wring and dry.

For a brownish hue, make a decoction of 1 pound cudbear and 4 ounces fustic; work for decoction of 3 pounds peachwood and 14 an hour; lift, and add 2 ounces red spirpound logwood; lift, and add 1 pint of the alum solution, work again for 15 minutes; wash out and dry.

For deeper shades use less peachwood and more logwood; for a still deeper tint, add about 4 ounces fustic.

← Red Brown (Steep the silk for crimson)Bronze Brown →