Important: Safety Warning
This page describes trade processes that use dangerously toxic materials such as cyanide solutions, mercury amalgams, or strong acids. These processes require training, equipment, and precautions far beyond what the text describes.
This information has been left in for historical purposes but should not be acted upon.
Staining, Etc
To Dye Bristles or Feathers Green.
Take of verdigris and verditer, each 1 oz.; gumwater, 1 pt.. Mix them well, and dip the bristles or feathers (they having been first soaked in hot water) into the said mixture.
Blue. Take of indigo and risse, each 1 oz., and a piece of alum the size of a hazelnut; put them into gum-water, and dip the materials into it hot; hang them up to dry, and clap them well that they may open; and, by changing the colors, the aforesaid materials may be in this manner, dyed of any color. For purple, use lake and indigo; for carnation, vermilion and smalt.