Dyes and dyeingPellew, Charles E. (Charles Ernest), Viscount Exmouth
Science
Dyes and dyeing
Pellew, Charles E. (Charles Ernest), Viscount Exmouth
Dyes and dyeing
More formal and intricate designs can be made by applying the color
in the form of a paste, through the help of stencils, as worked out
by the Japanese so beautifully, or by means of wooden or metallic
blocks, as in the block printing in the East, which in Europe and
America has developed into the art of calico printing, by rolls run
by machinery.
=Discharge.=—This process is the exact reverse of the preceding
one, in that the cloth or other material is dyed first, and later
the color is either entirely removed or, it may be, very decidedly
altered in shade, in certain special parts, by the application of
some chemical.
The earliest examples of this are where cloths stained with Iron
buff, have had patterns made in them by washing out certain portions
with acid. Just as some of the earliest forms of “direct coloring”
are shown in the dark patterns of leaves, formed by the same Iron
buff dye, upon cloth against which moist fresh leaves have been
crushed.
The discharge process is not as commonly used by craftsmen as the
other two methods, because it has not always been easy to find or to
use a chemical that will properly destroy or change any particular
color, without at the same time, if fast dyes are used, destroying
or at least injuring the fabric. The professional dyer, working in
conjunction with the chemist, carefully weighing the reagents, and
using steam chests and drying chambers with definite and carefully
regulated temperatures, can fully discharge even the fastest dyes
without danger. But this is difficult, if not impossible for the
craftsman, and while the process will be discussed and described
under the subject of stencilling, it will be found, comparatively, of
but little practical importance.
=Resist.=—The third and last method for getting colored patterns
is one which has been used in different ways, by the most widely
scattered nations, and which, to this day, furnishes one of the most
interesting and important processes at the disposal of the craftsman,
as opposed to the professional dyer.
It consists of applying to certain portions of the fabric, before
dyeing, some agent which, acting either chemically or mechanically,
will “resist” the action of the dyestuff at the places where it is
applied. These parts accordingly will remain in their original color,
or at any rate will be but slightly colored, while other portions,
not so protected, will be dyed full shades. This, in many respects,
is the most advantageous way of obtaining patterns for the craftsman,
because no action has taken place tending to injure the strength
or durability of either material or dyestuff, and as the color is
applied in a regular dye-bath there is generally an opportunity to
apply the dyestuffs in the most approved manner.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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