=Dyeing in the Starch.=—When dyeing light shades time may be saved by dyeing and wet-starching at the same time, in the same bath. The feather, thoroughly soaked in hot water, is placed in the starch milk, to which a quarter teaspoonful or so of formic acid and a little dyestuff have been added, and then worked, in the cold, until the proper shade has been reached, the starch being taken up at the same time. Then on drying and beating, the feather will come out both dyed and finished. This has the disadvantage of leaving a little acid in the finished feather, but when using small quantities of oxalic acid, this is of little, if any importance. =Suggestions as to Feather Dyeing.=—These processes should enable any intelligent craftsman to dye even the most costly and most delicate feathers without danger of spoiling them. Shade effects in one, two, or more colors can be easily obtained by the use of a little ingenuity, remembering always that the quill and the stem are very much more difficult to dye than the flues or tip. It will be remembered that comparatively few ostrich feathers are now used, singly; the plumes so abundantly in use, nowadays, being almost invariably built up by sewing two or usually three feathers together, one underneath the other, the stem being carefully shaved down so as not to make them too clumsy. Very charming effects can be obtained by dyeing the individual feathers different but harmonious colors, and then combining them into one plume later. But, usually, the plume is made first, and then dyed afterwards. It may be suggested, here, that very beautiful effects can be produced by taking large, handsome, single feathers, before they are bleached, and dyeing them a pleasant shade of red or blue or of some mixed color. The natural black of the feather, with its irregular markings, often gives very interesting results, and the expense is much less than that of a built-up feather. After the starching process, the dried feather is usually finished by “curling,” a process simple enough in itself, but which had best be left to the professional, for fear of injury. The bleaching of feathers, also, is a process which is hardly to be attempted by the amateur, unless he is prepared to spend a good deal of his time and money in experimenting. The process, however, is well understood by dyeing chemists and can be learned without much difficulty, by a careful student with some knowledge of chemistry.