THE ART OF DYEING FEATHERS, HACKLES, PIG’S WOOL, AND MOHAIR, SUITABLE COLORS FOR FLIES.

It is a great advantage to the fly-fisherman to possess the knowledge of dyeing his materials, as it is by no means easy to procure them at all times of the desired color. It is, besides, an amusement and an inducement to study the colors, sizes, and habits of the insects which he wishes to imitate. The colors for salmon-flies should be as rich and brilliant as possible; those for trout are of soberer hues. Hackles should be selected with much care, of fine fibre, of even taper. White hackles are requisite for yellow, orange, blue, and green; red hackles for claret, red, brown, and olive. They should be washed in soap and water before dyeing, and tied in small bunches for convenience of handling.

It is important in dyeing all kinds of feathers to dress them thoroughly. They should be rinsed in clean water when taken from the dye, wiped as dry as possible, and dressed with the hand in the direction of the fibres until dry. This gives them a smoothness and gloss which can be given in no other way.

Naturally-colored feathers are perhaps preferable, as a general thing, for trout-flies; but there are some which cannot be had of the proper color, and for salmon-flies the dyer’s art is indispensable.

To Dye Yellow.

Put two table-spoonfuls of ground alum, and one tea-spoonful of cream of tartar into a pint of water. When perfectly dissolved and boiling, put in the feathers, hackles, or hair, and simmer for half an hour. Take them from this mordant bath, and put them in the yellow dye, made by infusing a table-spoonful of ground turmeric in a pint of water, and immersed until the color is extracted.

Boil until the color is deep enough, and then wash them in clean water. Dry, and dress them as directed.

There are several materials for yellow dyes, such as fustic, quercitron bark, yellow wood, Persian berries, and weld; but turmeric is the best for the purpose.

To Dye Orange.

To produce orange the feathers or other material should be first dyed yellow, according to the previous recipe. They should then be boiled in a dye made with madder and a small quantity of cochineal, until the requisite shade is obtained.

To Dye Scarlet.

Make a strong infusion of cochineal, put in a few drops of muriate of tin, which will make a crimson, and then put in a little cream of tartar, which will make a clear scarlet. The proportions in weight are one part of muriate of tin to two parts of cream of tartar. It is best to boil the feathers first in the solution of alum. Simmer them until the color is obtained.

To Dye Crimson.

Boil the materials to be dyed in a solution of alum and cream of tartar, for half an hour; bruise two table-spoonfuls of cochineal, and simmer them in water until the color is extracted.

Take the materials from the alum water, and boil them in the cochineal liquor until you have the color you wish.

Wash them in clean water, and if feathers, dress them until dry.

To Dye Brown.

Brown may be procured by boiling walnut shells to a strong solution, and of a more chestnut hue by boiling in a bath composed of a small handful each of sumach and alder bark, boiled in half a pint of water, with half a drachm of copperas.

To Dye Blue.

Boil your material in the solution of alum and tartar already described.

Then make a blue dye by dissolving the prepared indigo paste in water, the quantity of which must depend upon the color you wish to produce. Boil until you have the shade you desire.

The prepared indigo paste is made by dissolving indigo in oil of vitriol and water in a well stoppered bottle, but it is some trouble to prepare, and may be had already made at a dyer’s.

It requires a white ground to produce a good blue.

To Dye Purple or Violet.

First dye your materials blue and let them dry, according to the recipe already given. Then bruise a couple of table-spoonfuls of cochineal, which boil until the color is extracted; then put in the blue hackles, or other feathers, and simmer them over the fire until the purple is obtained.

Wash and dress as before directed.

To Dye Claret.

Bruise a handful of nutgalls and boil them half an hour, with a table-spoonful of oil of vitriol in half a cup of water. Put in your material and boil for two hours; add a piece of copperas the size of a walnut, and a little pearl ashes. Boil until a fine bright claret is produced.

Wash and dress as before.

To Dye Black.

Boil two handfuls of logwood with a little sumach and elder bark for an hour; put in the hackles or feathers, and boil very gently. Put in a little bruised copperas, a little argil, and some soda; leave the feathers in for some hours with a gentle heat, then wash the dye well out of them, dry and dress them. The argil and soda must be used sparingly.

To Dye Lavender, or Blue Dun.

Boil ground logwood with bruised nutgalls and a little copperas. The shade of color may be varied by using more or less of the materials.

You may have grey, and duns of various shades, by boiling with the logwood a little alum and copperas.

To Dye Green.

Dye your material a light shade of blue first, according to the directions for that color; then put them into the yellow dye, and examine them frequently while boiling to see that you get the proper shade. You may get any shade of green by dyeing the blues darker or lighter, and then boiling them a shorter or longer time in the yellow dye.

The blue and yellow dyes may also be mixed to produce any shade of green, but this requires judgment and considerable experience, and the result is not superior. It must be remembered that the blue becomes developed by time, and the color should be at first more yellow than is required.

To Dye a Mallard’s Feather for the Green Drake, and Little Yellow May Dun.

Boil the feathers in the mordant bath of alum already described.

Then boil them in an infusion of fustic to produce a yellow, and subdue the brightness of this yellow by adding copperas to the infusion.

It is better to add a little of the indigo paste to this dye. It gives a brighter, clearer tone of color.

To Dye Gut.

An Azure, or Neutral Tint.

1 drachm logwood, 6 grains copperas.

Immerse the gut 2½ to 3 minutes.

An Azure Tint, more Pink.

1 drachm logwood, 1 scruple alum.

Immerse the gut 3 minutes.

A dingy Olive.

1 drachm logwood, 1 scruple alum, 3 scruples quercitron bark.

Immerse from 2 to 3 minutes.

A light Brown.

1 drachm madder, 1 scruple alum.

Immerse from 5 to 6 minutes.

A light Yellow, or Amber.

1½ scruples quercitron bark, 1 scruple alum, 6 grains madder, 4 drops muriate of tin, 1 scruple cream of tartar.

Immerse 2½ minutes.

An Olive Dun.

Make a strong infusion of the outside brown leaves or coating of onions, by allowing the ingredients to stand warm by the fire for ten or twelve hours.

When quite cold put the gut into it, and let it remain until the hue becomes as dark as may be required.

All the above dyes for gut are to be used cold.

THE POTOMAC.