Through the courtesy of Mrs. Helen R. Albee, who has done much to revive an interest in rug-weaving, I am allowed to quote the following detailed suggestions on the subject of dyeing from her helpful manual, _Abnakee Rugs_. This little manual treats fully of the "Abnakee Rug Industry,"

the "Materials," "Methods of Work," and "Dye Formulas." It was issued through the Riverside Press in 1901.

Speaking of combinations of color, Mrs. Albee says:

[Sidenote: _Combinations of color_]

[Sidenote: _Safe tones_]

[Sidenote: _Colors in rugs_]

[Sidenote: _Use of white_]

"A careful study of the effects of colors upon each other will show that colors which are in themselves beautiful are often inharmonious when combined. Also, a little of a color may be good, when a larger proportion seems to destroy the balance or harmony. Success in this matter is largely a matter of close observation and experience, although some persons have a natural feeling or instinct regarding color which is seldom in error. Strong colors should never be used, especially greens.

Though they may be modest in the piece, when worked in with other colors, they have an unfortunate way of becoming intensified tenfold.

The safest tones for an amateur to deal with are dull gray green, yellow green, and a soft, full, but dark olive. In striking a certain key in color it should be maintained throughout. Thus, if a full rich color predominates, rich dark colors should be used through the whole scheme.

If a light tone is the body color, soft light tones of other colors will be found most harmonious. Thus, for example, a rug for a library, or a hall, in which a good deal of rich terra cotta appears, should have a border or design worked in dark blues, full shades of olive green, and dull yellow. There is an apparent exception to this in the use of dull reds, old ivory, and black as seen in Bokhara rugs. But if studied, the cream color is very dull, and is used in such small quant.i.ties as to be quite subdued by the black that is used freely in the pattern. Old rose, warm golden browns, and olive may be used effectively. A light Gobelin blue may be worked with ivory, old pink, light dull olive, and the outlines can be either a dark yellow brown or very dark bronze green. An ivory center is lovely with an old pink border worked in green. A tan center may be combined with old rose, sage green, bronze green, light yellow, cream color, and dark brown outlines. Indigo blue, forest green, and dull yellow are excellent colors when combined. A great variety of beautiful rugs may be made by using only blue and white, and unless one wishes to go extensively into dyeing, it might be well to choose a certain simple color scheme such as blue and white, red, black, and ivory, and abide by it. Let it be remembered that white in rugs is not white, neither is it a delicate cream. Unless it is decidedly yellowish or even grayish in tone, when in combination with other colors, it becomes a staring white that is anything but artistic. I dye my cream colors, just as much as I do dark reds or greens.

[Sidenote: _Planning a color scheme for a rug_]

"I have been asked many times what is the best way to plan a color scheme for a rug. This is a point I cannot determine for another. Some may find help in making water color sketches of what they wish to do. In my own work I never use them, as it requires making a reduced drawing of great accuracy, and much time to color it. Often I plan a combination mentally, and match it up from the dyed flannels I always have on hand.

Other times I vary the scheme of some rug I have already made, experimenting with different combinations, using other rugs as if they were books of reference. I have discovered one rather curious thing, which is, that when all my experimenting is done I find some particular color scheme fits a certain rug as no other does. It seems to clothe or to fulfill the pattern as if it belonged personally to it. When I once discover this elective affinity of a pattern for its special coloring, I never make it again save in that one guise.

[Sidenote: _Shading_]

[Sidenote: _Directions for shading_]

"Much skill can be shown by an artistic worker in the use of slight shades of difference in the same color. For example, in the plain center of a rug, several tones representing shades of the same color will give the effect of a play of light on a silky surface, which is very beautiful. By using material that has been dyed a trifle darker at one end of the rug, and working in gradually lighter tones, the result is surprisingly effective. To do this, each three or four yards should be dyed with these slight differences of tone; then when within thirty strips of the end of one color (more or less, according to the width of the rug), work in a broken line of the next tone all across the rug.

Then use a few rows (not worked in single rows, however) of the first color across the entire rug, then a wider broken line of the second color. Broken lines blend better than continuous lines do. The portions of the second line should fall above the broken s.p.a.ces left in the first line (in the same way that masons lay bricks), then a little more of the first color, using less and less of it, and increasing the width of the second in ma.s.ses, until the first color has become only broken lines upon the ground of the second color. All the way through, any changes of color should be merged in this way. Be sure to work this method from side to side across the rug, as the frameful is filled.

[Sidenote: _Coloring_]

"This is the most difficult feature of the whole handicraft, the actual coloring, and yet for fine effects I should recommend only the use of hand-dyed materials. Goods dyed by professional dyers are perfectly uniform in color throughout, and rugs made of such material will have nothing of that difference of tone, that play of color, that is absolutely necessary for beauty.

[Sidenote: _Dye kettles_]

"In dyeing use only bra.s.s, copper, granite, or porcelain kettles, unless one goes into it on a large scale and uses regular machinery. Bra.s.s and copper vessels are to be preferred, while iron, or tin showing iron, are to be carefully avoided, as the mordants have a great affinity for iron and ruin the color. I use a large bra.s.s kettle holding about five gallons.

[Sidenote: _Mordants_]

"For mordants I use Glauber salts and sulphuric acid, and with the weight of cloth I use, it takes 3 oz. of Glauber salts and 3/4 oz. of sulphuric acid (full strength) to each six yards of flannel. I use a one-ounce Phenix graduate (American standard) measuring gla.s.s, and as full strength sulphuric acid has about twice the specific gravity of water, one should measure by the scale engraved on the right-hand side of the gla.s.s. The left-hand scale is based upon the standard unit of weight, which is water.

[Sidenote: _Uses of acids_]

"In using sulphuric acid I dilute it in a little cold water in a cup by pouring the acid on to the water, as sulphuric acid in uniting with water causes a chemical reaction. Where a large quant.i.ty of acid is used this reaction is accompanied by a sudden burst of steam, if the water falls upon the acid. But in a small quant.i.ty as this, there is no possible danger of accident if the acid is poured on the water.

Sulphuric acid should be closely stoppered and used with care, as it is corrosive, eating holes in cotton or linen fabrics. With ordinary precautions it can be used without the least difficulty.

[Sidenote: _Salts set the dyes_]

"Glauber salts are too well known in commerce to need description, and are used to neutralize the acid. The two in combination do not injure woolen fabrics, but merely set the dyes.

[Sidenote: _Preparation of a dye bath_]

"In preparing the dye bath allow three gallons of water, and 3/4 oz. of sulphuric acid; stir thoroughly and add 3 oz. Glauber salts to six yards of cloth. Then add the dyestuff in required proportions. Stir thoroughly as each ingredient is added, for the evenness of the dye depends upon the thorough distribution of the mordants and color in the dye bath.

Generally it is advised to strain the dye before it is added, but, as an even tone is not the desired result for this special handicraft, I never follow this suggestion.

[Sidenote: _Coloring depends on temperature_]

"The proper temperature for introducing the color in the bath is not over 150 F., but if one has not a bath thermometer, the temperature must be very hot, yet far below boiling point. Temperature plays a great part in dyeing, for if the dye bath is too hot when the cloth is introduced, the dye, having a great avidity for wool, will be absorbed unequally by the cloth, the ends and outside folds of the cloth absorbing more color than is desired, and the inner folds will have less. I am not discussing the process of dyeing as it should be done on a large scale with vats and suitable reels, etc., but as it is likely to be done by an amateur, in a small way. When the bath is too hot, the cloth takes the dye unequally and is quite spotted. A little irregularity is necessary for a play of color, but it should be secured in a definite way and only to a certain degree, and not as the result of accident. If the cloth has come out spotty, it may be redipped, having added more dye and mordants to the bath, but it will come out a darker shade. If the bath is anywhere near the boiling point before the cloth is dipped, reduce it by adding a quart or two of cold water."

[Sidenote: _Process of dyeing yarn or raffia_]

[Sidenote: _Clear days are best for dyeing_]

Before dyeing yarn or raffia, bind the skeins loosely in several places to prevent tangling. "Having prepared the bath, gather the cloth in the right hand at half a dozen places along one selvedge, and drop it in, spreading it at once, using two stout sticks, lifting it up and down continually so as to expose all parts to the dye. The temperature should be increased to the boiling point and continued for three-quarters of an hour. Then lift the cloth up and drain it, then rinse in cold water, wring dry, but do not press with an iron, as the soft wooly texture is very desirable. When a quant.i.ty of the same color is desired, the same water can be used again by adding acid and Glauber salts, together with more dyestuff with each fresh dip of cloth. It must be stated, however, that the color will not be so clear with succeeding dips, but that does not matter, as a difference is desired. The process of dyeing is very delicate, and the utmost precision must be observed in following proportions and directions regarding temperature, etc. Dyeing is more successful in clear weather than on rainy days, and soft water is required to get good results. If water contains much lime or earthy salts it is unfit for dyeing, and must be neutralized by acetic acid. In such cases it would be still better to use rain water.

[Sidenote: _Vegetable dyes and chemical dyes compared_]

"There is a curious conviction prevailing in some quarters that beautiful durable colors are obtainable only from vegetable dyes. My first experiments were with barks, mosses, etc., but the difficulty of getting them, the enormous amount necessary to dye any quant.i.ty of goods, the tedious process in their use, and the fact that after all only a narrow range of colors is obtainable from them, compelled me to abandon them altogether. I began to investigate chemical dyes, and to gain information I applied to one of the largest woolen mills in New England, one which maintains a high reputation for the cla.s.s of goods it manufactures; also to two wholesale houses dealing in all kinds of dyestuffs; and finally to one of the best experts in color in the country. Their verdict was unanimous, and is summed up in the opinion of the expert which he expressed in a letter to me on this question:

"'In regard to the use of vegetable dyes, I would say that they have almost disappeared from commerce, certainly for the purpose of dyeing fabrics.

[Sidenote: _Aniline colors_]

"'We know, of course, that there are strong prejudices still existing in the layman's mind in regard to the use of aniline colors, who supposes that they are not only fugitive, but that the resulting tones are harsh and unattractive. This, unfortunately, was so twenty-five years ago, and the impression made then upon the layman's mind has not been changed during all these years; but I can a.s.sure you that all the beautiful silk goods, tapestries, cloths, and all the colors which we see in fabrics to-day, are made, without exception, from aniline colors, which are immeasurably more permanent than are the vegetable dyes used up to, say, 1875.'

[Sidenote: _Formulas to be followed_]

"In using my range of eight colors I provide myself with large, strong gla.s.s bottles in which I keep my diluted colors. I use a pint measure for diluting the dyes. In preparing the fluid I put one half or one quarter of an ounce of dry color, whichever amount the formula calls for, into the pint measure and mix it thoroughly with a little cold water. The reason for using cold water is that the dyes are a tar product, and if mixed with hot water first, they are apt to grow waxy under the heat and not dissolve readily. Having dissolved them, I fill up the measure with hot water, stirring all the time. This makes a pint of liquid which is of uniform strength under all circ.u.mstances, and every formula is based upon this invariable pint measure of water. These formulas I have tried over and over again. They are made with special reference to the grade of flannel I have adopted, and doubtless will vary in results if used on other weights or weaves of wool goods."

DYE FORMULAS

NO. 1. DARK TERRA COTTA

[Sidenote: _Dark terra cotta_]

Dissolve 1/2 oz. of dull red in 1 pint of water.

Dissolve 1/4 oz. of green in 1 pint of water.

Take full pint measure of dull red dye and 4 tablespoonfuls of green dye to 6 yds. of cloth.

Mordants: 3/4 oz. sulphuric acid and 3 oz. Glauber salts. Boil 3/4 of an hour.

NO. 2. FULL TERRA COTTA

[Sidenote: _Full terra cotta_]