Dyes

[Chad Wrinn]

I'm working on some trousers and was wondering if anyone knows the recipe for Logwood and Copperas (or anything similar) Dyes?
Thanks,

[Prodical Reb]

Re: Dyes

Ben Tart would know it but I don't know if he would give it up. trade secrets and all that jazz but recipes are out there if you look for them. Check Richmond, Charleston, and Atlanta newspaper articles and such.

[lukegilly13]

Re: Dyes

Chad,
Talked to a lady today at a sutlery who told me that Logwood jean will be no more because it is not possible to get the dye in powder form anymore. You can try calling Ben. If you leave him a message, he will call back. If you don't have his number, PM me for it as his website is still down.

[Spinster]

Re: Dyes

Either of these books will give you a receipt for dyeing logwood. They are of course written for the actual source dye rather than some powdered decoction--in this case, the inner hardwood chip from a South American tree.

"Natural Dyes and Home Dyeing" by Rita J. Adeosko
"The Art and Craft of Natural Dyeing" by J.N. Liles.******my favorite


Dye sources and suppliers come and go and are driven by economics. Particular dyes will be in short supply one season, and readily available the next. Persistence is normally the real key to locating dyestuffs. And these receipts are hardly 'trade secrets'--there are early 19th century dye books in public domain that are being reprinted cheaply. There is enough skill required and variables in the process that the formula is really the least of your worries. By the by, those two darkest skeins in the picture below are logwood--both the purple on the lower right and the near to black in the lower left.

[SavageReb]

Re: Dyes

Chad,
This was posted in the Memphis Daily Appeal 18 Feb. 1863, I found it on SouthernHistory.net

How to Dye Different Colors

What is used for brightening and making the colors
durable are called mordants. The mordants used here
are copperas, (sulphate of iron), blue vitrol,
(sulphate of copper), alum, wheat bran, lye and lime
water. Those who cannot obtain copperas (now a scarce
article) use the water from o**ne of the mineral
springs, which is strongly impregnated with iron. . .
.

Sassafras bark and roots are used for dying worsted a
permanent and beautiful yellow and orange color. Use
a copper boiler, and five ounces of alum to o**ne pound
of wool or worsted yarns.

Kalmia, or dwarf laurel, dyes cotton a fine drab
color. Use a copper boiler. The leaves and twigs of
the kalmia and about o**ne tablespoonful of copperas to
three gallons of dye. Scald the cotton material in
the dye for twenty minutes, then rinse in cold water,
and hang to dry in the air.

Willow.--The bark dyes wool and linen a deep blue
black, and dyes cotton a dark slate color. Use an
iron boiler. For black, three ounces of copperas to
four gallons of dye; for slate color, o**ne ounce of
copperas is sufficient. Boil in the dye for twenty
minutes, rinse in cold water and hang to dry. The dye
may be deepened by a repetition of the same process in
fresh dye.

Red Oak.--The bark and roots dye a fine shade of
chocolate brown. Use an iron boiler, two ounces of
copperas to four gallons of dye. Boil twenty minutes
in the dye and rinse in cold water. This dyes cotton.
The Spanish oak dyes another shade of brown.

White Oak.--The bark dyes cotton lead color. Use an
iron boiler; two ounces of copperas to four gallons of
dye; scald in the dye twenty minutes, and rinse with
cold water. Oak bark will not dye wool.

Pine bark--all the varieties found in our woods--dyes
cotton slate color, combined with the Kalmia it dyes
dove color. For each color put o**ne ounce of copperas
to four gallons of dye, and boil in it for twenty
minutes. Rinse the slate color in cold water and the
dove color in cold lye.

Sweet gum bark dyes cotton dove color. Use a copper
boiler; a spoonful of copperas to three gallons of
lye, and scald in the dye for twenty minute; rinse in
cold lye water , and hang to dry in the air.

Guinea Corn.--The seed dyes wool lead color, and will
not dye cotton. Use an iron boiler, a little
copperas, and rinse in lye.

Maple--The bark dyes both wool and cotton a fine dark
shade of purple. Use an iron boiler and two ounces of
copperas to four gallons of dye; scald in hot dye for
twenty minutes and rinse in cold water.

Beech.--The bark dyes dove color. Use an iron boiler
and o**ne ounce of copperas to four gallons of dye;
rinse in cold water, or in lye for another shade.

Sumach--The leaves and berries dye black. Use an iron
boiler, and four ounces of copperas to four gallons of
dye. Boil the cotton yarn or cloth in the dye for an
hour, and rinse in cold water.

Walnut.--The bark and roots dye cotton fawn-brown and
root-color, according to the portion of bark or of
roots and copperas used. The leaves boiled in dye
color cotton purple and wool black; when used without
boiling the leaves dye wool fawn-color. The green
shells of the full grown nuts dye black with copperas.
What is dyed black must be rinsed in cold water; the
cotton to be dyed purple must be rinsed in lye. The
fawn, brown and root color must be rinsed in cold
water. The proportion of copperas used for black is
two ounces to four gallons of dye; for the other
shades use much less copperas. . . .
--Charleston Courier.

MEMPHIS DAILY APPEAL [JACKSON, MS], February 18, 1863

I hope it helps!!

Joey Savage

[Chad Wrinn]

Re: Dyes

Thanks for the replies I think that covers it!