Roasted gall-nuts 1000 parts Sumach 200 " Iron mordant 200 " Copper vitriol 100 " Litharge 80 " Alum 60 " Salammoniac 50 " Crystallized verdigris 40 " French logwood extract 30 " Rain water 7000 "
The mixture was boiled up, and after cooling was ready for application by the brush method, the skins being first killed by a killing mixture also applied by the brush. The dye substances in this case are the gall-nuts, sumach and the logwood extract, with the iron mordant, copper vitriol, and alum as mordants. For brown shades a similar formula was used containing Pernambuco wood extract, logwood extract, quercitron bark, gall-nuts and dragonblood, together with iron, copper and alum mordants.
Formulas such as the above were mainly empirical, that is, they were compounded as a result of trial of various combinations of the constituents, without considering the nature and quantitative character of the reactions, as long as the desired shades could be obtained. Such dye mixtures were frequently found to yield results varying from those expected or originally obtained, because the effectiveness of the formulas depended upon the exact duplication in every detail, of conditions which had given satisfactory results previously, and it was not always possible to attain such an accurate reproduction of circumstances, especially when the fur dyers were quite ignorant of the scientific relationships of the materials used. So when more light had been shed on the nature and chemical characteristics of the vegetable dye substances, formulas like those described were no longer employed, although the essential ingredients were the same in the new processes. Unnecessary constituents were eliminated, and proper ones substituted where it was required, and the quantities of the materials used were made to conform to the chemical laws governing the reactions. Since these new formulas were based on a rational understanding of the constituents and their reactions, it is desirable to study the latter briefly, before further discussing the formulas themselves.
The substances of vegetable origin used in modern fur dyeing may be grouped into two classes, one, the tannin-containing materials, and the other, the dyewoods proper. The most important of the tannins are gall-nuts, sumach and chestnut extract. Cutch, which also comes under this class, is more frequently used for the production of brown shades, so it is grouped with the dyewoods. Among the latter are logwood, fustic, Brazilwood, quercitron, turmeric, and several others of less significance.
