82 DYEING FEATHERS OF DUN COLOURS. 



should have on the fire at the same tmie several 

 pipkins containing the requisite dyes. 



The above instructions are derived from a most 

 useful little work, entitled " Blacker's Art of 

 Fly-making and Dyeing," and published by him 

 at 54. Dean Street, Soho. To complete the sub- 

 ject of dyeing, I'll have recourse to the second 

 edition of my own " Handbook of Angling," 

 which (p. 94.) says : — " Into a pipkin three parts 

 filled with soft water, put the feathers to be dyed, 

 and when they are thoroughly wetted, add a 

 small quantity of sulphate of iron. Simmer over 

 a moderate fire for a few minutes, and the feathers 

 will acquire what is technically called the colour- 

 base or mordant. Eemove the liquor from the 

 feathers, and put to them instead a smaller quan- 

 tity of soft water, and when it is of a simmering 

 heat, add a small quantity of powdered Aleppo 

 galls. The requisite shades of dun colour may 

 be obtained by varying the quantities of the iron 

 and galls. For a full dark dun, add sufiicient quan- 

 tities of the sulphate and the galls. By increasing 

 or diminishing the proportion of either of these 

 articles, you will obtain duns of divers shades. If 

 logwood be used instead of galls, a different tint 

 will be the result. Madder, camwood, the bark 

 of the alder-tree, the fresh outer covering of wal- 



