618 CALICO-PRINTING 



Many other dry acids and salts are also kept in stock. For tho constitution of the 

 various mordants and their preparation, see MORDANTS. 



It would be impossible to particularise all the styles of calico-printing. Tho variety 

 is infinite ; but they may be broadly classed as follows : 



L Madder styles, varieties of which are 



a. The simplest form is a pattern printed in mordants on white ground, such as 

 black and red ; black, red, and purple ; black and two reds, &c., chocolate being some- 

 times substituted for black, and brown from catechu being also introduced ; these are 

 dyed with madder, tho ground remaining white. 



b. Any or all of the above mordants, together with lime-juice, technically termed 

 acid, printed, and a fine pattern printed all over or cot ered in purple or light chocolate, 

 then dyed madder. In this style the red is a peculiar one, termed resist red ; and the 

 result when dyed is, that tho acid and red have prevented tho purple or chocolate 

 fixing on those parts, the red remaining pure and the acid having formed a white, the 

 rest of the ground being covered with tho fine pattern or cover ; of this style largo 

 quantities are printed in black, purple, and acid, and covered in paler purple, the 

 cover roller being any small full pattern, and this not being required to fit to the other 

 pattern, a great variety of effects may be produced by varying the cover : often a still 

 weaker purple is padded or blotched in a plain shade all over the piece, and in this case 

 the only white in the pattern is that reserved by the acid. 



c. The French pink style, which is wholly various shades of reds or pinks, and is 

 printed in one or more shades of rod and acid, then covered or blotched in pale red, 

 then dyed madder and subjected to a peculiar clearing with soap, whereby pink shades 

 of very great delicacy are obtained. 



All these are what are termed fast colours, and having, after dyeing, undergone 

 severe soaping, cannot be altered by the usual domestic washing process. 



In this category must now be classed goods, mordanted as for madder, but with 

 weaker mordants, and dyed with alizarine artificially made from anthracene, which 

 produces shades equal if not superior to those dyed with madder, and which do not 

 require as much soaping or other brightening process as madder. At this date it 

 cannot be absolutely affirmed that these colours are as fast to light and air as those 

 of madder, but inasmuch as the alizarine of the purest sorts of the artificial product 

 is identical with that of madder, it is almost certain that modes of dyeing, &c., will 

 eventually be used which will give a result identical in every way with madder dyeing. 



II. The same styles are dyed with garancin instead of madder ; heavier and darker 

 colours being employed. These goods are not soaped, garancin producing bright 

 colours at once ; but the shades, though still classed as fast colours, do not possess the 

 permanence of those dyed with madder. 



III. The first style is frequently relieved by lively colours, such as green, blue, 

 yellow, &c., blocked in after dyeing and clearing ; these colours are generally what 

 are termed steam-colours, being fixed by steaming the cloth, and afterwards washing 

 in water only, or the printed or dyed pattern is covered with a resist paste blocked 

 on, and various shades of drab, slate, buff, &c., printed with a email pattern all over ; 

 sometimes these colours are mordants, to be subsequently dyed with cochineal, quer- 

 citron bark, &c., or they may be colours composed of dyewood decoctions, mixed with 

 mordants, and are fixed by passing through soda or other solutions ; the result in 

 either case being that the original pattern, generally a group of flowers, being pro- 

 tected by the paste which prevented the subsequent colour fixing there, stand out 

 pure, the rest of the ground being covered by the small pattern or cover. White may 

 be also reserved by the paste, and frequently these white parts are blocked with blue, 

 yellow, green, &c., as before. 



IV. Padded styles. In these the cloth is first padded (as will be hereafter explained) 

 all over with a liquid mordant, dried and printed in spots or figures with strong acid, 

 or discharge as it is called, then put through the dyeing operations necessary for the 

 shade required ; the printed spots remaining white, and the rest of the piece one 

 plain shade. The white portions are frequently relieved by steam-colours blocked in. 



V. Indigo-blue : a style of considerable importance. In this, a resist paste, either 

 alone or accompanied by resist yellow, or orange mordant, is printed on white 

 calico, which is then dipped in the indigo vat, till the shade of blue wanted is ob- 

 tained. If yellow or orange is present, these colours are raised with bichromate-of- 

 potash liquor. The peculiar colours printed in this style have the property of pre- 

 venting the indigo fixing on the printed parts, and the result is dark blue ground, with 

 white, orange, or yellow spots, steam-colours being sometimes blocked in the whites. 



VI. China-blues : a modification of the indigo-blue style, but in this case the pattern 

 is produced by indigo colours, printed on white cloth : the pieces are next put through 

 a peculiar process, fixing the indigo in the cloth, the result being blue figures on 

 white ground. All indigo styles are fast or permanent. 



