82 DYEING FEATHERS OF DUN COLOURS. 



should have on the fire at the same time several 

 pipkins coutaining 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. Remove 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 vaiying the quantities of the iron 

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

 tities of the sulphate and the galls. By increasing 

 or diminishing the proportion of either of these 

 articles, you w^ill 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- 



