100 SEWING SILK AND TWIST. 



" When the silk is dyed, it must be softened, by 

 immersing it for a quarter of an hour in a solution of 

 soap in water, in the proportion of from two, to three 

 pounds of soap, to one hundred of silk. The quanti- 

 ty of water is not mentioned. It is afterwards wrung 

 and dried*" 



BEST BLUE. 



" Take filings of copper, free from alloy of other 

 metals, and put them into a glass vessel, and then 

 pour upon them muriatic acid, sufficient to cover them 

 twice as deep as the space they occupy. Let them 

 stand for the space of twenty-lour hours, or as long 

 as necessary, for the muriatic acid to attain a blue or 

 deep green color. Then pour off the clear part of 

 the colored muriatic acid into another glass vessel, 

 and add fresh muriatic acid to the copper filings, and 

 continue this process until the whole of the copper 

 filings have been dissolved, when nothing but the 

 earthy and impure parts will remain. 



" Mix nil these several blue or deep green colored 

 solutions of copper, and add thereto as much spirits 

 of ammonia, as will saturate the mixture. The silk is 

 then to be moistened with warm water, care being 

 taken that all parts be completely and equally soaked 

 in the water, and wrung out. It is then to be steeped 

 in the blue tincture, prepared as above directed, and 

 occasionally stirred, until it takes a handsome ultra- 

 marine color. It must then be wrung, rinsed in a 

 running str.am and dried in the shade. This makes 

 a beautiful Llue, but cannot be called a fast color, as 

 exposure to the sun will give it a greenish tint. 



