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THE BATIK 
Theo. Neuhuys. 
(continued) 
Brown dye — Very favorable results were also obtained 
in the dyeing in brown with gambier, a tanning and dye- 
ing material well known in the dyeing industry, prepared 
from the leaves of a creeper much cultivated in Malacca. 
A recipe is made up, in which bichromate of potash is used 
as a mordant. In this instance it was found that often 
repeated dyeing in weak baths gives much better results 
than steeping once in a strong bath; by the former method 
a much faster color is obtained than by the latter. On 
silk especially this dye gives rich tints of gold and bronze. 
For very dark brown on linen and cotton the yellow dye 
may be mixed with brown dye. A bright yellowish brown, 
a so-called "chamois," absolutely non-fading and fast, 
may be produced by a solution of sulphate of iron fixed 
with a solution of soda. 
In fact a great variety of beautiful tints may be batiked 
on textiles merely by using the fast blue and brown dyes. 
So we would advise every batiker to begin by practicing 
with these two splendid dyes. From the Solo batiks of 
Central Java, the most beautiful ever made, we learn what 
brilliant results are possible with them. 
Other brown vegetable dyes — Brown colors were also 
obtained in the laboratory by the use of various. Javanese 
barks, but the results were not better than those given by 
gambier; moreover these barks are difficult to obtain in our 
country. 
Purple dye — The textile is mordanted in acetate of 
aluminum; then it is left to dry, and is dyed in a filtered 
decoction of campeachy wood. After dyeing, the textile 
is again left to dry, then it is a second time mordanted in 
acetate of aluminum (Burow's solution). 
Yellow dye — For dyeing yellow the textile is mordanted 
in acetate of aluminum, left to dry, and dyed in a filtered 
decoction of rhamnus berries. After dyeing it is again 
left to dry and mordanted in acetate of aluminum. 
The above dye baths may be used for cotton and linen 
as well as silk. Many other vegetable colors have been 
experimented with in the laboratory. For particulars we 
refer to the detailed reports on batiking in the Bulletin of 
the Colonial Museum (Nos. 23, 25, 28.) 
Red dye for silk — For' this, cochineal is used. The 
silk is mordanted in diluted chloride of tin, and dyed after 
drying. The dye bath consists of ground cochineal and 
tartaric acid, boiled with water and subsequently filtered. 
Alizarin technique — Red dye — For the dyeing in red 
of batiked fabrics in this country, especially cotton and 
silk, it was found that the Javanese process was impractic- 
able in our climate, but successful experiments were made 
with certain alizarin dyes, which, contrary to most aniline 
dyes, are absolutely non-fading and fast.* And now 
batikers have at their disposal another series of very beau- 
tiful colors. 
In alizarin dyes the textiles are dyed boiling hot, 
which seems at first to be a disadvantage, but with a slight 
modification of the batiking process, it has proved to be 
very satisfactory. Experiments were made with alizarin 
in paste, such as it is found in the trade, and with the follow- 
ing kinds: alizarin red, alizarin orange, anthracene blue. 
Alizarin dyeing of cotton — The cotton fabric is first 
boiled in water and soda, then well rinsed and dried. The 
design is applied with the usual wax mixture (Japanese 
wax and colophony) by means of the tjanting. It is ad- 
visable to use the wax freely, as the dye bath will slightly 
corrode it. The fabric is now placed in a mixture of water 
and so-called "oil for Turkish red," then well shaken and 
*Alizarin is a peculiar red coloring matter formerly obtained from madder 
and extensively used as a dye. It was discovered in 1824 by Robiquet and 
Colin, who obtained it by digesting madder root with alcohol and treating 
this with sulphuric acid, thus producing a black mass which they called "char- 
bon de garance." On treating, this yielded a sublimate of alizarin in long 
brilliant red needle shaped crystals. It is now artificially prepared on a large ' 
scale from anthracene, a product of coal tar. (Pub.) 
Dutch Batik iu fast colon 
1 silk pill 
Dutch Batik on linen pillow. 
