ON WHITENING, CLEANSING, AND DYEING.

A Treatise on Domestic Economy; For the Use of Young Ladies at Home and at School by Catharine Esther Beecher, is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book here. ON WHITENING, CLEANSING, AND DYEING.

CHAPTER XXVIII. ON WHITENING, CLEANSING, AND DYEING

To Whiten Articles, and Remove Stains from them.

Wet white clothes in suds, and lay them on the grass, in the sun. Lay muslins in suds made with white soap, in a flat dish; set this in the sun, changing the suds, every day. Whiten tow-cloth, or brown linen, by keeping it in ley, through the night, laying it out in the sun, and wetting it with fair water, as fast as it dries.

Scorched articles can often be whitened again, by laying them in the sun, wet with suds. Where this does not answer, put a pound of white soap in a gallon of milk, and boil the article in it. Another method, is, to chop and extract the juice from two onions, and boil this with half a pint of vinegar, an ounce of white soap, and two ounces of fuller's earth. Spread this, when cool, on the scorched part, and, when dry, wash it off, in fair water. Mildew may be removed, by dipping the article in sour buttermilk, laying it in the sun, and, after it is white, rinsing it in fair water. Soap and chalk are also good; also, soap and starch, adding half as much salt as there is starch, together with the juice of a lemon. Stains in linen can often be removed, by rubbing on soft soap, then putting on a starch paste, and drying in the sun, renewing it several times. Wash off all the soap and starch, in cold, fair water.

Mixtures for Removing Stains and Grease.

Stain-Mixture. Half an ounce of oxalic acid, in a pint of soft water. This can be kept in a corked bottle, and is infallible in removing iron-rust, and ink-stains. It is very poisonous. The article must be spread with this mixture over the steam of hot water, and wet several times. This will also remove indelible ink. The article must be washed, or the mixture will injure it.

Another Stain-Mixture is made, by mixing one ounce of sal ammoniac, one ounce of salt of tartar, and one pint of soft water.

To remove Grease. Mix four ounces of fuller's earth, half an ounce of pearlash, and lemon-juice enough to make a stiff paste, which can be dried in balls, and kept for use. Wet the greased spot with cold water, rub it with the ball, dry it, and then rinse it with fair cold water. This is for white articles. For silks, and worsteds, use French chalk, which can be procured of the apothecaries. That which is soft and white, is best. Scrape it on the greased spot, and let it lie for a day and night. Then renew it, till the spot disappears. Wilmington clay-balls, are equally good. Ink-spots can often be removed from white clothes, by rubbing on common tallow, leaving it for a day or two, and then washing, as usual. Grease can be taken out of wall-paper, by making a paste of potter's clay, water and ox-gall, and spreading it on the paper. When dry, renew it, till the spot disappears.

Stains on floors, from soot, or stove-pipes, can be removed, by washing the spot in sulphuric acid and water. Stains, in colored silk dresses, can often be removed, by pure water. Those made by acids, tea, wine, and fruits, can often be removed, by spirits of hartshorn, diluted with an equal quantity of water. Sometimes, it must be repeated, several times.

Tar, Pitch, and Turpentine, can be removed, by putting the spot in sweet-oil, or by spreading tallow on it, and letting it remain for twenty-four hours. Then, if the article be linen or cotton, wash it, as usual; if it be silk or worsted, rub it with ether, or spirits of wine.

Lamp-Oil can be removed, from floors, carpets, and other articles, by spreading upon the stain a paste, made of fuller's earth or potter's clay, and renewing it, when dry, till the stain is removed. If gall be put into the paste, it will preserve the colors from injury. When the stain has been removed, carefully brush off the paste, with a soft brush.

Oil-Paint can be removed, by rubbing it with very pure spirits of turpentine. The impure spirit leaves a grease-spot. Wax can be removed, by scraping it off, and then holding a red-hot poker near the spot. Spermaceti may be removed by scraping it off, then putting a paper over the spot, and applying a warm iron. If this does not answer, rub on spirits of wine.

Ink-Stains, in carpets and woollen table-covers, can be removed, by washing the spot in a liquid, composed of one teaspoonful of oxalic acid dissolved in a teacupful of warm (not hot) water, and then rinsing in cold water.

Stains on Varnished Articles, which are caused by cups of hot water, can be removed, by rubbing them with lamp-oil, and then with alcohol. Ink-stains can be taken out of mahogany, by one teaspoonful of oil of vitriol mixed with one tablespoonful of water, or by oxalic acid and water. These must be brushed over quickly, and then washed off with milk.

Modes of Cleansing Various Articles.

Silk Handkerchiefs and Ribands can be cleansed, by using French chalk to take out the grease, and then sponging them, on both sides, with lukewarm fair water. Stiffen them with gum Arabic, and press them between white paper, with an iron not very hot. A tablespoonful of spirits of wine to three quarts of water, improves it.

Silk Hose, or Silk Gloves, should be washed in warm suds made with white soap, and rinsed in cold water; they should then be stretched and rubbed, with a hard-rolled flannel, till they are quite dry. Ironing them, very much injures their looks. Washleather articles should have the grease removed from them, by French chalk, or magnesia; they should then be washed in warm suds, and rinsed in cold water. White Kid Gloves should have the grease removed from them, as above directed. They should then be brushed, with a soft brush, and a mixture of fuller's earth and magnesia. In an hour after, rub them with flannel, dipped in bran and powdered whiting. Colored or Hoskin's gloves can be cleansed, very nicely, by pure spirits of turpentine, put on with a woollen cloth, and rubbed from wrist to fingers. Hang them for several days in the air, and all the unpleasant smell will be removed. Gentlemen's white gloves should be washed with a sponge, in white-soapsuds; then wiped, and dried on the hands. Swan's-down tippets, and capes, should be washed in white-soapsuds, squeezing, and not rubbing them; then rinse them in two waters, and shake and stretch them while drying. Ostrich feathers can also be thus washed. Stiffen them, with starch, wet in cold water and not boiled. Shake them in the air, till nearly dry, then hold them before the fire, and curl them with dull scissors, giving each fibre a twitch, turning it inward, and holding it so for a moment.

Straw and Leghorn Hats, can be cleansed, by simply washing them in white-soapsuds. Remove grease, by French chalk, and stains, by diluted oxalic acid, or cream of tartar. The oxalic acid is best, but must be instantly washed off. To whiten them, drive nails in a barrel, near its bottom, so that cords can be stretched across. On these cords, tie the bonnet, wet with suds, (having first removed the grease, stains, and dirt.) Then invert the barrel, over a dish of coals, on which roll brimstone is slowly burning. Put a chip under one side of the barrel, to admit the air. Continue this, till the bonnet is white; then hang it in the air, (when the weather is not damp,) till the smell is removed. Then stiffen it with a solution of isinglass or gum Arabic, put on the inside, with a sponge. Press the crown, on a block, and the rest on a board, on the right side, putting muslin between the iron and straw, and pressing hard. Be careful not to make it too stiff. First, stiffen a small piece, for trial.

ON COLORING.

Precautions and Preparations.

All the articles must be entirely free from grease or oil, and also, in most cases, from soapsuds. Make light dyes in brass, and dark ones in iron, vessels. Always wet the articles, in fair water, before dyeing. Always carefully strain the dye. If the color be too light, dry and then dip the article again. Stir the article well in the dye, lifting it up often. Remove any previous color, by boiling in suds, or, what is better, in the soda mixture used for washing.

Pink Dye. Buy a saucer of carmine, at an apothecary's. With it, you will find directions for its use. This is cheap, easy to use, and beautiful. Balm blossoms and Bergamot blossoms, with a little cream of tartar in the water, make a pretty pink.

Red Dye. Take half a pound of wheat bran, three ounces of powdered alum, and two gallons of soft water. Boil these in a brass vessel, and add an ounce of cream of tartar, and an ounce of cochineal, tied up together in a bag. Boil the mixture for fifteen minutes, then strain it, and dip the articles. Brazil wood, set with alum, makes another red dye.

Yellow Dye. Fustic, turmeric powder, saffron, barberry-bush, peach-leaves, or marigold flowers, make a yellow dye. Set the dye with alum, putting a piece the size of a large hazelnut to each quart of water.

Light Blue Dye, for silks and woollens, is made with the 'blue composition,' to be procured of the hat-makers; fifteen drops to a quart of water. Articles dipped in this, must be thoroughly rinsed. For a dark blue, boil four ounces of copperas in two gallons of water. Dip the articles in this, and then in a strong decoction of logwood, boiled and strained. Then wash them thoroughly in soapsuds.

Green Dye. First color the article yellow; and then, if it be silk or woollen, dip it in 'blue composition.' Instead of ironing, rub it with flannel, while drying.

Salmon Color is made by boiling arnotto or anotta in soapsuds.

Buff Color is made by putting one teacupful of potash, tied in a bag, in two gallons of hot (not boiling) water, and adding an ounce of arnotto, also in a bag, keeping it in for half an hour. First, wet the article in strong potash-water. Dry and then rinse in soapsuds. Birch bark and alum also make a buff. Black alder, set with ley, makes an orange color.

Dove and Slate Colors, of all shades, are made by boiling, in an iron vessel, a teacupful of black tea, with a teaspoonful of copperas. Dilute this, till you get the shade wanted. Purple sugar-paper, boiled, and set with alum, makes a similar color.

Brown Dye. Boil half a pound of camwood (in a bag) in two gallons of water, for fifteen minutes. Wet the articles, and boil them for a few minutes in the dye. White-walnut bark, the bark of sour sumach, or of white maple, set with alum, make a brown color.

Black Dye. Let one pound of chopped logwood remain all night in one gallon of vinegar. Then boil them, and put in a piece of copperas, as large as a hen's egg. Wet the articles in warm water, and put them in the dye, boiling and stirring them for fifteen minutes. Dry them, then wet them in warm water, and dip them again. Repeat the process, till the articles are black enough. Wash them in suds, and rinse them till the water comes off clear. Iron nails, boiled in vinegar, make a black dye, which is good for restoring rusty black silks.

Olive Color. Boil fustic and yellow-oak bark together. The more fustic, the brighter the olive; the more oak bark, the darker the shade. Set the light shade with a few drops of oil of vitriol, and the dark shade with copperas.

About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books.

This book is part of the public domain. Catharine Esther Beecher (2007). A Treatise on Domestic Economy; For the Use of Young Ladies at Home and at School. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/21829/pg21829-images.html

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org, located at https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html.