The Knitted Rug Page 8

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Let the vat stand for forty-eight hours before using, giving it at intervals a vigorous stirring with the rake. The vat should stand in a moderately warm place as the chemical action in it then goes on more easily. In summer, which is the ideal time to set an indigo vat and to use one too, for that matter, it can stand in the cellar or barn or even in the summer kitchen. It must not be exposed to the hot sun for it might become sour and it is well to have it stand where there is space enough around it for convenient working. In the winter it can stand in the cellar, if the cellar is heated.

The warm season is the best season for the dyer. First and foremost because the work can then be done in the open and the dyeing of fabrics, then becomes a simple matter. Second, because all chemical action in dyeing takes place more readily in a warm atmosphere and in fair weather. This may sound like an old wife's tale but any one who has tried to dye in damp or rainy weather will know from experience how difficult it is to get the dye to "take." The dyer of threads or fabrics for handicraft will therefore find it quite worth while the forethought it may cost, to plan care-fully for summer work, including in it all the setting of vats and the actual dyeing of materials for use in the studio in the winter. Apart from any practical value this plan may have, there is the pleasure of working out of doors which is in itself an inspiration to the creator of color.

After the vat is in a position, the pulley and the pulley ropes may be placed directly above it, and the fabrics to be dyed with indigo let down easily and dipped into the vat. They can also hang directly over the vat, and drain off before they are passed through the clothes-wringer. Make a slip noose at one end of the rope, so the hanks of thread and pieces of material may be slipped through it and held while dipped in the vat. Take the hanks of thread in-tended for the dark green and wet them. Put them through the clothes-wringer so that the moisture may be evened up. Then slip them in the noose and dip them in the vat letting them stay there for five minutes. Next draw the pulley, and drain them for a few minutes before they are hung out of doors to oxidize.

When well oxidized they can be dipped again into the vat, wrung out and hung out again. This process if repeated three times will make the color deep enough when the vat is fresh and strong. If it is not a fresh vat you will have to repeat the operation of dipping until the desired color is reached.

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The Craft Of Handmade Rugs - View The Rest Of The Book

Introduction - Some Old Time Rugs - A Word About Dyes - The Braided Rug - The Scalloped Doormat Or Tongue Rug - The Crocheted Rug - The Hooked Rug In Cotton And Wool - The Needle-Woven Rug
The Colonial Rag Rug - Some Applications - Newer Methods Of Stencil Making - The Tufted Counterpane
Old Time Lights - The Batik Or Wax Resist Process