Dyeing Sheepskins

New Zealand Listener, Volume 17, Issue 439, 21 November 1947, Page 27

Dyeing Sheepskins

Dear Aunt Daisy, I haye been curing sheepskins. I did them with the soda .and_ kerosene method and felt very proud of them, as the skins were soft and white like kid gloves. I washed them in warm water and the wool was beautiful and white. Then I thought I would dye them. I used a well-known dye and catried out directions very carefully. These said to boil the articles for 10 minutes and then take out and wash. Well, Aunt Daisy, can you imagine my horror when, on lifting the skins out of the dye, they all fell to pieces. Do you know of a way to dye the,skins? I have seen them in the shops all different

colours.

Te Kuiti

I can well imagine your horror-and distress-at the result of dyeing your beautifully-cured sheepskins. I hope you can get some more skins and begin again. Sheepskins can be dyed suc- | cessfully, and almost any shade, by diluting and blending the various colours of dye on sale. Your mistake was in boiling the skins, To dye skins you must only sponge the wool with the dye-although I have had letters describing a method of dipping the wool-side only in a somewhat-cooled bath of dye. Two people each hold one_ end of the skin, and move it gently to and fro in the dye-bath, so that the wool absorbs the dye, but the pelt or skin side, does not go in at all. This is a quick way of doing it-afterwards combing the wool thoroughly with a big, coarse comb to make the dye even, and the rugs fluffy. Then dry them over a line, in the usual way. It is the skin (or pelt) which must be kept out of the dye. The usual method, however, is to make up a good dye according to the directions. Then get a soft sponge, dip : jt in the dye, and dab it thoroughly all

over the wool, so that it absorbs the colour evenly. Dry away from the sun, and comb with a coarse comb.