To make red
sealing-wax this mixture is melted, and three parts of vermilion, an
insoluble metallic pigment, are stirred in. If black sealing-wax is
required, lamp-black or ivory-black is stirred in. The fused material is
then cast in moulds, from which the sticks are removed on cooling. That
is how shellac may be coloured as sealing-wax, but it is a totally
different method from that by which wool is dyed. The difficulty then is
this--in proofing, your hat-forms are rendered impervious to the dye
solutions of your dye-baths, all except a thin superficial layer, which
then has to be rubbed down, polished, and finished. Thus in a short
time, since the bulk of that superficially dyed wool or fur on the top
of every hat is but small, and has been much reduced by polishing and
rubbing, you soon hear of an appearance of bareness--I was going to say
threadbareness--making itself manifest. This is simply because the
colour or dye only penetrates a very little way down into the substance
of the felt, until, in fact, it meets the proofing, which, being as it
ought to be, a waterproofing, cannot be dyed.
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