Chrome
(Potassium dichromate. Bichromate of Potash.)
Chrome is a modern mordant, unknown to the dyer of fifty years ago. It
is excellent for wool and is easy to use and very effective in its
action. Its great advantage is that it leaves the wool soft to the
touch, whereas the other mordants are apt to harden the wool. The wool
should be boiled for 1 to 1-1/2 hours with bichromate of potash in the
proportion of 2 to 4 per cent of the wool. It is then washed well and
immediately dyed. Wool mordanted with chrome should not be exposed to
light, but should be kept well covered with the liquid while being
mordanted, else it is liable to dye unevenly. An excess of chrome
impairs the colour, 3 per cent of chrome is a safe quantity to use for
ordinary dyeing. It should be dissolved in the bath while the water is
heating. The wool is entered and the bath gradually raised to the
boiling point, and boiled for 3/4 of an hour.