Dyeing with Fungi - Kitsap Peninsula Mycological Society

This event is across the Puget Sound from Seattle, and is happening in just a few days, on Feb. 8, 2018, but I'm posting about it for the glorious photo.

I mean, just wow. Look at all the colors that mushrooms can create!!


From this Facebook post which is through Kitsap Peninsula Mycological Society

Dyeing with Fungi: Bring your colorful questions to our Feb 8 meeting, where Alissa Allen will share the world of Mycopigments. She specializes in extracting dyes from fungi and applying them to wool and silk. "My focus is studying regional mycoflora and utilizing the colorful dyes to entice people to pay closer attention to the role fungi play in our lives; from being a necessary yet understudied part of our ecosystem, to a colorful addition to our wardrobes, to the bonding that foraging brings to families, friends and communities."

What a wonderful palette!  Brightened my day right there!

What beautiful colors!  
You've given me another interesting group to follow on fb...

I'm nearing the end of a fermented lichen (orchil!) dye bath...I'll start a thread soon.
It is a fascinating area of dyeing isn't it?

Phil, I'm glad to hear it! It did for me, too. I think the "Sleepless in Seattle" scenery, the cute gal *and* the gorgeous basket of colorful yarns combines to make just an epic photo.

Judith, you make some of the *best* threads, full of pictures, links, and instructions, so I imagine your lichen dyeing thread will be one to watch for!

Wow, what astoundingly beautiful results! Jocelyn, thanks to you I now have a new myco-heroine!
Thank you Alissa, if you ever stumble upon this, for advancing & drawing attention to this little-known field of work.
I wonder if anyone has ever dyed mushroom textiles (amadou, fomes fomentarius) with mushroom dyes.
This thread deserves more pics...

Loxley Clovis wrote:Wow, what astoundingly beautiful results! Jocelyn, thanks to you I now have a new myco-heroine!
Thank you Alissa, if you ever stumble upon this, for advancing & drawing attention to this little-known field of work.
I wonder if anyone has ever dyed mushroom textiles (amadou, fomes fomentarius) with mushroom dyes.
This thread deserves more pics...

Yes, it does deserve more pics!! Thanks for rounding those up from Alissa's site, Loxley.

Mushroom textiles? I know nothing of those...have more info?

Wow, that palette is right up my alley!  I love the colors.

Jocelyn Campbell wrote:Mushroom textiles? I know nothing of those...have more info?

According to Paul Stamets, people in Romania have been using the fomes fomentarius conk to make textile fabrics for centuries.

Interesting, that felt (hat) made of the tinder mushroom! I went searching for more, already found out someone made such hats (baseball caps type) and sold them on Etsy (but not available at the moment). I go on searching, I want to know how to do it. Such mushrooms grow here on dead (or almost dead) trees.

Edited to add: already found a FB page on amadou products (https://www.facebook.com/amadouproducts/) and youtube videos on growing textiles with fungi, not the same but even more interesting: it grows in the same way as making kombucha! But this is stuff for a different thread (maybe there is already?)

Inge Leonora-den Ouden wrote:Interesting, that felt (hat) made of the tinder mushroom! I went searching for more, already found out someone made such hats (baseball caps type) and sold them on Etsy (but not available at the moment). I go on searching, I want to know how to do it. Such mushrooms grow here on dead (or almost dead) trees.

Edited to add: already found a FB page on amadou products (https://www.facebook.com/amadouproducts/) and youtube videos on growing textiles with fungi, not the same but even more interesting: it grows in the same way as making kombucha! But this is stuff for a different thread (maybe there is already?)

Thanks for the links Inge. Maybe these will help you with your tonderzwam journey too:

HOW TO:

How to Make Amadou Mushroom Felt by reishiandroses, April 10, 2015

Making Amadou, Fomes fomentarius or the Horses Hoof Fungus by brooksandbecks.blogspot.com Wednesday, 13 October 2010

PRODUCTS:
http://everythingmushrooms.com/mushroom-crafts/
&
https://amadouproducts.blogspot.com/

IN DUTCH:
http://www.soortenbank.nl/soorten.php?soortengroep=paddenstoelen&id=918&menuentry=soorten

This turned out so beautiful! Wow! Amazing! :) The colors are very vibrant. I would not have expected this much color. I'm very surprised indeed--and that yarn is a dream within a dream!

I  <3 LOVE E> the mushroom-dyed yarns photo. WOW!  And the color is so saturated!  I tip my amadou hat to the Kitsap Peninsula Mycological Society and Alissa Allen!  I'll have to read up on this topic. I have heard of "mushroom dyes" but did not expect colors to be so saturated.  My wife makes tie-dye, and we both love mushrooming about the state park - I will have to send her this thread.