culturing :)

I've been culturing!

I got the spring buzz a few weeks ago and started growing out some of my cultures that had been in storage for 2 1/2 years....
It was great because it coincided with the UW Farm starting a "fungi on the farm" committee, which I joined, of course.
*I grew these on a medium of oatmeal agar and Bacto agar (an antibacterial).
Here are a few photos:
Pleurotus pulmonarus, the Phoenix Oyster

Hericium erinaceus, the Lion's Mane

and Pleurotus ostreatus, the Oyster, or Tree Oyster

Once the cultures were healthy and strong, I mixed sawdust and spent beer grains about 50/50 and added water.

I sterilized this mixture in autoclavable bags, and allowed to cool. This took longer than expected.

Then, I set in small chunks of the mycelium, cut directly from their dish and zip-tied the bags closed.

I had a helper :)

Now, we wait.

Winter Dye Party pt. 8 and 9

Folks, the winter dye party has come to a close in just under a week since it started :(
I've made short shrift of my mushroom supply, but feel better prepared to know which species (and how many) to collect this summer. Can't wait to see what I find...

So, for my last mushroom dye posting, I got some wild orange colors!
I made one dyebath of Cortinarius semisanguineus (top) and one of Cortinarius uliginosus (bottom), to compare shades.
I was expecting more of a red or pink, but got vivid orange/pink. Almost too vivid :)

Well, here are all my colors from the last week:

One of my most fun weeks in a long time; I was so stimulated and preoccupied with dying. I couldn't wait to get home and make another dyebath, and then I couldn't wait to get up in the morning to check the color!

Winter dye party pt. 7

More yellow! I love yellow :)

The bright lemon yellow in the center was achieved after only 15 minutes in the dyebath!
The orangey-yellow on the right was after 45 min/1 hour in dyebath.
The other colors to the left are previous dyes for comparison.
So, this fungus was Inonotus hispidus, another polypore that forms "shelfs" on wood.

winter dye party pt. 6

The latest successful mushroom dye comes from Echinodontium tinctorum, a brick red polypore (I forgot to take a before photo). I picked up a small piece last fall at Easy Pass thinking it may be useful...and it was!

It gave a light orange, almost creamscicle-like or pink-ish with alum and cream-of-tartar as mordant.

Winter Dye Party pt. 5!

Remember the copper penny blue?

I love how this one came out (top right).

Hard to believe you can get a color like this from pennies and ammonia.

Winter Dye Party pt. 4

I got a yellow!

I used a mix of boletus (which have pores/tubes to release spores instead of gills).
I used Boletus mirabilis and Boletus zelleri with 1 scoop alum and 2 scoops cream of tartar.

top left: Polyozellus + copper penny
top right: Copper Penny Blue (pennies + ammonia)
lover left: Boletus + alum + cream of tartar
lower right: Paxillus + alum + cream of tartar

Winter Dye Party pt.3

I am hooked on mushroom dyes. That's all there is to it.
I've been doing a new dye every night this week (I'll slowly post results, once a day). Some have been great, and some not so successful.
So far, the unsuccessful one was some polypore (I couldn't identify) that I collected in the fall. It was slightly red and I hoped it might work well to dye...but it was a dud.
**A tip I've elucidated for knowing if something will dye or not, is the dyebath will be opaque. All these opaque molecules will attach to the fiber, and the leftover dyebath will be less opaque.

Now, on to the latest dye results!

I used a Paxillus sp. (not edible, despite what some people say)

and I used Alum and cream of tartar together as the mordant. I used about 1 spoonful alum and two of cream of tartar.

It gave a rust color:

Dye results

So, the black chanterelle Polyozellus multiplex did indeed give a moss green!


I'm so proud of my first mushroom dye :)

Winter Dye Party pt. 2

Moving on from the Copper Penny Blue dyebath...
Tonight I will dye using mushrooms for the first time! I'm getting everything ready right now!

I'm using a variety of fibers (though wool should work best).
And I'm using Polyozellus multiplex, the black chanterelle, with copper pennies. I should get a dark moss-green.
Who knows what that will look like for sure...but I hope it's pretty :)

I tied the yarn loosely and ran under water, slowly making the water warmer and warmer until hot. I then put it in a pan of water with a spoonful of detergent and heated it without boiling for almost an hour.

I then rinsed the yarn in hot water, slowing making the water cooler and cooler until warm. I set in another bowl of warm/hot water until the dyebath was ready.

To make the dyebath, I crumbled up dried Polyozellus multiplex from Easy Pass 21 September, 2009 into a pot. I added enough water to cover the yarn that would be there and brought to a boil. I then simmered the mushrooms for an hour and then cooled the mixture. This is where I am now.

Now I will strain the mushrooms out, add the washed yarn and simmer without boiling another hour. I hope it turns out a nice color :)
I'll let you know tomorrow when it dries!

recycling

On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I did some cleaning and recycling.
I had saved these two rice bags for a few months and finally sewed them into something useful....Adam's new lunch bag :)