Friday, January 22, 2010

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:

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