As soon as I found out what this mushroom was called, I should have thrown it on the compost. What self-respecting dye mushroom has a name like that? Well, exactly! If it had been Pisolithus Tinctoria I might have had better results.
Apparently, the young fruiting bodies of this mushroom are edible. Would you put this anywhere near your mouth??? The inside was even worse :-
Anyway, I checked out my mushroom dye book "The Rainbow Beneath My Feet" and didn't find it. The Pisolithus Tinctoria was in there though and apparently that gives a rich brown colour. Can't be an awful lot different, I thought, can it - it's the same family? Well, yes, obviously it can, but I still had to give it a go.
The amount of colour that came out of this was quite amazing. Really thick, dark brown with a reddish tinge. Very promising.
I put some merino fleece (mordanted with alum/cream of tartar) in there and heated it for about an hour, keeping it just below a simmer in case too much heat affected the colour. This afternoon I took it out and rinsed it :-
Hhhmmmm, maybe a bit of ammonia would brighten it up slightly . . . no change. Tried vinegar too . . . no change. Now if you actually like bleihge you'd probably be quite pleased with this. But having achieved this colour far too often, the novelty has worn off.
I actually very carefully mowed round this mushroom the other day while I was cutting the grass. Next time, it's for the chop!
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| The offending article |
Anyway, I checked out my mushroom dye book "The Rainbow Beneath My Feet" and didn't find it. The Pisolithus Tinctoria was in there though and apparently that gives a rich brown colour. Can't be an awful lot different, I thought, can it - it's the same family? Well, yes, obviously it can, but I still had to give it a go.
The amount of colour that came out of this was quite amazing. Really thick, dark brown with a reddish tinge. Very promising.
I put some merino fleece (mordanted with alum/cream of tartar) in there and heated it for about an hour, keeping it just below a simmer in case too much heat affected the colour. This afternoon I took it out and rinsed it :-
Hhhmmmm, maybe a bit of ammonia would brighten it up slightly . . . no change. Tried vinegar too . . . no change. Now if you actually like bleihge you'd probably be quite pleased with this. But having achieved this colour far too often, the novelty has worn off.
I actually very carefully mowed round this mushroom the other day while I was cutting the grass. Next time, it's for the chop!
Were you expecting a darker brown?
ReplyDeleteI was expecting something with a bit more character, yes. Especially when I saw the really dark colour that came out of the mushroom. In some ways it's just as well that it was paler - at least I can overdye it with something else!
ReplyDeleteHeartfelt sympathy from a fellow beige sufferer.
ReplyDeleteHi Fran, somehow I expected you to arrive before long ;-)
DeleteWell, live and learn! I can't tell mushrooms apart, and anyway, I haven't seen any interesting ones on my walks, so I stay away from that. In Sweden I once saw purple and orange dyebaths with mushrooms, amazing!! At the time I had no clue I'd be getting into this myself 30 years later, no notes.
ReplyDeleteYes, you're right! I'm just a mushroom-oholic and think they're always going to be amazing. This one looked dodgy from the start - should have known better!!! :-)
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