We asked Julie Beeler, founder of the Mushroom Color Atlas, to dye some of our wool gauze with these mushrooms and she got lovely results! These recipes are courtesy of Julie Beeler’s experiments. Your results may differ.
Julie also made lake pigments with the exhausted dye baths and created watercolors with the reclaimed pigments.
Cortinarius semisanguines (Surprise Web Cap)
The wool gauze is mordanted in iron at 2% of the weight of fiber (WOF), or in Aluminum Potassium Sulfate at 15% WOF + Cream of Tartar at 6% WOF.
Grind the dried mushrooms into a fine powder in a coffee grinder at a ratio of 1:2 (one part dried mushroom by weight to two parts fiber, or 50% WOF.) Note: the coffee grinder is used for dyestuffs only. Please wear a mask when grinding mushrooms or other dry ingredients.
Hydrate the mushroom powder in 1 liter (1 quart) water warmed to 115 degrees F( 46C). Add the powdered mushrooms to the water and stir well. Keep this mixture at 115 degrees F (46 C) for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
To obtain the deep rose shade, Julie shifted the the pH of this mixture with soda ash to pH 9. She estimates she used a scant 1/4 teaspoon (approx. 1 gram) of soda ash.
Next, strain out the ground mushroom in a strainer lined with silk habotai or other straining fabric. The mushroom residue may be saved for eco printing or another extraction.
Wet out your mordanted wool fibers, then drop them into warm water and steep for 1 hour in warm water around 115 degrees F (46 C), stirring occasionally.
If you shift the dyebath to pH 4 with distilled vinegar, you will get coral and orange colors. Julie did not do this, but it makes a great second experiment!
Cortinarius uliginosus (Marsh Webcap)
The wool gauze is mordanted in iron at 2% of the weight of fiber (WOF), or in Aluminum Potassium Sulfate at 15% WOF + Cream of Tartar at 6% WOF.
Grind the dried mushrooms into a fine powder in a coffee grinder at a ratio of 1:2 (one part dried mushroom by weight to two parts fiber, or 50% WOF.) Note: the coffee grinder is used for dyestuffs only. Please wear a mask when grinding mushrooms or other dry ingredients.
Hydrate the mushroom powder in 1 liter (1 quart) water warmed to 115 degrees F( 46C). Add the powdered mushrooms to the water and stir well. Keep this mixture at 115 degrees F (46 C) for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
Next, strain out the ground mushroom in a strainer lined with silk habotai or other straining fabric. The mushroom residue may be saved for eco printing or another extraction.
Wet out your mordanted wool fibers, then drop them into warm water and steep for 1 hour in warm water around 115 degrees F (46 C), stirring occasionally.
Julie says that this mushroom made an orange shade in the bath, so she didn’t shift it with soda ash as she did with the other Cortinarius samples above, but we tried it with soda ash (approx. 1/4th teaspoon or 1 gram) and got a slightly darker, salmon shade.
Tapinella atrotomentosa (Velvet Pax-foot)
The wool gauze is mordanted in iron at 2% of the weight of fiber (WOF), or in Aluminum Potassium Sulfate at 15% WOF + Cream of Tartar at 6% WOF.
Grind the dried mushrooms into a fine powder in a coffee grinder at a ratio of 1:1 (one part dried mushroom by weight to one part fiber, or 100% WOF.) Note: the coffee grinder is used for dyestuffs only. Please wear a mask when grinding mushrooms or other dry ingredients.
Hydrate the mushroom powder in 1 liter (1 quart) water warmed to 115 degrees F( 46C). Add the powdered mushrooms to the water and stir well. Keep this mixture at 115 degrees F (46 C) for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
Next, strain out the ground mushroom in a strainer lined with silk habotai or other straining fabric. The mushroom residue may be saved for eco printing or another extraction.
Wet out your mordanted wool fibers, then drop them into warm water and steep for 1 hour in warm water around 115 degrees F (46 C), stirring occasionally.
