The gifts of mushrooms continue! My neighbour the mycologist came around with a gift of Cortinarius Archeri in many shades of purple. He had heard they could be used for dyeing, would I like to try them out? Aren’t they glorious?
I have read about European dyers using Cortinarius semisanguineus, and Leena from Riihivilla has written extensively about how she uses them. So I weighed my mushrooms and put them to soak on 30 June. Well, after 9 days the mushrooms were fermenting. Let’s not discuss the smell. And, on second thoughts, they were so beautiful when they were whole, perhaps I won’t share a picture either. I regret to report that no colour resulted from this experiment. On the other hand, when I reported this to my neighbour, he offered me something else…
Local & Bespoke 
They sure are lovely in the fresh variety!
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Aren’t they gorgeous!?
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Have you tried doing spore contact prints on fabric?
I tried it once, and got some interesting results on raw silk.
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No, I’ver never tried it, though my neighbour showed me one on a piece of paper and explained how he uses spore prints in identification. More experiments ahead, no doubt…
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😀
Always more experiments! That is the wonder and joy of dyeing!
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Too bad there was no color in those Cortinarius mushrooms:(. Here in Finland there are also many Cortinarius mushrooms which don’t give any color, actually more which don’t, than which do. The ones belonging to Dermocybe section of Cortinarius are the best, I think you have some also in Australia. Usually with Cortinarius mushrooms you can see in the first hour of soaking, if there is color, they are good that way:)
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Thanks for your generous advice, Leena! I saw the colour in your bucket of soaked mushrooms in the image on your blog–nothing like that in mine. My kind and expert neighbour knows much about mushrooms but little about dyes. On the other hand, he clearly propagates all kinds of species at work which might end up in my dye pot and not the compost, which could be exciting!
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