Mushroom Dyes in Breitenbush, OR – 2008

Many fresh autumnal colored “dyers polypores” were found in abundance around Breitenbush Hot Springs – some young with yellow rims, others without. All were broken up into small chunks and added together into the dyebath. Four dyebaths later, the dye was still yielding strong color in the “after-baths”!

(“Sulphur Tufts”) This was the first mushroom that Miriam C. Rice used to make her first mushroom dye over 40 years ago. So it was appropriate that a huge clump was found on a nearby stump, broken into small pieces and added into a dyepot.“)

We simmered this dyebath for about 45 minutes, adding in the alum pre-mordanted mohair roving contained in a net bag.

(“Lobster Mushroom”)

We peeled off the bright orange outer skin which is reputed to contain anthraquinone pigments, and used only that for the dye. Photo by Dorothy Beebee

This was one of the dyes that we processed by having the dyebath in a wide-mouth Mason glass jar, (stuffed with mushroom bits and fiber samples), in the boiling canning kettle for 55 minutes. In order to heighten the hues, we added a dollop of white vinegar (changing the pH from 6 to pH4) and decided to let the fibres steep overnight to intensify the colors.

The mysterious red Dermocybe

These Dermocybes were “con-colorus” (cap, gills, and stalk all the same color) dark red with an orangish cast to it in the sun.I found another group of the same species at Breitenbush the next day, (guided to them by Kathy Biskey!) The gills were a brilliant iridescent red, and the stalk was much darker than it appears in this scan to the right, which was done 11 days after mushrooms was found. (They have been kept refrigerated.) More scans and a detailed description of habitat and the specimens that we found on October 26th may be seen at http://mushroomobserver.org/13277

Nov. 3, 2008. All rights reserved, Dorothy M. Beebee

(This Website page was updated November 04, 2008)