- Young Dyer’s Polypore
It’s late in the season to be finding young Phaeolus, so imagine my delighted surprise when I found four young clusters last week, all within some 200 yards of each other, and all coming up from underground fir roots (as opposed to growing on the tree trunk itself).
Now look at the colours (unretouched) that came from these four little clusters! These were from four exhausts, starting with the skeins/roving at top left (wool premordanted with copper and iron gave the brown and green skeins) and going around clockwise. The roving from the second dyebath (top right) was actually brighter than the first – I had this experience last year, too.
Not pictured are two skeins that I treated with copper and iron afterbaths. I’ll post pictures of those soon, but right now I’m flying out the door for what will probably be the last organized foray of the Sunshine Coast SHROOM (Society for the Hunting, Recognition and Observation of Mushrooms).
SHROOMWORKS 
I love SHROOM! I’ll see if the mycological group around here might take it on too… Maine Mycological Society sounds a little stuffy.
Aren’t you lucky to have an abundance of dyer’s polypore! I’d like to see photos of the results of your dyepot. It’s fun to experiment with these fungi as the season goes on – the older they get, the darker the colour, but you can still get some nice browns from the old ones.
We had our first real SHROOM meeting on Sunday, and I was pleased to see a lot of people willing to volunteer for projects and events. The energy was good – but then mushroom people have good energy anyway!
Oh, and I love seeing the copper and iron with this. I am starting to think about a sweater for DH, and I have more P. schweinitzii than anything, and gold’s just not his color (though it is mine).
Wow, those colours are beautiful. I’m curious what the dyer’s polypore looks like on the underside ? I’ve been looking but haven’t found any yet. I’ve been experimenting with some Cortinarius and some little rosette type fungi that I don’t think are turkey tails !! They give a delicate lavender/grey colour and a darkish brown when mordanted with alum. I have not been able to identify them yet.
Love the SHROOM, wish I was there !