Wildcraft Dyeing

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Fun with Pholiota aurivella

These are a fairly prominent mushroom group in the local coniferous forests around Vancouver, BC. I used the local Golden Pholiota (Pholiota aurivella group) which I harvested and dried during last fall. Pholiota can be differentiated by similar mushrooms in the field by their (usually) slimy caps, veil, frequently slender overall build and mostly clustered growth habit (Mushrooms Demystified, p. 385).

TLDR: 44 grams of dried mushroom to 22 grams of wool (two skeins, one mordanted with alum and the other with iron). Dyestuff simmered for an hour, then fiber simmered for another hour and rinsed. Alum skein: pale honey yellow colour, iron skein: deep tan.