Mushroom Pigments, Paper & more!
SOMA's own Miriam C. Rice popularized in the 1970s that fungi could be used both for natural dyes and as a material for making paper. These fungal art forms have now spread worldwide from their origins in nearby Mendocino County and led to the creation of the International Mushroom Dye Institute.
SOMA members Dorothy Beebee and Catherine Wesley, among others, now teach classes in dyes and paper-making at fungus fairs, SOMA Camp and mushroom workshops.
Mushroom & Lichen Dyes
In the 1970s, Miriam realized that mushrooms contained pigments that could be used for natural pigments. Extracting these natural pigments turns out to be fairly simple: just chop up some mushrooms, cover them with water, and bring to a simmer. If the mushrooms contain any water-soluble pigment, it will immediately start to run in the hot water.
The color obtained depends on the species used as well as the mordants for fixing the dye. In general, much of the pigment resides in the reproductive parts of the mushroom (i.e., gills, pores, tubes); mushrooms with white or pale reproductive parts tend to yield little color - there are always exceptions. Some good local dye fungi include (left to right) the Dyer’s Polypore (Phaeolus schweinitzii), Western Red Dye (Cortinarius smithii), Dyer's Puffball (Pisolithus sp.) and the Wooly Chanterelle (Turbinellus floccosus.)
Mordants are metallic salts commonly used by natural dyers to aid in the setting of a dye on fiber to make it lightfast and colorfast. Two recommended safe mordants are potassium alum and iron sulfate, which are available online from many fiber supply sources.
Mushrooms for pigments are used most successfully to dye protein fibers such as wool, silk, and mohair or even alpaca and llama! The harder-to-dye cellulose fibers such as cotton and hemp usually result in lighter hues.
For more information on mushroom pigments, check out the Fiber Arts Committee and see these links: Dye Mushrooms and Lichens of North America Project and the Mushroom Color Atlas Species Index.
Fungi for Paper
Miriam also popularized that the detritus left over from the dye-pot, medicine making (the marc) and other fungal biomass can be used to make paper! Always a passionate advocate of recycling, Miriam found this to be a natural solution for disposal of the fungal residue from these various processes.
Shelf/bracket mushrooms called polypores typically make the best paper, likely because of their high chitin content and fibrous textures. Polypores are commonly found growing on trees or dead logs and can easily be collected year-round then dried for later use. Some great local polypores for making medicine and paper include the Artist's conk (Ganoderma brownii and G. applanatum), Turkey Tail (Trametes versicolor), the Red-Belted Conk (Fomitopsis mounceae), and the Rosy Polypore (Fomes cajenderi.)
Here are some tutorials on how to get started: Mushroom Paper Making Activity & Making Paper From Fungi
Fungi Inks and Paints
If you’re not impressed already, what if we told you you can also paint, draw and write with fungi as well? Fungi can and have been used for centuries to make pigments with which people wrote and painted. Did you know that mushroom ink was used in writing before conventional black inks existed?! Liquefied Coprinus comatus was used as writing ink in George Washington's day!
Shaggy Mane Ink
Shaggy mane (Coprinus comatus) is a common, globally distributed saprotrophic fungus found in highly disturbed areas with compact soils such as trail sides, parking lots, lawns, grasslands and roadways. This mushroom is not only a delicious edible when cooked young and fresh, but they have some potential as bioremediators and can be used to make a black ink!
