Mushrooms are sometimes delicious and sometimes dangerous but they are always beautiful and mysterious. Did you know that they also can produce some beautiful dyes? A rainbow of colors in fact. PHOTO: Jack-O-Lantern mushrooms are some of Sherri Scott’s favorite fungi to use for dye. They can produce vibrant purples and lavenders with the right dye-bath techniques and mordants. Photo by John Whittlesey.
During the Dyeing with Mushrooms workshop this coming Saturday January 24, 2015 led by local plantswoman Sherri Scott and hosted by the Friends of the Chico State Herbarium, attendees will have the opportunity to experiment in a lab setting with some of the mushrooms (and a lichen) Butte County has to offer along with safe mordants and a variety of fibers to discover our local fungal rainbow. During the cooking processes we will have plenty of time to go over the beginner?s basics of mushroom ID and foraging, dye and mordant processes, and dyeing techniques. Participants will be able to take home some samples and even bring something of their own to dye.
Dyeing with Mushrooms
Sherri Scott is a “nature junkie” whose passion for mushrooms began in the mid 90s while living in the fungal rich area of San Francisco. Through the enthusiasm and guidance of various mentors in the Mycological Society of San Francisco, she discovered the amazing treasures that the rain brings. She also discovered the work of Miriam Rice, an artist/mycologist/naturalist whose research into Dyeing with Mushrooms and documenting of her results stimulated a renaissance of this ancient and traditional art form: using fungi as a source of useful and beautiful dyes.
Sherri finds herself renewed in the woods while foraging for fun, science, food or the great peace that it gives her and loves when she can infect another into this world!
She is likewise a knowledgeable and accomplished plantswoman and advocate. She runs the GRUB plant nursery and is instrumental in their educational programs, and is a founder of the Chico Seed Lending Library. When speaking about her interest in Dyeing with Mushrooms specifically, she said: “One of the great things about it is how it brings together such diverse people and communities – the pigment artists, the fiber artists, the naturalists and outdoors people, the chemists and the biologists. It’s a rich connecting point for sparking inter-interest collaboration and results!”
Sherri will generously share her passion for and knowledge of collecting mushrooms and lichens for dyeing in this workshop.
The registration fee is $45. FOH members $40. Please register in advance; class size is limited to 20 participants (class cancelled without a minimum of 10 participants).
Location: Holt Hall CSU Chico room TBA. For more information about workshop content and what to bring, contact Sherri Scott sherri@grubchico.org
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For information about workshop registration contact the Biology office at (530) 898-5356 or epurvis@csuchico.edu Or online at http://www.csuchico.edu/biol/Herb/Events.html
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In a North State Garden is a twice-monthly Northstate Public Radio and web-based program celebrating the art, craft and science of home gardening in Northern California. It is made possible in part by the Gateway Science Museum – Exploring the Natural History of the North State and on the campus of CSU, Chico. In a North State Garden is conceived, written, photographed and hosted by Jennifer Jewell – all rights reserved jewellgarden.com. In a North State Garden airs two weekends a month on Northstate Public Radio Saturday mornings at 7:34 AM Pacific time and Sunday morning at 8:34 AM Pacific time.
