lac se daisical

here is what I have to show this week, dyeing with Lac..the dark colors in first and the lighter shades in the exhaust bath.. reverything done with alum and cream of tartar mordant. I do like the colors together andwill definitely do more, although I find the mushrooms more rewarding as I gather them myself, i suppose I could go to India and pick insects by the thousands off the ficus trees but I am way too busy right now...and the "cast of patience and perseverence " doesn't come off for a few weeks so I am definitely slowed down...

GIVE ME A BREAK

and here is the latest addition to my wardrobe, such a teacher in patience and perseverence.. so invited a few friends over and they helped tie dye some silk scarves in lobaria pulmonaria (lungwort) , and wolf moss , which was a gift.. and the results were great.. so back into the forest with walking stick and dh pushed over a few tiny standing dead maples with tons more dried lobaria...and then we found a mother tree of oyster mushrooms, so it was one bountiful day...
and now back to the job for three days

lichen it or not

Out gathering again today, and besides a feast of oyster mushrooms we lucked into lobaria pulmonaria, and my dh has been bugging me about all these lichens I could be experimenting with and he was soo right, as here are the first lichens, from lungwort or lobaria pulmonaria, and we found them in the woods on a fallen maple tree. I soaked them in cold water overnight, and got a great rust color..then today put in some kid mohair which I had wound and mordanted with alum and cr. of tartar, although I know that many don't bother with mordants for this lichen, and then some silk/merino in the exhaust bath.

here are the photos of the lichen, soaking in the water, as today I went back out and gathered more...so between the oyster mushroom feast, which we found yesterday, and went back for more today, and the lichen, I am having a great mothers day....Mother lode of mother's bounty.How sweet is that. I did see some lichen dyed wool that had an iron mordant and was really orange, so have more soaking and might try a little iron to bring more of the reds out, it does seem more reddish brown in real life.
Tomorrow back to the indigo bath, which I have made more stock and will try and refresh the pot..