52 Forms of Fungi || #44

Little nest polypore.  I remember observing some of these on a fallen branch in a natural area a year or so ago, alongside some bitchin' lichen.  They were much smaller than these polypores that I knitted, but the rings of color were pretty distinct.

These polypores were knitted for my project, 52 Forms of Fungi.  You can see more phases from this project here.

Succession

It was an honor to be involved in threshold: the promised land at START Norman.  While I was taking down my work recently, I wondered how the space would be transformed in the coming years.  There's some fascinating history there.

Here are some full scale images of my installation.  I hope to have some photos of the collaboration to show in the near future as well.

Succession / 52 Forms of Fungi || #29

I love polypores.  Mushrooms are cute, but there's just something fascinating to me about finding a tree with a ladder of conks growing up the trunk.  They pose a challenge to knit, mostly due to the shape and attachment element, but the colors are especially pleasing to the eye when I get to work on them.  Knit Picks Palette really has become a favorite yarn of mine, simply because of the fact that with 150 shades to choose from it's pretty easy to create that fade from light to dark when necessary.  I have a giant basket full of probably about 1/3 of the colors they offer - HA!

Anyway, what we have here is resinous polypore, created as part of my Succession installation for START Norman (on display for another week!).  The fruiting structures of this species are rather fleshy - I've seen them on trees before and remember the sponginess when poked.  They typically grow on very rotted wood - fallen logs, dead wood, old stumps, etc.

Wall Hangings || Turkey Tail

Meet "Turkey Tail", a wall hanging inspired by the turkey tail fungus.  I created this piece at the same time as "Riot II" this past summer, but unfortunately never had a good opportunity to get photos of it in an open space with good natural light... until now!  The individual polypores were knitted and then mounted onto a large piece of elm bark.

52 Forms of Fungi || #3

 52 Forms of Fungi #3!

This form of fungi is a polypore known as Ganoderma lucidum.  Presence of these conks around the base of a tree suggest internal decay, the extent of which should be investigated further to determine degree of risk for failure.  So while they are beautiful, they're not such a great sign... However, they have been shown to have healing properties and are produced for herbal supplements.

The fruiting bodies themselves vary greatly in color and shape.  For this piece I went with the more brightly colored variation, but you will likely see more variations throughout this project.  I've been working on multiple forms of Ganoderma over the past few months, tweaking the pattern and colorwork and trying to come up with a result that I'm happy with.  This one is getting there, but I still have some work to do.

By the way, if you ever see these conks in the woods you can break them off and bring them home for decor.  The tissue is very woody and will not get smooshy or oozy or anything like that - I've got two on my fireplace mantel that I've had since 2007!

View more posts about the 52 Forms of Fungi Project.

52 Forms of Fungi || #2

I had a question from Misti recently about whether I record the patterns for these pieces that I'm working on as I go.  The answer is YES, I write them down in case the result is something that I really like and want to duplicate.  For instance, I am already in the process of making more of the forms depicted in this post for a larger installation.  If any of the pieces have potential to be incorporated into the Decomposition series, I've gotta have some record of what I did!  In any case...

52 Forms of Fungi #2!

This polypore was inspired by some conks I saw out in a natural area recently.  The ones I looked at were white in color, but I was purchasing yarn recently and this shade of Knit Picks Palette, called "Pennyroyal", grasped my attention and I knew I had to do something with it.  A project idea came to mind and this is the first piece for that project.  I've been using the Palette yarn A LOT lately, and it's quickly becoming a favorite for these types of projects... so many great colors!

This is the first "fungi" that I've attached only temporarily to a living tree, so it was fun trying out a way to do that (which worked pretty well).  On that note, no trees were harmed during the installation of this fungi!  Although, there was a power-walker who kept circling the nearby trail and was giving me some really funny looks.  It made me giggle to myself a little bit... I can already tell that this project is going to be a lot of fun!  Are you ready for more?

View more posts about the 52 Forms of Fungi project.