Beautyberry's Best Season

The shrub was given to me, dug up from a friend's garden that required space for other plants.  The tiny white blooms are pleasant, and the big, bright green leaves are nice, but my favorite part of the year with my American beautyberry is autumn when it boasts these vibrant, purple berries.
I had big plans to dye yarn with them this year, but have found mixed reviews about whether or not the purple pigment from the fruit's outer coating is actually released or if the neutral toned flesh inside dictates the resulting hue.  Fact sheets about Callicarpa indicate that the berries have been used to extract a purple dye for fabric.  I have found little online about actual experiences with using the berries for dye, and one of the accounts I came across indicated that it was a bit of a disappointment.  With that in mind, I've decided to defer to next year.
My beautyberry is one of my favorite plants, and I can't bring myself to strip the branches of their ornamentation - especially when I'm so close to adding it to my own landscape!  Upon moving into the new house, I do plan to propagate some new plants from seed to plant around the yard, so next year I should have enough that I won't miss them.  Do you have any experience with using this species to dye with?

52 Forms of Fungi || #21

Words cannot express how excited I am to be back on this project again!  I've definitely missed it.  The next few forms for the 52 Forms of Fungi series also include a bit of exciting news... Berroco offered recently to provide yarn for some of my mycological creations, and I shortly thereafter received a nice little package of Ultra Alpaca (one of my most favorite yarns!) in multiple gauges and a variety of colors, as well as a couple of other yarny surprises.  I am overwhelmed with gratitude for the support, and want to say a big "THANK YOU!" to Norah Gaughan and the Berroco team.
Thanks also to all of you who have followed along with the project and reached out along the way - it means a lot.  Momentum Tulsa sidetracked me a little bit, and with the current first time homebuying milestone it's looking like completing all 52 forms by the end of the year is most likely not going to happen.  However, this just means that the fungi will keep on coming for a while longer, so I'm okay with this!  I hope you'll keep checking back to see more.
Now, what do we have here?  This is Lactarius indigo, which exudes a dark blue milky substance when cut.  Sounds like a fantasy novel, doesn't it?  How incredible that these things exist in real life.  The range apparently passes through my state, but I have yet to see one in person.  Are there any tricks on where to look for these beauties?  **Edit: I had previously reported that this is a good mushroom for dyeing wool, but Alissa Allen from Mycopigments has clarified this for me and I'm sad to find out that the blue milky cap does not really transfer to a dye very well.  I would still love to see one, however!
To create these blue milky cap fungi, I used Berroco's Ultra Alpaca yarn in Pastel Blue and Azure Mix.
This structure was knitted as part of my 52 Forms of Fungi project, through which I will knit a different type of fungi for every week of 2013. Check out more of the forms from this project.
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Solar Dyeing || #3 Results - Sumac Berries

You may remember this dye jar that I started a couple of months ago.  I let it sit for several weeks while I was working on Saprobia, to allow the pigments to really soak in.  It's funny how with pretty much every solar dyeing experience I've had, the outcome was not at all what I expected.  This is not a bad thing - I don't really go into it with a vivid idea of the end result, but the color of the yarn is rarely in alignment with the color of the dye solution.  I had anticipated a pale red from the sumac berries, but what I ended up with was more of a light peachy tan.  Next year I will try some different mordants and see what comes of it.  Have you dyed with sumac before?  How did yours turn out?  I need to start coming up with projects to know with all of these naturally dyed skeins!

 

Installation Week

I installed Saprobia in the early part of this week, a very gratifying experience.  It's been a lot of work, but there's something to be said for seeing a project through from beginning to fulfillment.  Feels good :)
Momentum Tulsa opens on October 12th at Living Arts in Downtown Tulsa.  These forms will be incorporated into a larger installation for the exhibit.
(photo on bottom left taken by Laura Reese with OVAC and also of Laura Reese Art)

 

 

 

 

Saprobia || Juglans Nigra

This is a preview of the black walnut phase of my Momentum Tulsa installation, entitled "Saprobia".  You can read more about Saprobia here and here.
Momentum Tulsa opens on October 12th at Living Arts in Downtown Tulsa.  These forms will be incorporated into a larger installation for the exhibit.
Materials: yarn dyed with ground black walnut hulls, walnuts
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Saprobia || Taxodium Distichum

This is a preview of the baldcypress phase of my Momentum Tulsa installation, entitled "Saprobia".  You can read more about Saprobia here and here.
Momentum Tulsa opens on October 12th at Living Arts in Downtown Tulsa.  These forms will be incorporated into a larger installation for the exhibit.
Materials: yarn dyed with baldcypress leaves, baldcypress bark, decaying wood
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Saprobia || Juniperus Virginiana

This is a preview of the eastern red cedar phase of my Momentum Tulsa installation, entitled "Saprobia".  You can read more about Saprobia here and here.
Momentum Tulsa opens on October 12th at Living Arts in Downtown Tulsa.  These forms will be incorporated into a larger installation for the exhibit.
Materials: yarn dyed with eastern red cedar heartwood, eastern red cedar needles and bark

Saprobia || Maclura Pomifera

This is a preview of the osage orange phase of my Momentum Tulsa installation, entitled "Saprobia".  You can read more about Saprobia here and here.
Momentum Tulsa opens on October 12th at Living Arts in Downtown Tulsa.  These forms will be incorporated into a larger installation for the exhibit.
Materials: yarn dyed with osage orange root extract, osage orange leaves
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Saprobia || Celtis Occidentalis

This is a preview of the hackberry phase of my Momentum Tulsa installation, entitled "Saprobia".  You can read more about Saprobia here and here.
Momentum Tulsa opens on October 12th at Living Arts in Downtown Tulsa.  These forms will be incorporated into a larger installation for the exhibit.
Materials: plant fiber yarn, nipple galls harvested from hackberry leaves
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Saprobia || Pinus taeda

This is a preview of another phase of my Momentum Tulsa installation, entitled "Saprobia".  You can read more about Saprobia here and here.
Momentum Tulsa opens on October 12th at Living Arts in Downtown Tulsa.  These forms will be incorporated into a larger installation for the exhibit.
Materials: loblolly pine needles
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Saprobia || Populus deltoides

Populus deltoides refers to eastern cottonwood, from which materials for these pieces were harvested.  This is a preview of another phase of my Momentum Tulsa installation, entitled "Saprobia".  You can read more about Saprobia here and here.
Momentum Tulsa opens on October 12th at Living Arts in Downtown Tulsa.
Materials: cottonwood seed, cottonwood leaves, thread
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Weekend Workspace || 9-15-13

Things are coming together on the Saprobia project.  I was able to get some finalized photos of a couple of phases today, which I will share with you in the next week or so.  Things have been a little silent around here simply because of the amount of time and energy going into this work.  Less than a month to go...

 

Weekend Workspace || 9-8-13

The "Saprobia" project is coming along.  I've had a few different phases going at the same time that I was able to wrap up this weekend... More on those soon.  Some of the phases are comprised almost entirely from materials foraged from their respective tree, while others are more fiber based with limited foraged elements.  I'm looking forward to the installation, and intermingling these unique phases of the work in the staged forest floor setting.  Seeing the pieces come together is exciting, but the installation itself is by far the part that's most fun.