Brasstown Autumn
Brasstown, NC, located in the scenic Smoky Mountains of western North Carolina, is home to the John C. Campbell Folk School. I spent last week there, learning how to dye fiber with mushrooms. Fall color was gearing up for a real show by the time I left yesterday. Luckily for me, the week's work with the fantastic fungi allowed me to bring Brasstown's autumn colors home with me. Behold:
Under the guidance of dyer extraordinaire and amateur mycologist, Susan Hopkins, our class chopped, simmered, poured and experimented our way through an astounding variety of mushrooms and colors. What a satisfying way to begin the autumn!
Labels: Folk School, mushrooms, natural dyeing
7 Comments:
What a wide variety of colours! I truly am surprised. Is there a mushroom dye book that was used for the class?
J
All of these were from mushrooms??? WOW! Do I see a "mushroom" vest in the future?
Yes indeed, Michele. Every single color (plus more variations on the theme hiding inside the basket) was from one variety of mushroom or another. Tonni - very possibly a mushroom vest will be forthcoming; obviously there's enough yarn for one. We didn't really use a mushroom dyeing book in class - the instructor has it all in her head from her vast experience. But there are a couple of books: Mushrooms for Color by Miriam Rice and Dorothy Beebee, Mushrooms for Dyes, Paper, Pigments & Myco-Stix, and he Rainbow Beneath My Feet by Arleen and Alan Bessette. I have all three and I'll bring to spinning.
Wow. I can't believe you got all that color from mushrooms. I LOVE the purple. LOVE it!
OMG woman! FABULOUS! I love coming to this site . . . and what a great thing to be doing INSTEAD of typing!
Love & Stuff
Chris
Since it has been sooooo long since you have blogged, I decided to tag you for the "Six things meme" :)
Well, hello Sandra D.! Remember me from Melissa's modular knitting class at JCCFS? Just a few months ago I took another class, this time in natural dyes. A classmate, Brenda, and I swore to the instructor that we had seen mention of a mushroom dyeing class but noone believed us. Brenda found your blog and sent it to me-- we feel vindicated!!
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