Whenever anyone complains of a sore throat I always advocate a gargle with warm water that has had sage leaves infused in it for about 10 minutes, so when I woke up with one yesterday morning I took some of my own medicine. It worked very well but I could feel a cold creeping up on me all day. By early evening I felt decidedly woolly headed so we went off to the local woods for a bracing head clearing walk. It was a beautiful evening, a rarity here in Pembrokeshire at the moment, so we headed off on a well trodden route for us... except I got distracted by all the fungi I noticed around me. Has it really got to that time of year already?
There were loads of them around, many just coming through and others, well nibbled and gnawed by some hungry animals. Look at the amazing pattern of the gills. Every year that I see them I have to have a go at some spore prints so I abandoned all thoughts of clearing my head because I wanted to hurry home with a few caps and get them started off.
As these invariably come out white I took a sheet of black paper and placed them gill side down. If you have never tried this and want to do so you need some coloured card or paper to show the contrast with the spores from the fungi. I then covered each of mine with a glass. The objective is to seal it and the cap will then release its spores. I did this about 8.00pm last night and came down to this about 6.00am this morning, so you can get this type of result just by leaving them overnight.
The paper is cockled with all of the moisture that has leached from the fungi in the sealed atmosphere but what a great pattern. The one above comes from the fungi in the top photograph and the photo below (which is not great, sorry!) shows all three of them.
I might play around with some of these images digitally now or coat the original when it's fully dry with a layer of acrylic wax before using it in a book maybe. Or I might just leave it and study the pattern. In the meantime it's taken my mind off the fact that I really do now have a summer head cold.....c'est la vie.
11 comments:
Hi Lesley....I have noticed fungi appearing around the garden. It has surprised me as it is so very dry here at the moment.
The woods look beautiful, what a wonderful way to try and relieve the symptons of a summer cold.
I like the spore prints. I have never seen this before, absolutely fascinating.....
You never cease to amaze me! Just how wonderful are those prints???? I had never seen this done before. What is acrylic wax? ......... and I was also wondering if hair spray would act as a fixative? Just a thought. Hope that throat is better. The sage gargle is very good, isn't it? Thanks for recommending it....
Do hope you will be better soon - summer colds are such a nuisance aren't they as none of the usual cuddling up with a hot waterbottle and a hot drink seem appropriate in summer. Glad you were able to forget your symptoms for a bit anyway and what an interesting way to use the fungi! Look forward to seeing what you do iwth the prints in due course.
Jane x
Wow, Lesley - I LOVE these! They look fanstastic - I've never come across doing this before. I've got to have a go! Will let you know how it goes.
There are so many mushrooms here at the moment due to all the rain, so plenty of muses.
I'm glad they helped take your mind off the cold! I find echinacea works well in getting rid of colds pretty swiftly.
Thanks so much for sharing this - I love new things to try!
Dan
-x-
Lesley, you always seem to have something new to share. The spore prints are fascinating - quite eerie. Hope the cold gets better soon.
What a great idea. We used to go on some mushroom forages looking for edible specimens. I was always ultra cautious, but Mr T was more trusting in his skills of identification and we only tried ones we were 100% certain about. The best are giant puffballs - easy to spot. I hadn't thought of using them in my art work, thanks for the inspiration Lesley.
Wow!! Amazing!! Have you ever tried this with ferns? I'm guessing they would need to be dampended first...? Or maybe it's just something magical that happens with mushrooms. Thanks for sharing this Lesley!
Your white spore prints are so pristine, so lovely!
Hope your cold gets better soon!
Trust you to know something artistic to do with a mushroom! I thought you were hurrying home to get it in the frying pan for your breakfast.... Do hope your cold vanishes pronto.
C x
That is fantastic! What a great idea and very effective!!! I must try it when I find some Fungi!
Lucy xxxx
noooo, it cant be that time of year yet! That sounds really interesting, must try that.
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