curves for wet
vertex points for sharp

paper making:
– researched best available option for mushrooms that can be used for paper making
– placed order for reishi and turkey tail mushrooms (they have arrived)
– will grow them at home and would like to grow some on the floor as well
– bought dried shelf mushrooms (hemlock varnish) to test with
– they are soaking and will need to be boiled for a while
– paper mold and deckle have been made for 6″ x 8″ paper

lichen dye:
– researched dyeing with lichen
– will be steeping lichen in ammonia- this process will take weeks. will be working on mushroom test paper in the meantime
– contact artist(s) at the textile arts center… maybe take a class post-fungus?
– medium for the ink would be gum arabic. [there was an interesting thing found during research. ammonia (which i am using to soak the lichen) and a substance like gum arabic were used together for photography.] it is water soluble and the base for many watercolor paints. initially i wanted resin but resin does not agree with a water based medium.

research:
– i’ve been on a lot of craft forums that focus on natural materials for dye and paper making
– have a friend that uses natural materials to dye wood- would be great resource for tips on the dye making process.

concerns:
– lichen dye is a concern. i am afraid of the ink not being concentrated enough for printmaking. an alternative would be to use the dye and dye the mushroom paper directly. this alternative is a little disappointing though.
– fungus not growing- my package was delayed due to weather. i’m hoping that doesn’t affect growth. the people at fungi perfecti gave me a kit that was inoculated at the end of november, i’m guessing it’s so that it would be ready to grow as soon as it was received.

next step:
– make paper this weekend with the test mushrooms
– setup grow kits
– steep lichen

aside from one, all my classes this semester will be incorporated into my thesis. i am relieved to have been able to take project development studio last semester. it allowed me to work out problems i otherwise wouldn’t have had the time to deal with in a single semester.

i hope the end result will reflect that.

Deliberative
Learner
Relator
Intellection
Ideation

from a test.