1. Anthracophyllum archeri is a small, 0.5-3 cm, reddish-orange fan-shaped fungus growing on branches of deciduous trees The pigment is orange-red and diffuses out as an olive colour when a partition of tissue is mounted in KOH and has a strong permanent dyeing properties (Bougher & Syme). However, the pigment is unknown.

We did four experiments with this fungus, and used 50 grs of dried material to 50 grs of wool (ratio of wool to dry mushroom weight 1:1).

 The dried amount of mushroom was soaked for 10 minutes and then boiled for 1 hour (tapwater). The bath was strained, cooled and then divided in four equal portions, I, II, III and IV. pH in the dyebath was 4.5.

We wanted to see if low or high pH in the dyebath would change the colour, and we also wanted to see if we would get different colours using non mordant and alum mordant wool (same pH in the dyebath).

We used vinegar to lower the pH and ammonia to raise the pH. The wool was in the dyebath for ¾ of an hour.

I: 12.5 grs alum mordant wool, pH 3.5

II:12.5 grs alum mordant wool, pH 8.5 - pH 7

III: 12.5 grs non mordant wool, pH 4.5

IV:12.5 grs alum mordant wool, pH 4.5

Results: The fungus gave lovely green colours, with more or less equal shades of green in all four experiments. This shows that to obtain a nice green colour from A. archeri, you don't need to use any mordant at all, and that the pH of the water does not much affect the green colour. ( Personally, I liked the colour we obtained in experiment III best.)

photo by Susan Hopkins, (USA)
Pellodon aff. niger

2. Phellodon aff. niger
We did two experiments with this fungus and used 50 grs of dried mushroom and 25 grs of wool (ratio 2:1).

I: 12.5 grs alum mordant wool, low pH - pH 3.5
II. 12.5 grs alum mordant wool, high pH - pH 9

Results:
In I) we got an olive colour

In II) we got a dark green colour

In this experiment it is obvious that the pH affects the colour we can get from Phellodon aff. niger.

3. Phellodon spp.
We did also two experiments with these fungi and used 50 grs of dried mushroom and 25 grs of wool (ratio 2:1).

I: 12.5 grs alum mordant wool, pH 4.5
II: 12.5 grs iron mordant wool, pH 4.5

Results:
In I) we got a brownish colour

In II) we got a brownish green colour

In this experiment we can see that the mordant we use has an affect on the colour. With iron as a mordant the colour becomes green, while with alum it is brown.

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