2017:

Coprinus comatus aka Shaggy mane is a common mushroom found growing along roadsides, front lawns, and waste sites.

Apparently it grows in Iceland (which I will definitely be looking into come June 2018!)

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The young mushrooms, before the gills start to turn black, are edible. The taste is mild; cooking produces a large quantity of liquid. My interest in the Shaggy Mane is to experiment with their ink, which is apparently light fast. I have been looking into growing them, and asking friends within Ontario to harvest them onsite- and I will either pick them up, or pay for shipping. Note: the ink/liquid is stinky!

 

My goal is to hack an inkjet printer and replace the standard CMYK or RGB inks with mushroom, acorn cap, cochineal, and another yet to be determined nature ink. Other experiments include mushroom papers, and using the ink and blended bodies for 3D printing media and Bio/Myco-remediation projects. 

The Coprinus comatus project is being revisited in 2021, with one outcome being a book printed in above mentioned inks.

 

Please visit: http://www.nanopod.me to read about my experience at the Ayatana Research Program

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Inks being explored:

Black Walnut

Shaggy Mane

Porphyrophora hamelii  aka Cochineal

various carbons

Algae

Bacteria from soil

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Fungi Bio-Materials 2012-2021

I've been cultivating mycelium using standard methods and protocols: straw, hemp, saw dust substrates with various nutrients, etc. Pasteurize and inoculate.

At the start, I tried cardboard cultivation with zero success until I started boiling the cardboard. Prior to this I was simply spraying the cardboard with water, or soaking it or even tried someone's recommendation of using hydrogen peroxide. 

Boiling the cardboard (and keeping everything super clean while working) I am able to grow almost any mushroom, from store-bought to locally foraged. 

I've held workshops at Interaccess in Democratizing Mushroom Cultivation: Fungal Bio-Materials, and presented this method for Brilliant Labs, and the Bioart Lab University of Windsor.  

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