From the Natural Dyes List on Yahoo!Groups:
To see if any mushroom will give color, pick the mushroom, crumble it into a
small jar, pour boiling water over it, put the lid on and shake it. Let it
sit 1/2 to 1 hour, and see if color develops. If it has good color in the
jar, divide the jar into two more jars, making three samples. Add a bit of
vinegar to one, and ammonia to the other leaving one neutral. See if the
color changes one way or the other, and which has the best color. This
would be the method....adding something to change the ph or leaving it
neutral.... you would use for best color results.If the mushroom has color, crumble the rest of the mushrooms into your pot,
cover with water....... .....don' t use masses of water like you do with other
natural dyes, just cover well and simmer for an hour. You should have your
silk scarf premordanted and ready to enter the dyebath after it has
simmered. You can leave the mushrooms in the dyebath, but this can
sometimes leave dark spots on the material you are dyeing, or you can strain
the mushrooms out leaving just the dye liquid. Simmer the well rinsed silk
for an hour, remove and rinse and immediately iron dry. Silk will recover
its sheen and flexibility if ironed while wet.
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