While the rest of the Sunshine Coast was weighed down by a heavy blanket of clammy fog this past Saturday morning, seven intrepid Fibreshed members were basking in unseasonably balmy sunshine high up in the old- and second-growth forest of Big Tree Recreation Site. Their mission? To suss out the kind of local magical mushrooms […]
Read MoreCategory: Mushrooms
LearnAlong—Dyeing with Lobster Mushrooms
A lazy late summer morning outside the Sechelt Arts Council. Tables, chairs, a stack of colourful books with Magic in the Dyepot emblazoned on the covers, brown paper shopping bags filled with fibre. Busy Fibreshed members (keeping a COVID-safe social distance, of course). A friendly dog adding to the atmosphere. A vat of deeply-stained liquid […]
Read MoreFibreshed goes to Fibre Camp 2017
The Sunshine Coast Spinners and Weavers Guild’s Fibre Camp 2017 was held at Camp Sunrise on the Sunshine Coast of BC from Sept 7th to Sept 9th. Fifty fibre enthusiasts gathered to attend workshops, played with their fibre, shopped at vendor stalls, talked, ate and shared their stories. The Sunshine Coast Fibreshed display featured local fleece dyed […]
Read MoreInternational Earth Day 2017
April 21, 2017, international Earth Day was celebrated in Roberts Creek, BC by our local Sunshine Coast Fibreshed. The day started out dry with sunshine, always windy at the pier. We set up our colourful Fibreshed display with locally dyed rovings, plants for a Dyers garden and local sheep fleece for garden mulch…. We featured […]
Read MoreSecond Annual Fibreshed Day – Part 1
From Shepherdess to Knitted Dress The Second Annual Sunshine Coast Fibreshed Day was held April 9, 2017 at Fibreworks Studio and Gallery, Madeira Park, BC. The focus was on our local Shepherds & Shepherdesses to show off fibre from their sheep and the steps of shearing through to finished product. Wendy Gilbertson on her Wilson Creek farm with “Mojo”, […]
Read MoreDyeing at the 6th Annual Mushroom Festival
On October 18th the Pender Harbour Community Hall was filled with visitors to the Sunshine Coast Mushroom Society’s sixth annual Mushroom Festival. It was a wonderful event celebrating the rich diversity of mushrooms that grow on the Sunshine Coast. Members of the Sunshine Coast Spinners and Weavers Guild volunteered to demonstrate dyeing with mushrooms. We […]
Read MoreThe Mushroom Seekers’ First Foray
On a rainy Monday in September, a small group of intrepid mushroom hunters ventured out to Chapman Creek watershed to see what we could find. As the morning rains subsided somewhat we convened in the parking lot, rain gear on and baskets ready for collecting our treasures. We ventured into the rainforest accompanied by Sukha, […]
Read MoreDyeing with Hydnellum aurantiacum
On March 31 we gathered for the third and final dyeing workshop with Ann Harmer (see two previous blog entries for the first two workshops). The mushroom featured was Hydnellum aurantiacum. Hydnellum (which has no common name) grows in the forest floor in moss and duff and in sun or shade. Its upper surface can […]
Read MoreDyeing with Lobster Mushrooms
On March 24 we gathered for Ann Harmer’s second mushroom dyeing workshop. This time the Lobster mushroom (Hypomyces lactifluorum) was featured. (See the March 20 blog for the previous workshop.) The Lobster mushroom is a parasite on other mushrooms. Here on the Sunshine Coast its host is a white mushroom, Russula brevipes, found in older […]
Read MoreDyeing with Dyer’s Polypor
On March 17th some members of the Sunshine Coast Spinners and Weavers Guild gathered for the first in a series of three mushroom dyeing workshops given by Ann Harmer (Mushroom Annie). Ann has a wealth of knowledge and experience with our local mushrooms and their use for eating, dyeing and papermaking. She brought along two […]
Read More