Day One at ASCUS Lab (Edinburgh)

Travelling up this month to Edinburgh to the ASCUS lab – a science lab for artists (Ascus Art & Science).  Keira Tucker, the lab technician, has been really helpful in helping me planning my time in the lab. I had spent quite a lot of time researching what fungi to use for pigment and trying to pick what I needed.  The amazing Jesper Launder, a medical herbalist and expert in all things fungi, also donated some dried mushrooms for me to use.   

Flew up to a very cold and frosty Edinburgh (what did I expect in December!) with the beginnings of a cold. My daughter had been ill the week before, hoped I hadn’t caught her cold. First day in the lab started with Keira briefing me on health and safety etc. Then I selected 5 of the fungi I had bought with me to try and extract pigment from. I chose King Alfred’s cakes, sulfur tufts, cinnamon bracket, sarcadon, and cortinarius semi-sanguineus.  

I experimented with two methods to extract pigment – hot water method (see image) and cold alcohol (70%) extraction. Just used small amounts of the fungi to see what worked best.  Leaving the fungi in alcohol overnight.  Back at the hotel I phone my partner and discover my daughter, who had been better at the weekend, only lasted half a day back at school so not fully recovered.