spore printing experiments continue

If you have been following the spore printing experiments over the last few weeks you might remember that I said I was experimenting with ways to fix the very fragile, easily smudged, powdery prints in order to preserve them and perhaps even make them scannable and frame worthy. 

You might want to review the other posts here and here  but here is a pictorial review.

If you leave the prints as is they rub off very easily like chalk pastels or are prone to moisture damage. I tried different things to preserve them put the mail contenders were:

 a. cytology fixative spray ( the stuff used to preserve PAP smears in a medical office)

 b.  hair spray ( used to fix hair for dance) and

 c. workable fixatif made by Krylon. 

And the winner was workable fixatif by Krylon available at art supply shops and Michael's. The most important thing is to hold the spray can at least 12 inches

away from your paper or the force of the aerosol will displace the spores.

I liked this because it dried very fast and did not leave a sticky or glossy finish.

Next step will be to scan these and then convert them to images suitable for screen printing. 

If you leave a comment below I will pick a name on friday and the winner will receive a crocheted vintage button mushroom similar to one of these.

I am actually planning of having giveaways everyday this week to celebrate the changing season and back to school for some. So please enter everyday for a chance to win.

Hope you are enjoying the last day of August.

Comments

[Amy]

Your posts are always so lovely, they really make my day. There are always so many beautiful things to see. The spore prints are amazing, what nature can do is so mysterious and wonderful that sometimes I wonder why any of us humans bother with our own art, apart from to preserve and carry nature with us. As the season here is changing into spring I look forward to experiencing your opposite changes through your blog! I love what you do.
xox

[Ginger C. Stathelson]

Always an inspiration, and strangely parallel. While fairy rings sprang up under your feet at the soccer field, little red buttons began popping up in my garden path. To the wonders of synchronicity.

[Rane]

I love your mushrooms, but you know that...so whe a post includes mushrooms I have to
leave a comment..I can't just read
and leave. *(it does happen I have kids so I dont alway get to comment, often I am cooking and my kids will read the post to me.)
I am glad that the workable fixatif by Krylon was the winner... I dont know if we could
find the first cytology fixative spray . hahaha! What a great idea,
though.
I love your wooden large mushrooms in the last photo...I also love your crocheted trees....oh so very cute!!!!!
Your posts are always so fun!
Love to you Margie!
Rane and hubby.
~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[kathi]

Can't wait to see the prints of your spores. I'm sure they will be beautiful!
I love those little trees too!
Did you make the taller mushrooms from gourds? They look like wood.
Just curious...

[Dee]

wow I have tried this and never been succesful layers of hairspray last for short time, but thank you for your wonderful insight into our natural world. Sometimes we look past the most spectacular things in life that are right under our noses.

[Sam]

I love your spore prints, they are so beautiful and delicate, and I'm glad you have found a way to preserve the prints.

Your crochet stone screenprints were fabulous, so I'll be fascinated to see how a spore print would work :-)

[linlin]

I love the button mushroom!! I tune in every day to see the lovely visions of your world. I use to teach a botany course and mushrooms were always a favorite for my students. I am so happy to have found your site and love how my left brain is thinking of combining new visions from my right brain! science and art in unison!

I am excited about following the spore print progress. I love to do these but never thought about converting it to a design on fabric. Once again, you are helping the left and right sides of my brain get in touch with one another!! ;-) :-)

[ana]

i love your work. I follow through flickr and i've being missing your stone sales on etsy :(
I really enjoy what you're doing with the mushrooms.

[Margaret Oomen]

The taller ones are wooden and a thrift store find last year. The crocheted vintage button mushroom is the one in the middle on the lower wood slice. All of those buttons have been turned into mushrooms, some given away and some have been sold.

[mayaluna]

I'm loving these! I can't wait to see your screen prints... such fantastic idea!

[michele (maryland)]

Margie: you are so talented. It is refreshing each morning to look on this blog and see what you are up to. As I noticed the acorns starting to fall here, I was just thinking that I need to put up my twine-string across my kitchen window and start to add my fall/winter display. Thank you for expanding my mind each and every day.

[Amandah]

since your first post on mushroom spores my roommate and i have been experimenting.

our first try was a miserable failure, and smelled like fish in the morning.
thank you for experimenting with fixatives, so at least when we get to this part we'll already know what to use ;)

[sue]

Hi, Margie~ Thanks so much for this wonderful opportunity! I love your blog, you've been such an inspiration to me! Last year I learned to crochet so I could make each of my girls an acorn necklace, and now I'm learning to knit. I'm working on a simple green scarf (cause you just can't have enough green, can you) and while I was knitting in bed the other night, my husband said "it looks like Resurrection Fern!" Too funny (especially since I had no idea he was paying attention while I was surfing the web;)

Happy (Almost) September!

[Margaret]

I love the spore prints! So cool! Thanks for the giveaway.

[RaeA]

I look forward to your every new post. Checking in daily to see what's new in the world of resurrection fern is a part of my daily morning routine. I also can't wait to see your screen prints! LOVE your Vintage Button Mushroom! Blessings...

[martha brown]

I can't believe that this is the last day of August -- what happened to summer?? I'm loving your spore prints -- I wonder if I can do them with my Kindergarten students? I suppose the difficult thing would be finding the mushrooms here in the big city.....

[Jessie Hansen]

yay giveaways! Happy!

[Becky]

The button mushrooms are a great idea. I just spent time up in Olympia, WA and saw many wonderful mushrooms in the forests. I love the photos of the spore prints on colorful paper. They remind me of prayer flags somehow.

[Justine Costerouse]

Hello! I have only recently become acquainted with your work and blog, but I am in love! Thank you for all the beauty and inspiration. I'm in CA, but we have the same spiders (from your dreamweaver post), and I got to watch some hatch out last spring! Truly amazing! And I love the button mushrooms! What a fabulous idea! Thank you for helping me start my day with inspiration and beauty.

[Lisa]

I was going to recommend the workable fixatif, I'm glad you tried it. We did some spore printing this weekend and in our mushrooming adventures found a lobster mushroom which was delicious! I'd love to give your little button mushroom a good home. Vintage buttons and mushrooms? I think sometimes I'm made of both. (that's what lil fish are made of) :D

[wintu nancy]

Really neat ideas. I also like those slices of wood/tree trunk that you are using for dislplay.

[ereisa]

I love the mushroom prints so much... I can't wait to see the screen prints too. I really look forward to your blog every day. I live in Brooklyn but I'm a nature lover so I get my daily dose from you!

[~Heather]

Mushrooms, I've been waiting all spring and most of summer for these little lovelies to return! ~Heather

[rebekah]

i am excited to see some of those spore prints framed.

[Sandra]

I can hardly wait everyday to read your blog and see the amazing ideas you come up with...I am such a nature lover that I just love all of your photos. Keeping my fingerscrossed :)

[Tracie]

Oh! Mushrooms! I love them so.

[Caroline]

Fern crochets a natures treasure,
shares the secrets to capture,
dusty mushrooms leave a trace,
a fingerprint of secret lace,
Autumn fairies hold their breath,
September secrets here

[susan]

you always refresh me in the middle of the work-day.
I've never tried spore prints and must do so. Thank you!

[Zreekee]

This is definitely a camping craft I'll try next summer! Thanks for the info! ps I love your mushrooms. I made one and gave it away and haven't made any others....I should get on that.

[Cyth]

Ah your crochet mushrooms are so whimsical I had to giggle. Love your attention to and expression of Nature. Cyth

[Sonia]

Ah, thanks for sharing the rest of your experiments with spore printing, Margie, glad you could find which fixatif was the best to preserve the prints. Can't wait to see them in screenprinting, it's going to look awesome !
I can feel a bit of change in the temps here, I'm kinda relieved, I'm so longing for a little rain shower !
Thanks for hosting so many lovely giveaways this week, you are really generous, my friend. (but I already knew that myself !)
Sending you much love oxoxo

[Jeannie]

Have you tried using a mordant on cloth to see if the spores with dye it? Or sun printing with Setacolor paints. Okay, now I am going to search out some 'shrooms! Have a great day.

[Hilary]

It's a strange dichotomy...I love to eat mushrooms, so this makes me hungry...but the art is so lovely! and not edible at all. As always, gorgeous work.

[Melissa R]

I am enjoying the last day! It's perfect here in Rhode Island. Warm, not hot. A slight breeze. Blue sky, white puffy clouds.

Thanks for telling us about the spores!

[Jennifer]

Very cool, Margie.

[melissa]

you are so generous, margie.
i love that you are working hard to find a way to permanently keep those spore prints.
and the crocheted mushrooms are so great!

[Denise Leavens]

I AM enjoying this last day of August since my Tucker kitty finally came home from the Vet's where he has been since Thursday. He has severe inner ear infections in both ears as a result of the ear wax removal he had last week. We weren't charged for the extensive hospital stay either, making another reason to enjoy this day!

[Laura]

Is it really the end of August? I suppose so - I had to dig out some track pants today to warm up! The spore prints are lovely - I've done some as an experiment at daycare and was so pleased with how they turned out.

[Amy]

Beautiful. I seem to love everything you do.

[Sarah Wick]

Lovely as always. Delicate and darling and deeply meaningful simultaneously. Thanks for the reminding.

[ellen]

I love the prints. They are beautiful and so delicate. I want to try this too!

[Heidi]

LOVE the spore printing!
I collect mushroom art, so I am fascinated by your technique.
I would love a crochet mushroom for my collection.
hugs,
Heidi

[Sheau]

Lovely. When I saw your spore print on blue paper, it immediately reminded me of Cyanotype print. I love the simplicity of your print. Very beautiful and ephemeral.

[drea]

fantastic. Your blog is truly inspiring. I love all of what you do, but especially the crochet.

[Andrea (noricum)]

Cool! To make it even "safer" for the prints, you could start with a very cautious dusting of fixative, and then come back with a stronger dose after the first coat dries.

[sadie527]

Your spore print experiment makes me want to go out mushroom hunting post haste! Fungi are delightful, and I do so hope to win the giveaway! - Amy Bauer
amy@usdemolition.com

[crazyestonian]

Isn´t it interesting how different people are, I would never think of spore printing in conjunction with mushrooms (even though I see this popping up here and there in the blogland). For me mushrooms mean foraging. My mom took me mushroom picking every late summer and fall ever since I was a baby (first time I wasn´t even one yet). The word mushrooms means moist rainy forest and looking for hiding gems :)
My 4 year old daughter has been initiated as well, every time we visit my home (I live in the US but am from Europe) she asks to go mushrooming!

[Christina J.]

That mushroom is so cute!

[solo]

I am going to try spore print... easier than start crochet !!! Thanks for everything you offer us in your blog ! Love from Paris.

[Eva]

I lurv mushrooms- so of course, I'm going to enter :) Thank you for the generosity!