Monday, October 22, 2012

MUSHROOM TREES: A CRAFTING EXPERIMENT


I have had a busy week, as my delightfully creative mother has come to visit me.  We have a tradition each fall of creating a tiny tree for our 'forest'.  Over the years, we have created trees from fleece, polymer clay, washcloths, buttons, etc.  This year I came upon hundreds of what I think are False Turkeytail Polypore mushrooms, right in my own front yard.  I discovered after a heavy rain that they were extremely pliable when wet, and dried into a lovely parchment-like material.  So I gathered enough to make a tree for each of us.  This is the result!  I love it...we used styrofoam as a base, soaked the mushrooms and pinned them onto the base, allowed it to dry, and added some tiny birds to nestle among the 'branches'.  Finally, we sealed it with a gel medium, and cut a tiny trunk from a branch outdoors.  While it is not traditional 'art' , it is creative, and great fun!  I love making crafting memories with my mom.  Can't wait until next year!


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