Week 10: Final Watercolors (Purple, Orange), Swatches, Last Mycelium Update

Welcome back to Week 10 of my blog! 

As the project comes to a close, this week I finished up my final colors: purple and orange. In Week 8, I experimented with a purple/pink pigment using azalea flowers. The method I used then involved extracting the liquid pigment from the plant but resulted in a watercolor paint that didn’t set properly and was hard to use. This week, I decided to try again, using elderberries instead. Elderberries are the fruit of the elder tree, scientifically known as Sambucus nigra. These small, dark purple berries have been used for centuries for their medicinal properties and culinary uses. Their deep purple pigment is primarily due to anthocyanins, which are a type of flavonoid antioxidant found in many dark-colored fruits and vegetables. 

Repeating the same process as the other colors, on a glass surface that was easy to scrape, I combined an even amount of binder solution with elderberry powder until it reached the desired consistency. After mulling the paint to ensure its smoothness, I poured it into the cardboard containers. These cardboard containers were tricker than the ones for the green or yellow pigments given that they’re curved on the edges. (See Week 3 for the diagram of the palette). I’ve updated the diagram of the palette below to include all the final colors and where they are.

For orange, I did the same process using smoked paprika. Despite mulling the paint, it still had a slightly grainy texture compared to some of the others but is still quite vibrant. Additionally, here is a scanned image of the swatches I did of all six of the final colors: 

For my final week at Genspace, I checked in on the mycelium bags, which did not end up successfully growing mycelium but did not grow mold either. The lack of both mold and mycelium growth in the spawn bags could be attributed to several potential factors, but it’s difficult to identify which one. If the substrate was over-sterilized, it might have killed not only the contaminants but also beneficial microbes that support mycelium growth. The substrate itself could have lacked the right quantity of necessary nutrients or could have had an incorrect moisture content. Finally, environmental conditions could have played a role: mycelium typically has an optimal temperature range for growth. If the temperature is too high or too low, growth could be inhibited. Insufficient humidity can also prevent mycelium from growing and stale air or excessive CO2 could have been a problem too. 

Nonetheless, next week I will have a concluding reflection on the project as a whole, an image and description of the palette I ended up with, and a link to my final presentation, with additional resources I’d like to share! 

See you then!