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Paper made from bracket fungi
•
Volume 11, Part 2, May 1997
PAPER MADE FROM BRACKET FUNGI ANNA KING 1 AND ROY WATLING
2
14, Craighouse Terrace, Edinburgh EHIO 5LJ 2
Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh EH3 5LR
Making paper from bracket fungi might appear eccentric but as Rice (1992) has shown it is not only possible but attainable with very simple resources. Indeed, Miriam Rice's display of coloured and textured papers at the 6th International Fungi and Fibre Symposium held at the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh in 1993 demonstrated that very beautiful papers could be made. One of us (A K) therefore embarked on some paper-making experiments (enthusiasm outstripping knowledge and expertise at first), calling on the experience gained in examining fungus structures at the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh. Paper-making from all kinds of plant and recycled material has enjoyed an enormous vogue during the last decade. Plant-based papers, however, rely on the use of caustic soda to break down the cellulose and chlorine-based bleach to lighten the resulting pulp. The greatest appeal of using polypores, apart from the end product, is the absence of chemicals in the technique. This is because the fungal wall has a totally different structure from that of plants, being based on chitin, a nitrogenous building block. Bracket fungi like other Polyporales may be classified by the hyphal structure; whether the hyphae are thin-walled (generative), thick-walled linear (skeletal) or thick-walled branched (binding) and the mixtures of two (dimitic) or three (trimitic) hyphal types. If only generative hyphae are present the fungus is termed monomitic. By trial and error over two years the best papers appear to be made from trimitic polypores, but there are some exceptions. The paper process The paper can be made quite easily in small batches in any kitchen and the only machines required are a sturdy liquidiser/blender and an old-fashioned mangle or a book-press. Provision must be made with polythene sheeting, old newspapers and towels to mop up - the process can be awash with water. Other tools required
are a mould - a wooden frame with fine metal or plastic mesh - and deckle - another empty frame which fits snugly on the mould; a pile of cotton sheeting cut to size, (larger all round than the mould and deckle) and a plastic vat or tank for holding the paper pulp. A eat's litter tray is an ideal size for small moulds and deckles. The process is briefly as follows: chop up the washed polypore with a sharp knife or pruning saw and add to a small quantity of water in the blender. Purists like to collect rain water but Edinburgh water straight from the tap at its fairly neutral pH works well. Some species are very hard and benefit from a good long soaking in water (up to a year!) to help soften them. Do not overload the blender; small quantities liquidise more successfully than large ones and some polypores fluff up so much that you need to add more water to the blender goblet anyway. Observe carefully what happens to the pulp while it's being blended: if it fluffs up well and resembles wet marshmallow, then a good paper will result. Some polypores, especially the trimitic ones, will double, triple or even quadruple in volume when added to water and chopped in the blender. If the pulp is not very voluminous, is gritty in feel and appearance, then you can add some trimitic pulp to the vat to give you a more cohesive, if textured slurry in the vat - some of the monomitic and dimitic ones give a pulp like this. The prepared pulp can now be added to the vat, which should contain sufficient tepid water to facilitate sliding the mould and deckle in and out of the slurry without difficulty. The ratio of water to pulp varies with the requirements of the papermaker and the inherent properties of the polypore used. It is one of those 'indefinables' that can only be described as 'feeling right': too thin, and the paper will be difficult to couch; too thick and you'll end up with something resembling a small wet doormat. Assuming, then, that the vat's contents are of an ideal suspension, make a 'gather', using the mould and deckle held firmly together. To get
Polypore
Pulp Description
Paper Description
Polypore
Pulp Description
Paper Description
Monomitie Bjerkandera adusta (Fr.)
Pulped well, but felt gritty on cotton sheets.
Like tissue in texture, greyfawn , with dark grey-brown flecks . Crackly and translucent.
Trimitic
Corky texture, benefited from soaking. Blended and fluffed up well. Good suspension in vat and couched well.
A smooth, suede-like quality with irregular flecks of denser material. Opaque.
Dark chestnut-brown, smooth but very brittle. Very dense, opaque paper.
Fomes fomentarius L. : Fr. Kickx
Hard material, soaked for weeks. Pulp very fibrous and stringy, but handled reasonably well.
Paper mid-fawn, with tan fibres. Opaque, slightly brittle.
Very tough, rather fibrous. Fibre s obvious, but easy to work.
Paper dark tan with darker fibres, opaque.
Very tough, so soaked for a week. Fluffed up well, good suspension in the vat. Handled well, couched easily.
Paper very dark chocolate brown. Opaque, dense, silky, slightly textured.
G. lucidum(Fr.) Karst.
Fluffed up well, paler than the two previous species. Mor e difficult to handle.
Pale tan paper, rather brittle, perhaps because of maturity. Pleasant colour and texture.
Lenzites betulina(L. : Fr.)
Slow to break down, eventually yielded copious quantities of a rich cream pulp. Behaved and handled very well.
Paper with soft silky quality. Dense and opaque. Takes printing ink well. A very satisfactory and versatile paper.
Easy to work, quadrupled in volume in the blender. Couched well.
Creamy-white translucent paper, lightly-flecked with tiny darker fibres from the basidiome ' s surface. Good smooth finish achieved .
Karst. (Polyporaceae)
Inonotus radiatus (Sow:Fr) Karst. (Hymenochaetaceae)
Dimitie Datronia mol/is (Sommerf.) Donk (Polyporaceae)
Gritty texture, difficult to get even suspension in vat, difficult to couch.
Broke up well, but not much fluff in blender. Gritty, textured pulp.
Paper bonded reasonably, but quite brittle. Opaque, nutmeg brown.
Broke up well, fluffy pulp . Bonded well, couched easily.
Yellowish-beige, flexible pap er, lightly-flecked with small particles. Opaque.
Daedalea quercina L. : Fr. (Polyporaceae)
(Polypora ceae)
Ganoderma adspersum (Schulzer) Donk (Ganodermataceae)
G. applanatum (Pers.) Pat .
Heterobasidion annosum (Fr.) Bref. (Polyporaceae)
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Ischnoderma benzoinum (Wahlenb .) Karst. (Polyporaceae)
Piptoporus betulinus (Bull. : Fr.) Karst. (Polyporaceae)
Liquidised without difficulty, fluffed up reasonably. Paper quite difficult to couch, little bonding.
Good mid-brown colour, with fibrous particles quite evident. Opaque, brittle.
Behaved well in the blender, fluffed up, doubled in volume. Easy to handle and couched well. Good bonding.
Dense, matt, white opaque paper. Becomes brittle with age. Good for adding to other pulps .
(Polyporaceae)
Has to be used very fresh. Rather slimy pulp containing irregular-sized fragments. Couched and bonded well.
Strange, skin-like, translucent quality, yellowish/fawn in colour, with flecks of lighter and darker material.
(Wulf. : Fr.) Pilat (Polyporaceae)
Use fresh. Similar in behaviour to Polyporus squamosus.
Very similar to P. squamosus, but darker. Shrank considerably in drying proces s.
Trametes hirsuta Polyporus squamosus Fr. (Polyporaceae)
Meripilus giganteus (Pers. : Fr.) Karst. (Polyporaceae)
Stereumhirsutum (Willd. : Fr.) S. F. Gray (Stereaceae)
Did not break down too well. Veryfibrous and difficult to handle.
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Paper dark fawn, with darker br own, corky, tough fibres. Brittle, dense, and opaqu e.
Trametes versicolor (L. : Fr.) Pilat
Pulp pale grey with darker flecks. Volume increased dramatically during processing. Very easy to handle.
Creamy white paper with tiny dark speckles . Attractive and usabl e, translucent paper.
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Volume 11, Part 2, May 1997 an even distribution of fibres , the frames are gently agitated, holding them horizontally, in a sideto-side action, then to and fro. The excess water is allowed to drain back into the vat; when it has stopped dripping, the deckle can be carefully removed and laid aside while the paper is couched on to a dampened cotton sheet, this is done in one firm , swift movement. Another cotton sheet is laid upon the paper and the process repeated until you have a pile, or 'post', of papers, one on top of the other, to about ten or twelve in number. Throughout the process the vat must be replenished with more pulp from the blender. The post is then placed between two boards and taken to the press, which is on a tray or draining-board. Pressure is applied, gently at first, then gradually increased. Too much initial pressure on these very wet sheets can result in the fibres being distorted too radically to give a good piece of paper. Drying the paper is a very time-consuming affair and can give much frustration and disappointment. Scrupulous attention to cleanliness must prevail in order to prevent moulds growing on the paper, if it is not turned and aired regularly and the damp cottons replaced with clean, dry sheeting daily. After the initial pressing to extract the excess water, the sheets with the damp paper pulp adhering to them are hung up to dry with plenty of air to circulate around them. A clothes rack or kitchen pulley is ideal. During the summer, the process can be done outside, and only takes an hour or so to complete. At other times of the year, overnight on a pulley is sufficient. The next stage is slightly more tricky : the paper has to be eased off the cotton sheets with great delicacy, but if they are still slightly damp then this is not too difficult. Place on dry cotton sheets, intersperse with blotting-paper, card or Formica off-cuts if you want a smoother surface ; this last step must be repeated until the paper is completely dry. The fungi Monomitic polypores break up reasonably well in the blender, but the pulp, does not cohere and tends to go straight through the mesh on the mould. Should you manage to make a piece of paper, the result is usually gritty and brittle. Interesting colour and textural variations can be
obtained by adding these pulps to a more sympathetic, cohesive , dimitic or trimitic pulp. Dimitic polypores are remarkably diverse in their behaviour during the paper-making process. Some go gritty in the blender, others 'fluff up' quite well. They offer by far the greatest range of colours and textures; only by experimenting is it possible to discover their different properties. The majority of trimitic polyp ores fluff up well in the blender. They make a good pulp which behaves well in the vat and couches onto the cotton sheets easily. A good post of paper made from these can be couched and dried successfully in a matter of days depending on the ambient temperature and humidity. Table 1 shows how the commoner Scottish polypores react to the paper-making process and the resulting paper qualities are compared with the widespread and common resupinate-effusopileate Stereum hirsutum. To these are added Ischnoderma benzoinum, a rather uncommon fungus found quite near Edinburgh in autumn 1995 and Lenzites betulina which is also uncommon in Scotland. The latter was collected in October 1994. Conclusion Polypores are very amenable to the preparation of paper from their flesh; the resulting paper is often of high quality and attractive appearance (see Fig 1 on the back cover of this issue). The most versatile paper comes from the trimitic polypores, as the result of one's efforts can be put to a variety of uses. Lenzites betulina probably makes the most satisfactory and versatile paper, taking printing ink exceptionally well; the related Trametes versicolor also makes a useful paper. Some of the tougher polypores e.g. Fomes fomentarius require a lengthy softening time in water.
References Rice, M. (1991) Fine Paper from Mushrooms. Mushroom 10(1); 21 - 26. Rice, M. (1992) Get an old Blender. Mushroom 10(3): 22 26.
Editor's note: This papermaking process was shown at Fungus 100 - see the illustration in the pictorial record on pp 36 - 37 of Mycologist 11, part 1.
Volume 11, Part 2, May 1997
PAPER MADE FROM BRACKET FUNGI ANNA KING 1 AND ROY WATLING
2
14, Craighouse Terrace, Edinburgh EHIO 5LJ 2
Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh EH3 5LR
Making paper from bracket fungi might appear eccentric but as Rice (1992) has shown it is not only possible but attainable with very simple resources. Indeed, Miriam Rice's display of coloured and textured papers at the 6th International Fungi and Fibre Symposium held at the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh in 1993 demonstrated that very beautiful papers could be made. One of us (A K) therefore embarked on some paper-making experiments (enthusiasm outstripping knowledge and expertise at first), calling on the experience gained in examining fungus structures at the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh. Paper-making from all kinds of plant and recycled material has enjoyed an enormous vogue during the last decade. Plant-based papers, however, rely on the use of caustic soda to break down the cellulose and chlorine-based bleach to lighten the resulting pulp. The greatest appeal of using polypores, apart from the end product, is the absence of chemicals in the technique. This is because the fungal wall has a totally different structure from that of plants, being based on chitin, a nitrogenous building block. Bracket fungi like other Polyporales may be classified by the hyphal structure; whether the hyphae are thin-walled (generative), thick-walled linear (skeletal) or thick-walled branched (binding) and the mixtures of two (dimitic) or three (trimitic) hyphal types. If only generative hyphae are present the fungus is termed monomitic. By trial and error over two years the best papers appear to be made from trimitic polypores, but there are some exceptions. The paper process The paper can be made quite easily in small batches in any kitchen and the only machines required are a sturdy liquidiser/blender and an old-fashioned mangle or a book-press. Provision must be made with polythene sheeting, old newspapers and towels to mop up - the process can be awash with water. Other tools required
are a mould - a wooden frame with fine metal or plastic mesh - and deckle - another empty frame which fits snugly on the mould; a pile of cotton sheeting cut to size, (larger all round than the mould and deckle) and a plastic vat or tank for holding the paper pulp. A eat's litter tray is an ideal size for small moulds and deckles. The process is briefly as follows: chop up the washed polypore with a sharp knife or pruning saw and add to a small quantity of water in the blender. Purists like to collect rain water but Edinburgh water straight from the tap at its fairly neutral pH works well. Some species are very hard and benefit from a good long soaking in water (up to a year!) to help soften them. Do not overload the blender; small quantities liquidise more successfully than large ones and some polypores fluff up so much that you need to add more water to the blender goblet anyway. Observe carefully what happens to the pulp while it's being blended: if it fluffs up well and resembles wet marshmallow, then a good paper will result. Some polypores, especially the trimitic ones, will double, triple or even quadruple in volume when added to water and chopped in the blender. If the pulp is not very voluminous, is gritty in feel and appearance, then you can add some trimitic pulp to the vat to give you a more cohesive, if textured slurry in the vat - some of the monomitic and dimitic ones give a pulp like this. The prepared pulp can now be added to the vat, which should contain sufficient tepid water to facilitate sliding the mould and deckle in and out of the slurry without difficulty. The ratio of water to pulp varies with the requirements of the papermaker and the inherent properties of the polypore used. It is one of those 'indefinables' that can only be described as 'feeling right': too thin, and the paper will be difficult to couch; too thick and you'll end up with something resembling a small wet doormat. Assuming, then, that the vat's contents are of an ideal suspension, make a 'gather', using the mould and deckle held firmly together. To get
Polypore
Pulp Description
Paper Description
Polypore
Pulp Description
Paper Description
Monomitie Bjerkandera adusta (Fr.)
Pulped well, but felt gritty on cotton sheets.
Like tissue in texture, greyfawn , with dark grey-brown flecks . Crackly and translucent.
Trimitic
Corky texture, benefited from soaking. Blended and fluffed up well. Good suspension in vat and couched well.
A smooth, suede-like quality with irregular flecks of denser material. Opaque.
Dark chestnut-brown, smooth but very brittle. Very dense, opaque paper.
Fomes fomentarius L. : Fr. Kickx
Hard material, soaked for weeks. Pulp very fibrous and stringy, but handled reasonably well.
Paper mid-fawn, with tan fibres. Opaque, slightly brittle.
Very tough, rather fibrous. Fibre s obvious, but easy to work.
Paper dark tan with darker fibres, opaque.
Very tough, so soaked for a week. Fluffed up well, good suspension in the vat. Handled well, couched easily.
Paper very dark chocolate brown. Opaque, dense, silky, slightly textured.
G. lucidum(Fr.) Karst.
Fluffed up well, paler than the two previous species. Mor e difficult to handle.
Pale tan paper, rather brittle, perhaps because of maturity. Pleasant colour and texture.
Lenzites betulina(L. : Fr.)
Slow to break down, eventually yielded copious quantities of a rich cream pulp. Behaved and handled very well.
Paper with soft silky quality. Dense and opaque. Takes printing ink well. A very satisfactory and versatile paper.
Easy to work, quadrupled in volume in the blender. Couched well.
Creamy-white translucent paper, lightly-flecked with tiny darker fibres from the basidiome ' s surface. Good smooth finish achieved .
Karst. (Polyporaceae)
Inonotus radiatus (Sow:Fr) Karst. (Hymenochaetaceae)
Dimitie Datronia mol/is (Sommerf.) Donk (Polyporaceae)
Gritty texture, difficult to get even suspension in vat, difficult to couch.
Broke up well, but not much fluff in blender. Gritty, textured pulp.
Paper bonded reasonably, but quite brittle. Opaque, nutmeg brown.
Broke up well, fluffy pulp . Bonded well, couched easily.
Yellowish-beige, flexible pap er, lightly-flecked with small particles. Opaque.
Daedalea quercina L. : Fr. (Polyporaceae)
(Polypora ceae)
Ganoderma adspersum (Schulzer) Donk (Ganodermataceae)
G. applanatum (Pers.) Pat .
Heterobasidion annosum (Fr.) Bref. (Polyporaceae)
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Ischnoderma benzoinum (Wahlenb .) Karst. (Polyporaceae)
Piptoporus betulinus (Bull. : Fr.) Karst. (Polyporaceae)
Liquidised without difficulty, fluffed up reasonably. Paper quite difficult to couch, little bonding.
Good mid-brown colour, with fibrous particles quite evident. Opaque, brittle.
Behaved well in the blender, fluffed up, doubled in volume. Easy to handle and couched well. Good bonding.
Dense, matt, white opaque paper. Becomes brittle with age. Good for adding to other pulps .
(Polyporaceae)
Has to be used very fresh. Rather slimy pulp containing irregular-sized fragments. Couched and bonded well.
Strange, skin-like, translucent quality, yellowish/fawn in colour, with flecks of lighter and darker material.
(Wulf. : Fr.) Pilat (Polyporaceae)
Use fresh. Similar in behaviour to Polyporus squamosus.
Very similar to P. squamosus, but darker. Shrank considerably in drying proces s.
Trametes hirsuta Polyporus squamosus Fr. (Polyporaceae)
Meripilus giganteus (Pers. : Fr.) Karst. (Polyporaceae)
Stereumhirsutum (Willd. : Fr.) S. F. Gray (Stereaceae)
Did not break down too well. Veryfibrous and difficult to handle.
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I-'
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Paper dark fawn, with darker br own, corky, tough fibres. Brittle, dense, and opaqu e.
Trametes versicolor (L. : Fr.) Pilat
Pulp pale grey with darker flecks. Volume increased dramatically during processing. Very easy to handle.
Creamy white paper with tiny dark speckles . Attractive and usabl e, translucent paper.
~
~
s;::
~
I-'
to to
-J
I
•
Volume 11, Part 2, May 1997 an even distribution of fibres , the frames are gently agitated, holding them horizontally, in a sideto-side action, then to and fro. The excess water is allowed to drain back into the vat; when it has stopped dripping, the deckle can be carefully removed and laid aside while the paper is couched on to a dampened cotton sheet, this is done in one firm , swift movement. Another cotton sheet is laid upon the paper and the process repeated until you have a pile, or 'post', of papers, one on top of the other, to about ten or twelve in number. Throughout the process the vat must be replenished with more pulp from the blender. The post is then placed between two boards and taken to the press, which is on a tray or draining-board. Pressure is applied, gently at first, then gradually increased. Too much initial pressure on these very wet sheets can result in the fibres being distorted too radically to give a good piece of paper. Drying the paper is a very time-consuming affair and can give much frustration and disappointment. Scrupulous attention to cleanliness must prevail in order to prevent moulds growing on the paper, if it is not turned and aired regularly and the damp cottons replaced with clean, dry sheeting daily. After the initial pressing to extract the excess water, the sheets with the damp paper pulp adhering to them are hung up to dry with plenty of air to circulate around them. A clothes rack or kitchen pulley is ideal. During the summer, the process can be done outside, and only takes an hour or so to complete. At other times of the year, overnight on a pulley is sufficient. The next stage is slightly more tricky : the paper has to be eased off the cotton sheets with great delicacy, but if they are still slightly damp then this is not too difficult. Place on dry cotton sheets, intersperse with blotting-paper, card or Formica off-cuts if you want a smoother surface ; this last step must be repeated until the paper is completely dry. The fungi Monomitic polypores break up reasonably well in the blender, but the pulp, does not cohere and tends to go straight through the mesh on the mould. Should you manage to make a piece of paper, the result is usually gritty and brittle. Interesting colour and textural variations can be
obtained by adding these pulps to a more sympathetic, cohesive , dimitic or trimitic pulp. Dimitic polypores are remarkably diverse in their behaviour during the paper-making process. Some go gritty in the blender, others 'fluff up' quite well. They offer by far the greatest range of colours and textures; only by experimenting is it possible to discover their different properties. The majority of trimitic polyp ores fluff up well in the blender. They make a good pulp which behaves well in the vat and couches onto the cotton sheets easily. A good post of paper made from these can be couched and dried successfully in a matter of days depending on the ambient temperature and humidity. Table 1 shows how the commoner Scottish polypores react to the paper-making process and the resulting paper qualities are compared with the widespread and common resupinate-effusopileate Stereum hirsutum. To these are added Ischnoderma benzoinum, a rather uncommon fungus found quite near Edinburgh in autumn 1995 and Lenzites betulina which is also uncommon in Scotland. The latter was collected in October 1994. Conclusion Polypores are very amenable to the preparation of paper from their flesh; the resulting paper is often of high quality and attractive appearance (see Fig 1 on the back cover of this issue). The most versatile paper comes from the trimitic polypores, as the result of one's efforts can be put to a variety of uses. Lenzites betulina probably makes the most satisfactory and versatile paper, taking printing ink exceptionally well; the related Trametes versicolor also makes a useful paper. Some of the tougher polypores e.g. Fomes fomentarius require a lengthy softening time in water.
References Rice, M. (1991) Fine Paper from Mushrooms. Mushroom 10(1); 21 - 26. Rice, M. (1992) Get an old Blender. Mushroom 10(3): 22 26.
Editor's note: This papermaking process was shown at Fungus 100 - see the illustration in the pictorial record on pp 36 - 37 of Mycologist 11, part 1.