The jumbo gym packs a punch of sunshine yellow. No surprise I was gifted this mushroom from the sunshine state by my friend Anna. Where I live we have different gymnopilus varieties growing which will produce a soft, muted yellow so I was thrilled to receive this one. The entire mushroom is filled with color and it loves an acidic dye bath but more importantly it loves the laking process. It mulls into a buttery, supple, lovely paint that is a gorgeous golden brown. It also produces a tremendous amount of pigment, usually I get an ounce of pigment with my tests but Gymnopilus ventricosus produced over double that amount.

I was introduced to Anna Mieritz by Alissa Allen who was hosting the 19th International Fungi and Fiber Symposium and pulled together a group of 4 friends to help with the planning. It was a treat getting to know Anna, we ended up working together for 3+ years since IFFS was originally to be held in 2020. Over these years we were able to meet up in person and enjoy time together in the forest and we spent lots of virtual time together working on IFFS. Anna generously gifted me Gymnopilus ventricosus to include in the Mushroom Color Atlas since we don’t get jumbo gyms in my neck of the woods. I am grateful for her generosity and am reminded of her sunny smile everytime I look at the sunshine yellow from jumbo gym.