This was a thrill! For years I was finding Hydnellum imbricatus which grows with our spruce trees. I was completely confused as I thought Hydnellum imbricatus produced color and my results were just beige. I researched online and found that Hydnellum squamosus was the dyer and it grows with our pines so I had been on the hunt ever since. You can definitely distinguish the difference between these two mushrooms but at first glance they look very similar. I was doing my mushroom happy dance as I pulled these fibers from the pot. Look at the range of colors from purple to blue to green! The pigment was a delight to work with. I finally found a trick for making lakes with high alkaline dye baths. I only add alum as it will precipitate more than enough to produce pigment with the existing alkali. If there is still some color in the supernatant I just lake it again to get the last of the remaining color.