Some Discoveries!!

On our little Japanese Maple we found a bag worm and a Praying Mantis egg sack!
The Praying Mantis egg sack can stay, but the bag worm is definitely going away!
I will blog more about the egg sack through the winter until the lil' Manties finally come out! You see, they will only hatch in warm weather.

The Newspaper Came!

"Newspaper" Paper News! :-)

These are pictures of me making my paper
out of hand-ripped newspaper. Making this
kind of paper was easier than making the lint
paper.

You've Got Mail!! :-)

Got Paper?

Here are directions to make paper out of lint:

You will need:
Container, Lint, Water, Blender, Screen, Basin, Sponge, Sturdy, Cardboard, 2 Towels, Something heavy (I used books)

1. Put the lint in a container with enough warm water to completely cover the lint. Soak the lint for at least 30 minutes.
You can soak it overnight.
We used hot water instead of warm water.
2. Pour the lint and water mixture into a blender. Puree.
3. While the mixture is blending, set up your screen and basin by putting the screen on top of the basin.
4. Pour the blended mixture onto the screen.
5. Spread the lint around. Try to make it as thin as you can.
6. Use your hand to press out some of the excess water.
7. Lay the towel and then cardboard over the lint, and carefully flip the screen over.
8. Remove the screen and press the lint firmly with a dry sponge to remove more excess water.
9. Put the other towel over the lint and set heavy item on top.
10. Leave until dried.
Have fun writing on your lint paper!!!

More ink, less mushroom

Wow! There's not much of the mushrooms left!! Mostly just stem! I have been saving lint in a plastic bag for a long time. When the mushrooms are all ink, I will make paper out of the lint, and write on the paper with a feather that I have! I can't wait!

Mushrooms

Here are some pictures of some mushrooms that Mom found growing in our front and back yard.

These are called Shaggy Ink Mushrooms or Lawyer's Wig. I cut some and put them in a jar to make ink. On the bottom of the jar (bottom picture) you can see the ink that they have made already. Mom is pointing to it. I cut them at around 5:00 p.m. and it made that much ink by 8:40 this morning!
In the top picture, you can see the gills are starting to turn black. Soon, they will turn to ink. Also, look inside the stem. You can see the tiny, thin strings.

This is a picture of two Ink mushrooms that I left in the yard. If you look closely, you can see some black grass around it. It is black from the ink on the mushroom. They say these are edible, but I'm not about to eat one!!! The whole mushroom will turn to ink, stem and all!!! It is said George Washington used ink from this kind of mushroom to sign the constitution.

This is another kind of mushroom we think is called Collybia Butyracea, Butter Top, or Tough Shank. This is edible as well. But we aren't eating these either!

Here are directions and pictures to an experiment I did with mushrooms.

You will need:
A small glass
A kinda flat mushroom
A piece of white paper

1. Place the mushroom gill-side down on the piece of paper.
2. Place the glass over the mushroom.
3. Let the mushroom sit for a few hours. (I let mine sit over night)
4. Remove the glass and mushroom.
5. Lightly spray your print with hair-spray

What it does:
While the mushroom is sitting under the glass, the spores inside of the gills fall off on to the paper. You put the glass over it to block out air. I put a cocktail dish over it instead of a glass because it is smaller. You use the hair-spray to keep the spores from moving.

Here is a picture of how one of mine turned out:

You can use the same mushroom multiple times. I have used mine about 5 times.

I am going to make another post soon. Maybe tonight or tomorrow.