Hemitrichia Serpula and Adventures in Lost Wax

I was flipping through a copy of Mushrooms of Ontario and Eastern Canada the other day, hoping to find some good photos of the classic Amanita muscaria to help me create a field of felted mushrooms. Instead, I came upon Hemitrichia serpula (a distinctive slime mould with a fruitbody consisting of networks of canned-spaghetti-like veins) that I thought would look awesome in metal.

Out came the wax and spirit lamp! I got to work creating wax models of what I thought this shroom would look like if it were some forest fairy bling.

The waxes were then cast in sterling silver, and after a little magic and waving of hands, turned into these wacked out necklaces.