Shane Rucker, GFA MAT, 2026
Huge mushroom nerd. Love foraging and cultivating and adventuring. I keep Stamets’ textbook next to the toilette at home. Real excited to learn about all the developments in mycelium textiles and building materials.
Project Overview
The mycelium tortoise shell is meant to be a functional object that can serve many uses. I see it living in the garden as a sort of “lawn ornament” that will be overtaken by local plant life and possibly serve as a shelter for small animals and bugs. I’d love to sprout fruiting bodies from it in a controlled space so that they might form legs to stand it up as a vessel for holding a plant of some other thing. I can also imagine it being worn as a hat or used as a basket for foraging.
Process
Mycelium ‘grow-bags’ are filled with 650g hardwood sawdust pellets and then 1L of filtered water is added to the bag.
The contents are then massaged until the sawdust has full absorbed the water.
A handful of the material is squeezed to test for water saturation levels. No more than a couple drops of water drip out.
The bag is taped shut with minimal air inside. The remaining air is slowly pressed out of the bag through the air filter.
The loose bit of bag is then rubber banded or taped down and the bags go into the autoclave.
Once sterilized in the autoclave the bags are then inoculated with about 300gs of pre-inoculated, Red Reishi, grain spawn. And the contents are thoroughly mixed together.
The bag is left in the incubator to grow for a week or so until the mycellium begin to encompass the substrate.
Once some significant growth has occurred the substrate is broken up again.
At this point the material would be packed into a mold, but I was unable to make a mold in time. My solution was to use the original grow bag as my mold.
I squeezed any excess air out of the filter and formed the bag around a stainless steel bowl. I used rubber bands to hold the bag to the shape of the bowl and also give it a tortoiseshell topography.
I didn’t have enough time for the mycelium to fully engulf the substrate. I ought to have added some rice flour to speed up growth but chose not to for fear of contamination. Now I must wait till next semester to see what will become of my babies.
Learn More
Follow me on Instagram to find out how it goes! @shanerucker