Walk past almost any fallen hardwood log and there they are, tier upon tier of little striped fans climbing the bark like a staircase for someone very small. Whoever that someone is, they have excellent taste in architecture.
The Turkey Tail
Turkey tail (Trametes versicolor) is one of the most common mushrooms in the world, and one of the most overlooked. It grows in overlapping shelves and rosettes on dead hardwood, quietly breaking the wood down and returning it to the forest floor. Its species name, versicolor, means "of several colors," and it earns it with rings of brown, tan, white, and rust, sometimes with a surprise band of orange, blue, or magenta. Older specimens can even turn green, and that isn't the mushroom at all. It's algae that settled into the fine hairs of the cap and made itself at home.
Flip a turkey tail over and you'll find a pale surface covered in tiny pores, about three to five in every millimeter, which is why it belongs to a group called the polypores, or "many pores." Its look alike, the false turkey tail, has the same stripes on top but is completely smooth below. Same costume, entirely different fungus.
Turkey tail is also remarkably tough. Its thin, leathery caps shrug off drying and freezing, and a single mushroom can hang on through the seasons and even revive the following spring!
The Piece
Each tiny turkey tail is built up from five separate layers of sterling silver, cut out, textured, and stacked by hand so every tier ripples like the real thing. The grooves are deeply oxidized and the ridges polished bright, so the banding reads clearly even at this small scale, just like the rings on a real turkey tail.
They come in two sizes, a smaller and a slightly larger mushroom, and that's the fun part. In the forest, turkey tails never grow alone. They crowd together in staggered tiers, big and little side by side. So these are sold as single earrings, and you can build your own colony. Wear one large and two small climbing up one ear, or a matching pair in each lobe.
Choose single earrings in either size and add as many as you like, or choose a matched pair of the small or large mushrooms.
The Craftsmanship
- Earrings: approximately 3/8 inches (small) and 1/2 inches (large)
- Material: recycled sterling silver throughout, oxidized
- Detail: five hand cut and stacked layers per mushroom
- Style: post studs with sterling silver backs
- Options: single earrings in small or large, or a matched pair of either size
- Edition: made to order, each mushroom unique
A Note from Tamara
Turkey tails are everywhere in the New Hampshire woods, and I have never once walked past a log covered in them without stopping. What I love most is how they grow, never just one, always a whole little neighborhood of them stepping up the bark. So I wanted these to work the same way on your ears. Mix the sizes, stagger them, and let them climb! I hope whoever wears them starts noticing every log they pass.
Shipping
Your turkey tails will be made to order just for you in my little studio in the New Hampshire woods. Please allow one to two weeks for them to be created. You will receive a tracking number by email so you can follow them on their journey to their new home.