A big dream of mine in the near future is to make art with mushrooms, inspired by people like Eric Klarenbeek and Phil Ross. Specifically, I want to print out certain shapes / sculptures with the 3D printer in order to then grow a mushroom through it. I don’t know about you, but I’m quite amazed by it and I would like to get myself/ourselves a printer which is capable of printing biomaterials.
When it comes to that, PLA is actually suitable. But as soon as I have figured out a system, I would like to modify the system, so that we could also print other biopolymers such as a Chitosan gel with it. For this you would have to replace the print head with a syringe-like device and a separate extrusion system, like it has been done by Neri Oxman.
Now, I don’t have a plan as to which 3D printer is best for this kinda hack. I would tend to go for the Prusa MK3, but certain Delta printers seem to have a mounting system for the extruder which seem far less cumbersome to modify. I’m considering:
• Prusa i3 MKS3
• Monoprice MP10
• Monoprice Delta Pro
• FLSUN Q5
• Tevo Delta (already a bit pricy tho)
• Ender 3
• Complete DIY
• 3KU Delta kit (Arduino)
• Wait until next Black Friday
I guess a system based on Arduino would be the easiest to “hack”. The print quality is not the most important thing, but on the other hand, constant clogging would be too tedious. A decently large print volume would of course also not be verkehrt.
Hey there
There was a workshop recently held at InterAccess org where I discussed ‘printing’ with inoculated substrate and/or bio-filament.
Are you familiar with Kai Parthay’s LayFilaments, 3D printer filaments?
GROWLAY-white pure porous and GROWLAY-brown porous.
Concerning 3D printers the Prusa is the only printer that worked without issue with Growlay filaments. That said, the Growlay white has sugar in it so you have to be mindful of the heat settings or it will start to caramelize and clog things.
The Growlay brown porous worked great!
Regarding Eric’s chair- they worked with the Growlay white and then pumped/scwooged inoculated substrate into the hollow printed forms.
For the Delta style printer I purchased a Cerambot.
I have some PDFs from the workshop I would be more than happy to share here, but since I am a new user I am not allowed to upload them… I’ll share some PDF links here
The primary topic of this workshop was Democratizing Mushroom Cultivation: Fungal Bio-Materials.
Here is another PDF I shared concerning cardboard cultivation. Which works amazingly well.
Damn, so much new information in one post! I had to fragment it in order to digest it over multiple days. Let alone the InterAccess page is super dope, with lots of topics in which I’d like to take a deep dive in the following days. But already got plenty of other things on my todo list ;D
About the Growlay filaments. Will this be overgrown by the mycelium during a normal colonization period? Why did it only work with the Prusa printer? Which other printers did you test it on?
And man, the Cerambot opens up even more possibilities! Might have to get one as well! But isn’t the claim that the extruder works perfectly with any FDM printer a bit of a bold statement? Based on the form it has I’m guessing they refer to J-head hotends. Or is it really universal without further brain cudgeling?
Would it be difficult to turn the cerambot into a fdm printer? Say could you just buy some extruder and all the required other mechanical parts or would you also need to reprogram it in a way? I mean the extrusion system is based on a stepper motor in both cases right?
Over grown as well as grown throughout. The printed object is placed in water for a couple days (or less) to dissolve the binder and open the cell structure. Add mycelium, cover or place in humidity chamber.
Printers: I have to think any 3D printer without a feed tube would work… That said,
I tested the filaments on
Ultimaker 3
Ender
Total no go for the Ultimaker and so far no luck with an Ender
After much googling I found a video of people using a Prusa to print out Growlay successfully.
Interaccess purchased a Prusa for its members und, voilà! It worked 1st run through.
Damn, I found tons of mad customers on the Cerambot kickstarter page. Lot’s of people claim that they didn’t receive their order and they seem to package that thing poorly. I hope these were just symptoms of an excessive demand. Did you get your printer without any bigger annoyances?
btw, I went through your homepage and immediately got lead to the Samadhi project. I literally wanted to do the exact same experiment, being letting the fungus grow onto some electrodes and controlling a synthesizer with it. Super sick, I absolutely love it! But what did it sound like? How many channels did you run? Did you cut out an area in the petri dishes for the electrodes? How longlived is this setup?
Are you aware of the scientific literature examining electrical signaling in mycelium?
Concerning the printer- the Facebook and/or Google group is really good for checking out this printer. Some people had issues in the beginning, from what I understand. Many people are using these with great results. The Facebook group is super helpful. I received the printer with one missing part due to the box developing a hole during shipping. Easy to replace, I didn’t want to wait for a tiny screw to arrive from China!
Yes, I am very mush aware of scientific literature examining electrical signalling of mycelium.
Since 1st hooking up mycelium to last Friday’s performance for the Goethe Institut Montreal’s New Nature event I have been creating ‘music’ with mycelium, trees etc.
last year during a 3-month residency with MOCA Toronto in partnership with the Ontario Science Centre I built, what I referred to as The Mycelium Martian Dome. The geodesic structure used mycelium in the negative spaces as well as mycelium creating a soundscape within the dome that people could interact with. At the moment I am working on Symbiosis/Dysbiosis from an R&D grant awarded by the Goethe-Institut along with technologist Sara Lisa Vogl, neuroscientist Brendan Lehman, artist/coder Lorena Salomé, with microbiologists and mycologists. Biodata-sonification and biodata from mycelium brought into Unity- the project itself is a mixed reality experience.
There is an instagram account named after the project, as well as a website sharing our tests so far.
Next year I have a large installation taking place at a museum in Ontario called Forest UnderSound. It rungs Jan 23-Sept 26 and involves mycelium growing over that period and creating a soundscape… of sorts. For this I am using a Eurorack system I’ve put together, along with several iPads. Later next June I am installing the Mycorrhizal Rhythm Machine for NAISA (New Adventures In Sound Art). Generally speaking, I cultivate mycelium in blocks or sculptural forms and use various purpose built electrodes or standard electrodes (snap w/bio-medical pads). I am very kind to the mycelium so, it tends to keep on growing and sending signals
The Midnight Mushroom Music link that goes to Soundcloud is entirely fungi based music unless stated otherwise. There are a couple interviews linked on my website regarding my sound work with fungi, trees, etc. I travelled around Australia and New Zealand last fall recording fungi, tree biodata.
If you’re curious, here is an interview that took place (live!! gulp) while I was in Australia, at the airport heading to NZ lol
Very impressive! I see you’re quite an Urgestein in this field already, in contrast to me who’s really just standing at the foot of the mountain, wondering which route to take. I actually was planning on going in all the way by being an artist as preoccupation with a studio and all, but figured that it doesn’t work that way, coming freshly from university with no experience whatsoever. I mean it would be okay, if I could find a job with let’s say a 40% workload, but right now it seems like I have to let that fish go. I’m probably going to continue studying, hoping to have enough time on the side to start tinkering with all these things. But in a way I feel like the pandemic could be a special avenue to get the attention from people for sustainability-related work.
I can’t quite wrap my head around on how the feed tube could impede the process. Is there a problem with the extruder pushing the filament? A skipping?
Have you tried different Bowden tubes already? It seems like the standard ones have been causing problems also with normal filaments already. I didn’t quite understand what the issue is, but I figure it has to do with the teflon being so close to the hot end that it starts to melt, locking up the opening. Capricorn tubings seem to be the go-to replacement.
However, this doesn’t explain why you only have issues with the growlay filament. Maybe due to the porous filament surface there is more friction along the inner surface of the tubing.
you have to be mindful of the heat settings or it will start to caramelize and clog things.
so, it tends to keep on growing and sending signals 
I actually was planning on going in all the way by being an artist as preoccupation with a studio and all, but figured that it doesn’t work that way, coming freshly from university with no experience whatsoever. I mean it would be okay, if I could find a job with let’s say a 40% workload, but right now it seems like I have to let that fish go. I’m probably going to continue studying, hoping to have enough time on the side to start tinkering with all these things. But in a way I feel like the pandemic could be a special avenue to get the attention from people for sustainability-related work.