Mushroom Crafts for Fairy Gardens

Mushrooms have a unique charm to them. They can pop up seemingly out of nowhere, and often disappear again before you know it. Their shapes are whimsical and sometimes downright weird, as are their names. Some of them are equal parts cute and deadly, others quite literally magical. Add to that their modest size, and we’ve got ourselves the perfect little growths to feature in a fairy garden. In this article we’ll cover all kinds of mushroom crafts, natural as well as artificial, to create the kinds of little places that a fairy would love to inhabit. Let’s see which ones tickle your fancy.

When autumn arrives, so do many mushrooms. It’s the perfect time to go hunting for wild mushrooms in places where it’s moist and shady, like in the forest. Be sure to keep an eye out for those with a flat, wide cap. These can resemble an umbrella, and as such can be used as the basis for a whimsical little scene. For example, in case of a sunlit spot, a fairy might lay down in the shade provided by the mushroom to have a little nap. You can actually use other forest finds to make this creature by hand, such as leaves, nuts, twigs and moss.

Another way in which umbrella-like mushrooms could provide shelter to forest folk, is by shielding them from the rain. Could it get any more autumnal than that? Admittedly, making your way through a muddy forest as you’re getting soaked yourself isn’t the most enjoyable thing in the world, so best come prepared if you do set out to create a scene like this. Scout your toadstool in advance, have your forest creature crafted, and don your wellies.

These sheltering mushrooms have a bit of an impromptu nature to them. If real, these scenes could have come about in the spur of the moment. So in this case, when the fairy decided to lay down for a nap, and when the rain caught the lil’ acorn guy by surprise. Alternatively, you could use mushroom crafts to create scenes that look a little more planned, like a part of fairy-land infrastructure. We’ll explore some of those below.

Umbrella-shaped toadstools are perfect for spontaneous looking fairy scenes, but they’ve got lots of potential for being used as tiny street furniture too. For example, place a miniature bistro set at the base of the mushroom, and instantly it’ll double as a parasol. (If it isn’t literally a parasol mushroom already.) Better yet, find a group of mushrooms and create a cozy outdoor fairy cafe with multiple tables.

To create a signpost, make some wooden signs and attach them to a thin inconspicuous support that, when placed in front of the mushroom, blends in. This way, you don’t burden the actual mushroom. Moreover, it allows you to easily move the signpost to a new location after a mushroom starts to wither away. As for the signs, either point to destinations in “the human world”, or keep it a little more mysterious with an unintelligible, fairy-esque script.

The mushrooms crafts we’ve looked at so far all involved the stem-and-cap variants – the ones we typically think of when it comes to toadstools. But there’s another type of mushroom that offers its own possibilities for fairy gardens and other parts of the fairy world. It’s the turkey tail mushroom, which grows all over the world, year-round. They’re typically found on decaying wood, like a tree stump or a fallen tree, but sometimes you’ll find them on living trees as well. Clustered, fan-shaped and protruding like shelves, these mushrooms are known as elfenbankjes in Dutch, which means “fairy benches”. Clearly, these shrooms were made for whimsy.

Now admittedly, the mushroom crafts we’ve shown so far weren’t so much about crafting with mushrooms, but rather around them. And while we love the idea of using actual living mushrooms to create whimsical scenes, sometimes you can take your ideas a little bit further by introducing artificial mushrooms. This is what we’ll explore next.

Some toadstool, especially those with a stout build and a pointy cap, tend to look like little houses. In fact, it only takes adding a little door to the stem to go from shroom to something that looks like it could house a tiny forest creature. However, finding an appropriately shaped wild mushroom can be a challenge. Let alone a group of them forming a fairy village. So, to create such a village, consider making your own mushroom fairy houses. By going the artificial route, you don’t depend on nature to sprout fungi when and where it decides to. Instead, you can scout your own backyard for the perfect spot.

After sundown is when the magic of your fairy garden can truly come into its own. It enshrouds the fairy houses in a bit of mystery. After all, who knows what’s happening in the shadows? It is the perfect time for little forest creatures to be out and about and still hidden from sight. To capture this sense of magic, try to strike the perfect balance between the seen and the unseen. Implement sources of light to illuminate small parts of the fairy garden. For example, from within the mushroom fairy houses, like we mentioned above. Or, have a string of fairy lights span the fairy garden and truly live up to their name.

And with that, it’s time to cap off our fairy garden ideas with mushroom crafts. We hope you like them fairy mush.