Artist Maria Katkova created works using ink made from the inkcap mushroom

In a mushroom-pickers' group I came across an account by the artist Maria Katkova, who says she once created several works from mushroom ink. What is that, exactly? The artist explains the recipe: if you pick an ink cap, place it on a saucer and watch, you may witness the phenomenon of autolysis, the self-digestion of the mushroom's flesh into a black liquid. This liquid is sometimes used as ink, and under magnification the traces it leaves on paper reveal a unique pattern of spores. In short, bear it in mind, should you ever find yourself in some uninhabited spot without a ballpoint pen