The Mushroom Hat
By John
2014
Created in 2014 as my first art project, the mushroom hat has been an omnipresent fixture my Burning Man exploits. Spurred by a bout of madness and inspiration just prior to the 2014 Burn, I whipped V1.0 together in one very focused weekend. I had never been to Burning Man at this point, and almost as an afterthought, I threw in a strip of green fair lights. Little did I know, lights were key both the event as a whole and the success of the project!
A first look under the hood
A compliant volunteer helping to test the sheet
Stenciling and spray painting
The hat is complete!
Showcasing at Shangri-Lawless
2015
After the lessons learned in 2014, I realized the mushroom needed a boost in LED amperage. A retrofit gave it the four meters of RGB LEDs that it carries today. The hat had a great Burn until THE BURN — the torching of the Man. While I avoided the flaming bits that rained around me (and threatened to light the hat ablaze), a careless late-night stroll through the embers melted a number of components within the hat. Yikes!
Hats and fire don't mix! I learned this the hard way...
Preparing for the embrace burn (2014)
2017
I didn’t make it to the 2016 event, but when 2017 rolled around, the hat was ready to go! I briefly experimented with a conversion to addressable LEDs, but ultimately decided that standard RGB strips produced a more cohesive visual effect.
Every so often I need a break... but there are lots of volunteers!
The hat makes for a handy camp light
2018
I was insanely busy with Ring Theory this year, but make no mistake, the mushroom went out all night, every night!
Pasta sauce?
Team photo!
Nao graces Ring Theory with the mushroom
A compliant volunteer helping to test the sheet
2019
When Charlotte from the Unscruz art committee asked me about making some large mushrooms for their event, she had found the right guy! I drafted a design and bill of materials to help them out. Their final product looked convincing!
