1.Predictions
Before engaging with the Kombucha leather lab, my roommate had told me that her Kombucha was not successful because she left the SCOBY only for a week so the when it dried its thickness was extremely thin to the extent where a single fold who crack the leather. So based on her story, I presumed that the longer the SCOBY stays within the vinegar and sugar added tea, the ticker it would get. And also, I think that the higher temperature, the leather will be ticker. I predict that the high temperature would stimulate the activity of the bacteria to consume more sugars, therefore, resulting in better quality leather.
2.Process
First, I boiled the water on the pot to brew the tea and after it heated up, I poured in sugar and vinegar. After it cooled down, I poured the tea and the SCOBY into the plastic box.
After a few days, a thin layer of Kombucha leather started to form, however, along with it came an extremely disgusting smell. As my roommate described, it smelled like terribly smelly feet.
About 2 weeks later, the Kombucha leather got quite thick so I took the leather out and rested it on a scrap wood I had.
As I waited for it to dry, I could see the leather getting thin as time progressed.
Ending up with only a small amount of Kombucha leather, I decided to make a wallet. Because of the limited amount of resources, I made the design very simple and tried to utilize every bit of Kombucha.
3.Prototype
Knowing that only a small amount of Kombucha leather will be produced, I designed a simple wallet to make with the material I produced out of this lab. For the two designs below, I thought about how we could use Kombucha leather in our daily lives to create something beautiful. I found the color of the Kombucha to be quite beautiful, so I thought it would look good if a light was diffused on the leather. So I designed lamps in the shape of flowers to emphasize the natural aspect of the Kombucha.
4.Results
Before putting in the SCOBY the liquid was simply tea, however, after the putting in, a thin layer started to on top. At first, I could not notice any change but as time progressed, the layers formed a light shade of white. Because on the protocol it said the Kombucha should be placed in a 22-degree Celcius environment, I place heating pads below because my suite was quite cold. After about a week I could visually see the thickness and two weeks layer it got very tick. I wanted to leave it for a longer time to see how thick it gets, but my roommate told me that it also takes some time for it to dry. So, sadly, I took it out. When I just took it out from the tea, it was very flexible like a jelly but then it began to stiffen up and at the same time, it got very thin. I thought that the size would shrink a lot, but different from what I expected, it the size didn’t change that much.
5.Conclusion and Discussion
It was interesting to see how a bacteria could turn into a leather, that could be used for a lot of things, such as clothing and furniture. At first, I was very suspicious about it, however, making it by myself, I have seen its magic and think this could be an alternative to the expansive and earth polluting leather industries highly consume. Now sustainability has become important more than ever, yet, there many people who remain ignorant towards these. They simply think that pollution has nothing to do with them, but the faults of the factories. However, they fail to realize that what they consume and wear are all byproducts of those polluting factories. Recently I have noticed that brands such as Fresh are using Kombucha to make their skin care products, and I think Kombucha could be a sustainable option for all of us. Though it is very sustainable, there are many problems to face when incorporating this new material into the industry. First, there need to be market demands to create a Kombucha leather product. This may be sustainable and good for our earth, people are still ignorant. “Me buying this little bit of leather won’t affect the earth.” This is the common thought that people have in mind, so they don’t see the necessity of buying a “fake” leather. And the idea of a bacteria-based leather is not appealing to its consumers. So in order to tackle this problem, it is important to make people understand the severeness the earth and ourselves are facing and that this is not an “alternative” something “original” that has a unique beauty of its own. Another problem is the question of its durability. According to Futurity, when the Kombucha leather absorbs moisture from the air and the person wearing it, the material weakness, therefore, making it less durable. For normal animal leather, it is quite durable, being able to pass down from mother to daughter and then to their daughter. However, for Kombucha it could be impossible to have it for more than a year or two. So it will be essential to figure out a way to solve this problem. Maybe we could incorporate a water-resistant substance such as wax onto the leather to prevent it from absorbing moistures. Even if we solve all the problems if we cannot find a way to mass produce this, it will be nothing. The main problem I faced while making this Kombucha leather was that the process was extremely time-consuming. All kinds of factors must be put into consideration. According to Young-A Lee, an associate professor at Iowa state university, it takes almost four weeks, as the material requires time to grow, dry and needs to be treated in a special condition. And depending on the thickness and the amount we are producing the amount of time needed could vary. However, when mass producing the most important aspect is “Mass Producing” which means that a vast amount of Kombucha will be needed. So unless this major problem is solved, Kombucha would have to hopelessly stand aside and watch consumers with their animal leathers.
Works Cited
https://www.news.iastate.edu/news/2016/04/26/sustainableclothing
