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This is a thin translucent bacterial cellulose material resembling paper, made of a dried 3-5mm kombucha SCOBY.
* **Kombucha SCOBY** - 1 piece of 2-3 mm thickness, grow one with [this recipe](https://class.textile-academy.org/2020/loes.bogers/files/recipes/kombuchascoby)
* **Turpentine** - 1 tbsp (15 ml) + a little more
* **Beeswax, melted** - 1 tbsp (15 ml)
* **Raw Linseed/Flax oil** - 1 tbsp (15 ml) you can get this at a hardware story, this is not the same as the food-grade one from the supermarket.
1. **Gloves**
1. **Mask**
1. **A glass jar**, to mix the treatment
1. **A pot**, big enough to put the glass jar in (bain marie)
1. **A spoon**, for stirring
1. **A cooker**
1. **A silicone mat**, to dry the paper on, baking paper also works.
1. Optional: a brush
1. **Preparing the after-treatment for a kombucha sheet**
- Wear gloves and a mask, this process creates fumes that are not very pleasant nor healthy, work in a well-ventilated area.
- Take the kombucha sheet out of its bath, wash in soapy cold water and dry it off with some kitchen paper. Put it on the silicone mat. Some kombucha SCOBY's will be a bit uneven and might have a hole or a tear. You can rearrange it a bit and put these bits back together, in the drying process these parts will reattach if they're overlapping.
- Melt the beeswax so you can take one tablespoon of it. (Put a chunk of wax in a glass jar that I melt au bain marie. You can then let it cool inside the jar where I store it for later).
- Mix the turpentine and the linen oil, warm up slightly over the steam of the bain marie (this helps to mix it with the hot beeswax without making lumps and flakes).
- While both liquids are warm, mix them.
- While still warm: apply to one side of the kombucha sheet with a brush or with your fingers. Massage it in. Doing this over the steam of the bain marie helps to keep it liquid (it solidifies very quickly).
- Let the kombucha sheet dry.
- When the first side is totally dry, carefully peel the kombucha off the silicone mat or baking paper and flip it so you can treat the other side.
- Reheat the mixture in a bain marie, add another teaspoon of turpentine (it will have evaporated somewhat during the first round).
- Rub it in on the other side and leave to dry again.
- Let the sheet dry completely
- Once dry, press it between baking paper under a stack of heavy books so it becomes totally flat and even.
- Thickness before drying: 5 mm for thin paper-like sheets, 10-15 mm for leather-like material
- Shrinkage thickness 80-90 %
- Shrinkage width/length 0-10 %
Do not peel it the kombucha scoby off the silicone mat in between stages. Just let it be to get a very flat sheet. It will start to curl if you take it off the mat and manipulate it a lot.
None, any flexible surface to dry the sheet on will work fine as long as you can peel it off (don't use acrylic or glass sheets, it will get stuck). Use vaseline as release agents for other types of moulds.
Keep pressed for a few more days. Store dry and flat, add some rice as desiccant.
*Preparing tools and ingredients, Loes Bogers, 2020*
*Melting the beeswax au bain marie, Loes Bogers, 2020*
*Applying the warm mixture for the second time (after the top has dried), note: it is easier to do this over the steam of the bain marie to keep it warm and liquid, Loes Bogers, 2020*
*Two kombucha papers: one that was left alone during the drying process (top), one that was moved and lifted during the drying process (bottom), Loes Bogers, 2020*
- The same process can be used to create more leather-like sheets. Follow the exact same recipe but use a SCOBY that grew into 10 mm thickness instead of 2-3mm.
- The kombucha paper takes on the shape it dries in, try drying the paper on top of a mold to let it dry and contract into a 3D shape. Use vaseline as a release agent.
- Dye the pellicle before oiling and drying, by dipping it into a concentrated natural dye. It takes on dye quite well.
- Coconut oil as post-treatment has also been suggested. Rub it into the wet kombucha pellicle. Without a sealant, the kombucha could become sticky if worn in the rain. Full water resistance can be achieved if using acrylic or oil based sealers, but then the material is no longer safely biodegradable.
### This recipe draws together information from these other recipes
- **Grow your own clothes** TED talk by Suzanne Lee, 2011: [link](https://www.ted.com/talks/suzanne_lee_grow_your_own_clothes?language=en)
- **Open Source Kombucha**, by thr34d5. n.d., [link](https://thr34d5.org/2019/08/28/open-source-kombucha/)
- **Biofabricating Materials** by Cecilia Raspanti for Fabricademy 2019-2020: [link](https://class.textile-academy.org/classes/week05A/)
### Sustainability tags
- Renewable ingredients: yes
The kombucha paper is translucent, sometimes with visible traces of the yeast and bacteria strings. The color varies with the liquid the SCOBY was grown in. It is comparable to parchment paper or tracing paper in terms of sound and translucence, but has less uniform shape, thickness and color.
- **Strength**: fragile
- **Hardness**: resilient
- **Transparency**: translucent
- **Structure**: closed
- **Texture**: medium
- **Temperature**: medium
- **Shape memory**: high
- **Odor**: moderate (the turpentine in the treatment lingers for a while)
- **Acoustic properties:** needs further research
- **Anti-bacterial:** needs further research
- **Non-allergenic:** needs further research
- **Electrical properties:** needs further research
- **Heat resistance:** low
- **Water resistance:** water resistant
- **Chemical resistance:** needs further research
- **Scratch resistance:** moderate
- **Surface friction:** medium
- **Color modifiers:** none
## About this entry
- Name: Loes Bogers
- Affiliation: Fabricademy student at Waag Textile Lab Amsterdam
- Location: Rotterdam, the Netherlands
- Outside temp: 5-11 degrees Celcius
- Room temp: 18 – 22 degrees Celcius
- PH tap water: 7-8
### Recipe validation
By Cecilia Raspanti, Textile Lab, Waag Amsterdam, 9 March 2020
### Estimated cost (consumables) in local currency
## Copyright information
### This recipe is in the public domain (CC0)
Yes
### This recipe was previously published by someone else
Yes, this is a variation (using thinner SCOBY to create paper) on **Open Source Kombucha**, by thr34d5. n.d., [link](https://thr34d5.org/2019/08/28/open-source-kombucha/)
- **Open Source Kombucha**, by thr34d5. n.d., [link](https://thr34d5.org/2019/08/28/open-source-kombucha/)
- **Biofabricating Materials** by Cecilia Raspanti for Fabricademy 2019-2020: [link](https://class.textile-academy.org/classes/week05A/)
- **Grow your own clothes** TED talk by Suzanne Lee, 2011: [link](https://www.ted.com/talks/suzanne_lee_grow_your_own_clothes?language=en)
- **Kombucha Fashion** by Cameron Wilson, Peter Musk and Jimmy Eng for the The Edge, State Library of Queensland, n.d. [link](https://wiki.edgeqld.org.au/doku.php?id=workshops:public:kombucha_fashion:start)
- **QUT reveals how you can make your own leather at home** by The Conversation, republished by SmartCompany, 24 November, 2016: [link](https://www.smartcompany.com.au/startupsmart/advice/startupsmart-growth/startupsmart-innovation/qut-reveals-how-you-can-make-your-own-leather-at-home/)
*Kombucha paper, Loes Bogers, 2020*
*Kombucha paper, Loes Bogers, 2020*
*Kombucha paper, Loes Bogers, 2020*