Biofabricating Materials
In the first week, we started experimenting with different biofabricating materials. We conducted 4 experiments: the Kombucha leather, Salmon fish skin leather, coffee ground leather and gelatin-based bioplastic.
Kombucha Leather
Week 1
Recipe:
Boil water, add tea leaves. Add sugar and let it steep. Strain the tea leaves and let the tea cool. Add scoby and let it grow in a dark area.
Week 2:
- There was mould that grew on the surface of a thin layer of scoby.
Next step:
- Leave it for 1 more week
- Make 2 more smaller batches.
Salmon Fish Leather
Week 1
Tools & Ingredients:
1 Container or bottle with lid
2 or 3 Salmon fish skins
1 part Glycerine
1 part Ethanol 75%
How To:
- Clean the salmon skins and pull off the scales with a blunt knife
- Choose a bottle with a wide neck
- Add the salmon skin
- Add equal amounts of glycerin and 75% ethanol into the bottle
- Close the lid and mix it a couple of times a day for 3 days
- After 3 days, strain off the liquid and put the skin to dry.
Separate skin from the salmon
pull of f scales with a blunt knife
Soak the fish skin in equal part of glycerin and 75% alcohol
Next step:
- Let it dry and make a brace.
Coffee Ground Leather
Week 1
The recipes are reference from https://fabtextiles.org/coffee-leather-bag/
Recipe #1
- 2g Sodium alginate
- 2g dried coffee ground powder
- 2g Olive oil
- 5g glycerin
- 33g water
How to:
- Weight all the ingredients with a precision scale.
- Mix the powder together with glycerin and olive oil.
- Add water and mix well to obtain an homogeneous solution.
- Cast in a acrylic sheet container.
- Let the composite sample dry in a dry and warm place for 1 week. (Depending on the thickness and the size of the sample it may take longer. It will also vary due to the local temperature and humidity.)
- When the product is dry, you can separate it from the container.
Recipe #2
- 2g Sodium alginate
- 4g dried coffee ground powder
- 2g Olive oil
- 5g glycerin
- 33g water
- 7g Calcium chloride* in 100ml of water
*As we cannot get the Calcium Chloride, we use casting powder as an alternative.
How to:
- Weight all the ingredients with a precision scale.
- Mix the powder together with glycerin and olive oil.
- Dissolve Calcium Chloride in water.
- Add water and the dissolved calcium chloride, mix well to obtain an homogeneous solution.
- Cast in a acrylic sheet container.
- Let the composite sample dry in a dry and warm place for 1 week. (Depending on the thickness and the size of the sample it may take longer. It will also vary due to the local temperature and humidity.)
- When the product is dry, you can separate it from the container.
Weight powder with a precision scale.
Weight glycerin and olive oil with a precision scale.
Mix the powder together with glycerin and olive oil.
Let the composite sample to dry for one week.
Week 2:
- Not dry yet, and got mouldy.
Next:
- repeat the experiment in a dry and cool place (not the wine cabinet!)
- Or add less water.