Xylinum Lampshade

Kombucha is a fermented tea made by mixing brewed tea, sugar, a Kombucha started and a culture referred to as SCOBY (Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast), a mother, or inaccurately a mushroom. The SCOBY is a microbial biofilm-like mat composed of cellulose (bacterial cellulose). Bacterial cellulose is a potential material for sustainable, eco-friendly, fossil fuel free, and cruelty free fashion products.

The Xylinum Lamp Shade is one of my early attempts to make products with bacterial cellulose.

The supplies you need to make kombucha tea:

• Tea
• Sugar
• Water
• Kombucha starter
• SCOBY
• Kitchen scale
• A container to weight tea and sugar
• Spoon
• Large wooden spoon
• Stainless steel cooking pot
• Strainer (optional), needed only if you are using loose leaf tea.
• Stove
• Kitchen towels / paper
• Rubber bands

The supplies you need to make the shed's mold:

• Large plastic water bottles, 6 L and 18.9 L bottles
• Cuter
• Scissor

Finally you need the lamp for which you are creating this shed. I used an IKEA floor lamp.

Ingredients to grow a SCOBY:

• 4 L clean water
• 100 g white sugar
• 15 g green tea
• 400 ml kombucha (starter)
• SCOBY to be added after that the temperature drops under 30 degrees Celsius. Otherwise you will be killing the microorganism that will work together to form your pellicle.

Equipment:

• Kitchen scale
• Stainless steel clean pot
• Stove
• Strainer (optional) - if you are loosing loose leaf tea. Remember it's better for the environment.
• Spoon
• Wooden spoon
• 6 L and 18.9 L water plastic bottles (or any two different large size water plastic bottles)
• Cuter
• Scissor
• Kitchen towels or paper to cover the kombucha container
• Large rubber bands or rubber fabric to secure the cover to the kombucha container
• Lamp

Important note: fermented tea and SCOBY react to metals (experienced) use only glass, plastic, and stainless steel containers and utensils when dealing with either of them.

Cut through the plastic bottles with a cuter or scissor.You can reduce the length of the bottles' body as you need to fill only till the tip of the bottle touches your liquid. It will create a whole in the middle of your pellicle. 2 different chunks of SCOBY will grow inside and outside the mouth of the plastic bottle.

Instruction to grow a SCOBY:

1. Boil water in a clean stainless steel pot.
2. Remove pot from heat and dissolve sugar into water.
3. Add the tea and allow to steep while water cools to room temperature (a few hours) or better over night.
4. Only when water is at room temperature is it ready to work with.
5. Wash your water plastic bottle with soap, water and vinegar to disinfect it from any microorganism mainly mold that might attack your SCOBY
6. Pour the sweetened tea into your plastic water bottle containers
7. Pour store-bought kombucha.
8. If you have a SCOBY cut it in halves and add each to your containers. If you do not use more kombucha starter and make sure to add any junkies you might find at the bottom of your kombucha bottle.
9. Reverse the the bottle tops and reduce tea if necessary to only have the bottle mouth inserted in your solution.
10. Cover your container with kitchen towels or paper.
11. Secure it with a rubber band.
12. Set somewhere dark, still, and at room temperature, like a cupboard, for 1 to 4 weeks, until you are satisfied with the thickness of your SCOBY. Thickness controls the qualities of your final material (brittle plastic to malleable leather).
13. Don’t disturb your kombucha. You will see nothing in the beginning except maybe for a few bubbles, but one day a think layer will form.

1. Allow your SCOBY to dry on the top of the larger plastic bottle topside.
2. First insert the larger SCOBY then the smaller one.
3. After some time the bacterial cellulose will lose about 97% of its water, and its color will change to dark brown.
4. When the bacterial cellulose dries, take it off the plastic bottle.

Important notes:

• Do not over dry your SCOBY otherwise it will become thin and brittle.
• Do not let it dry in direct sun light.
• SCOBY will take the properties of the material on which you let it dry based on the SCOBY's thickness. These are things you learn by experimenting.
• If you want to dye the fabric, it's done before drying the piece.Use food colors or natural plants and vegetables like beet, berries, etc. The dyeing process is easy.

1. Unplug your lamp at the electrical outlet.
2. Unscrew the light bulb.
3. Take of the old lampshade.
4. Put the new lampshade in place and tighten the mounting screws to hold it in place.
5. Replace the bulb.
6. Turn on the light to test it. Et voila!