SUP

@327fed Hmm, scientist myself. I doubt that it is balderdash. Far too much evidence for it to be so. Global warming does not mean that it suddenly becomes very hot. It is a far more complex issue. Looking at isolated bits will not give the whole picture. As I said earlier, rather than the fact that changes are happening, it is the speed at which it is happening that is of concern. But then, people have always been resistant to change and new ideas. This thread, after all, started with mycelium leather and here we are, discussing climate change - in both subjects, many not really wanting to accept new ideas. Mycelium leather might become very popular or perish as some fad and it will not affect us much. Global warming denial however, can have far reaching consequences.

@Nicbards That is just beautiful!. You say you have experience using cod liver oil. Do you have any leather that was treated with it from a while ago? Maybe we could add your experience to the knowledge in this thread. We are all trying to contribute our experiences as well as doing that experiment. The more people that contribute, the more the information available here. Cod liver oil is expensive though. @Northmount if you could get the Instagram photographs visible here, everyone could see them, over time. Thank you.

I think that the main issue is the speed at which climate change is happening. Through the millions of years there have been very hot and very cold periods but they came on much slower, so everything adapted gradually, This time, it is very swift on the geological scale because we have contributed to it. If we look at the larger picture, we are a part of nature as well, like the dinosaurs were. But we do not like what is happening and it can cause us trouble. That is why all the concern.

@Nicbards I'm not on Instagram. Do you have it anywhere else?

@Nicbards Yes, we missed that. But then, I don't know if anyone here uses it now. did not know it oxidized into the leather. That would make it a very good conditioner. I will see if I can get some, though the smell really gets to me.

That the earth is warming up is true. We can see the results. Surely no one can think that all the climatic changes, the increasing number of natural disasters happening the world over are planted in the media, as a massive conspiracy.! And it is happening because of human actions. There are records and geological evidence other than ice cores that indicate changing climate patterns, going back further than 800,000 years. There are ways to determine time scales. But that does not mean that global warming is not causing serious harm. After all, all through these millions of years there were no humans to destroy everything in their path - that is what we do, sadly. So we really cannot apply what has happened over the millennia to what is happening now, other than to compare, like the scientists are doing now, and realize that this is unprecedented. And not everything is a conspiracy @chuck123wapati. No one makes up so much stuff just to get a salary - other than the section of the media that make everything into a conspiracy. It's all very well to bury one's head in the sand, when one is living in areas which will be the last to be excessively affected by climate changes, like we do. For people in places like the Maldives, for example, who face loss of their entire country, it is reality. Bangladesh faces loss of lands as does India and many other parts of the world. The US coastline too, for that matter, is threatened. @kgg You are right. Scientists see changes happening and literally bumble around, trying to find the cause. They are often mistaken and then work their way to determining the actual causes - it could take years or decades, but they are at least trying. It happens all the time. Hardly. People have been speaking about their own preferences and what they themselves would use - personal choice - not what others should use.

@chuck123wapati Yes. The one thing we humans should not forget, for all our arrogance, is that we are animals too. We are as dispensable as the dinosaurs and other now extinct life forms. The earth will recover from most of our idiocy; humans, probably not. In fact, I often think the earth and its flora and fauna would be better off if we were all extinct. @Sheilajeanne I have moved around so much, I do not have the advantage of seeing the world change as time passes. I wish I did. What a sense of continuity that must be - you have seen what was before, you see what is, now, and can pass that to those coming in. @purplefox LOL. Most of us are in that camp! @Sheilajeanne I agree about Chinese food. I think most food, when shared with other communities and cultures, is modified to suit those tastes.

@Sheilajeanne I grew up in Mumbai, India. My family was very strictly vegetarian, which meant dairy but no eggs. Our meals were always very structured, as are most Indian meals - vegetables, lentils/pulses, rice/chapati and curds/milk at every meal - everything always freshly made. Desserts rarely, except for fruit. These essentially covered all the nutrient requirements. But then, I realized I was allergic to milk - so I became truly vegan while everyone else continued to be vegetarian. My mother cooked more greens, beans etc. to ensure I had sufficient Calcium growing up. My mother and I had meats rarely, maybe once every few months. We couldn't eat more even if we wanted to do so - didn't feel like it. This diet is what my doctor is enamoured of. For vegetarians, we made our curds at home, It was always live cultures - so great for the digestion as well. Indians have not much talked about their own food all these years. What is available everywhere as Indian food like butter chicken and lassi with lots of ghee and butter, is mostly the food eaten by North Indian farmers - they needed those calories in the past, but no one needs them now! Anyway, that is not what people eat day to day. Rather like no one lives off barbecue and lobster daily. I know there are protected parks here as well. I hope they continue to be protected. Keeping my fingers crossed that no politician finds that protected lands have oils or other valuables to dig for. Sometimes I wonder at people. I just read an article where some people are thinking of not killing the mycelia completely while making mycelium leather so that it can '"heal itself" if damaged. So they think the mycelia will obey and grow only when directed and otherwise remain dormant. Even if they found a way, I'm not sure I would want to use leather than can come alive. That's just me though.

@Sheilajeanne you are so right. Vegans have not really thought so far, have they? Most just talk a lot about things that sound good to them. I don't think most of them wonder whether what they want is plausible. Living off the land is what more and more people seem to want to do. Earth ships, for example. Not surprising. After a while, all this materialism is tiring. Hopefully those who do go back, will not destroy the original flora and fauna in the process. Sometimes, clueless well-meaning people do more harm than good. And preserving the original lands.. I wish I could see that. Here, there is a lot of greenery but very little is the original vegetation. There surely are tracts of untouched lands all over the country. I hope they remain hidden and safe and are preserved. Our descendants deserve to see as you say, what a healthy, untouched landscape really looks like. Veganism is not easy to do just off the bat or by reading about it online. I know so many vegans with terrible health problems because of their diet. They seem to do very little that is right, long term. I lived my entire childhood and youth as a vegan and did not even know until I came to the US. But our diet was developed over centuries and is well balanced - all the proteins, carbs, minerals etc. included in the balanced meals. Of course, my doctor is delighted and suggested I go back to it.. She took down all the information carefully and is probably encouraging others to eat similarly. She is right. I am much more active and alert since going back to it, for the most part. I cannot resist a good barbecue (learnt to like when living in the mid-west) or burger once in a while though.

@RockRash that is not a mess! That is neat and clean! Your sleigh bell straps look great; the scrap one too. The holly leaves look fine, they look natural.

Considering the stuff that has been passing under the heading of 'vegan' leather, I'm not surprised people are skeptical. A bit of skepticism is good, especially when playing around with fungi. If that makes people who question, modern day 'Luddites' so be it. This is similar to turkey 'bacon' and veggie 'burgers' - taste fine in their place but not as replacements; as other options? Certainly.

@Handstitched or "Vegther"? "Vether"? So one needs to know "whether someone is talking about weather or vether"... Mycelium leather - I wonder if anyone here has tried to make any. I read people make it at home.

Don't know about 'well-meaning'. It is a question of what vegans expect people to do with fresh animal skins; not the reason why most people use leather, I'm pretty sure. It would be a silly reason anyway. Besides, if vegans object to using skin as leather, will they not object to its use in any other way as well? Unless it continues in its original use? If people really stop using leather, if skins from fresh kills are not preserved, they putrefy... go back to the land...yes. But somehow, to me, if we make the animal sacrifice its life for food, I think it is right to use as much of it as we can. As @chuck123wapati says, all of the animal may not be used all the time, but as much as possible? Yes it should. @Handstitched that's the spirit! Anyway, all this is moot. Vegans can shout until they are blue in the face but does anyone really think people will ever stop using leather? While chomping their way through what is inside that leather before it becomes leather? What you say, @nstarleather is true. All vegan leather up to now is just plastic with fancy names. This could be something different.

@grep You are probably right about that. I don't personally care about killing fungi for their mycelia but I do care about killing animals for food and then discarding other parts, unused.

@grep you are right but it is still a simulant and I hope it is labeled as such. Calling it 'skin' and 'leather' is still misleading, no matter, what the reason. Finally, it hardly makes sense to me to come up with alternatives when the original is always going to be produced in huge quantities as a by-product of the food industry. What is to happen to that? Landfills?

@Littlef you're welcome! @Hags your only hope of getting your hands on this, is to get one yourself.

@CJJ They measure up to 2 inches. What is the maximum width you would like to set on the strap cutter? I've not yet used one.

@Littlef you can get it on Temu...less than 1.5 dollars. They call it "Multilateral Aluminium ruler".

This is one of my favorite new tools. Used by quilters I believe.

@fredk @zuludog when you stop to think of it, what you both say makes perfect sense but I think most people today do not think behind the reasons of why something was practical. We just say, "Oh! Olden times they did not have metal buckets, so they used leather... inefficient" when actually, it is just the opposite in those circumstances. @zuludog the same with the boots. Thank you both for sharing your knowledge.

Wow! I didn't know that. I just put up what was in the description of the bucket. So this could be vintage rather than antique.

I saw this online and thought I should mention it here - a leather bucket used to carry water to fight fires. I believe it is 9 inches in diameter and 15 inches tall.

I can never understand people who don't want to use leather. I don't see them telling people not to eat beef or other meats; I know people who only use 'vegan leather' but who eat meats! Besides, expecting the world to stop eating meats is a pipe dream. My take is that as long as people eat the insides of an animal, I am using the outsides - making best use of the animal's involuntary sacrifice. When I say that, the vegan warriors usually shut up. LOL Besides, I wonder about mycelium leather - if not properly treated, will there be spores left behind? If so, if the leather gets wet or even in humid weather, will there be mushrooms sprouting on handbags and watch straps? New fashion statement perhaps?

That is very informative. Learning from classes and tutorials is not half as informative because we learn the theory and method but actually just watching someone carve in this way, I learnt a lot more. Thank you.

This post is for 29th oct 2023 when I checked the leather but delayed putting it up here. Not much change in any of the pieces anywhere. The only thing becoming more noticeable is that all the oiled pieces kept outside, constantly exposed to the elements, have darkened, to more or less the same extent now. The unoiled piece is very pale compared to the oiled pieces. Texture remains the same. This week is cold and below freezing. Let's see how that makes a difference.