What is Mycelium Leather? Does it exist?

[Bert03241]

On 11/13/2023 at 1:15 PM, SUP said:

@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. 

If its made from mushrooms can we eat our rejects 

[Handstitched]

6 hours ago, Bert03241 said:

If its made from mushrooms can we eat our rejects

A Beef Stroganoff springs to mind 

HS

[bladegrinder]

7 hours ago, Bert03241 said:

If its made from mushrooms can we eat our rejects 

That's what I'm wandering, sounds like fruit roll ups which are also called fruit leather. personally I don't get this whole thing, i mean I get the question but none of it makes any sense to me.

I'll just be sticking with time proven cow hide and not entertain the idea of mushroom roll ups.

[SUP]

@Bert03241 LOL. With all the scraps we accumulate, who would not want a leather, the scraps of which we can throw into a pot for dinner?

[Aventurine]

It does exist.  It is expensive and almost impossible to obtain unless you are a design house buying it wholesale.  It is naturally weak but strengthened by treating it with lactic acid derivatives or impregnating it with polyurethane, so in the end it is a rather highly processed product, and depending on how it is dyed it is not necessarily environmentally friendly. 
https://www.mycoworks.com/products.
https://mylo-unleather.com/impact/

Another kind of "leather" is amadou, an entirely natural and lusciously suede-like mycelial material traditionally made from horse hoof fungus.  I got a piece large enough to bind a book with, and I mean to use the other piece to line a jewelry box.  Fly fishers use tiny bits of amadou to wrap their flies because it dries the fly and hook rapidly and imparts a natural odor that won't alarm the trout. Black powder aficionados and traditional survivalists use it as a tinder.

Unfortunately, amadou is not tough enough for anything that must bear weight, like a tote bag, or resist stretching, like a belt, or withstand friction, damp, and pressure, like shoes.  I am pretty sure it could be made tougher through treatment with natural or lightly processed chemicals, and I mean to fool with it some time to see if I can improve it.  But because it takes 100 years to get a fungus big enough to provide enough leather to make a shoe, it isn't environmentally sustainable by any stretch of the imagination.
https://medium.com/@istvan.daraban/the-worlds-last-amadou-makers-korond-iii-9694114ffa4a
https://www.slowtours.travel/shop/amadou/amadou-hat/

Amadou makes a nice hat.  Mycologist Paul Stammets wears one (pictured below).

Final note, I love and respect everyone who wishes the world contained less suffering than it has and apparently must have. Leather is an innately brutal thing. We use it out of concession to the innately brutal business of living in this world and seek to make the best of it.   Some people take comfort in the idea that this is what their god intends (as if any scripture laid out modern corporate agriculture and industrial slaughter?) or what Nature intends (as if Nature were a sentient thing with intentions, toward us in particular?) but not everyone shares those sentiments, or ought to.  

If there are better alternatives some day -- truly better, more ethical, more environmentally sustainable, scalable to human population, and involving less animal suffering -- not just more comfortable for squeamish or frivolously sentimental people -- we ought to embrace them.  And I admire people who, however imperfectly or immaturely, struggle toward doing less harm in this life.  I certainly admire them more than I admire people who  simply equate the conventional with the good. 

  

Edited July 17, 2024 by Aventurine

[SUP]

 

On 7/17/2024 at 2:33 PM, Aventurine said:

It is naturally weak but strengthened by treating it with lactic acid derivatives or impregnating it with polyurethane, so in the end it is a rather highly processed product, and depending on how it is dyed it is not necessarily environmentally friendly. 

@alfordjennifer producing raw mycelium leather might be environmentally friendly but if the process of making it ready for the market requires treatments that utilize synthetics like PU, it is hardly remains environmentally friendly, isn't it?.

Besides,  sustainable choices, are sustainable only when there actually are useful alternatives uses for what they are replacing, is it not? What would be the alternative use of the animal skins produced by the beef industry?  

Instead of people the world over trying to come up with replacements for leather, if they worked to come up with ways of being more humane when slaughtering animals for food, it would be so much better. Ways to decrease their fear, for example. It is so sad, you can actually smell the fear.  I have passed areas where there are abattoirs close by and passed trucks carrying animals for slaughter and you can smell that fear. 

I can't help feeling that mycelium leather fits into the same category as google glasses, self driving cars and other 'nice to have' items that are actually not practical at all. A waste of money that could have been used for things that are actually useful!

 Sorry! that is the pre-coffee me, so grumpy. @alfordjennifer no offense intended.

 

Edited July 27, 2024 by SUP

[Mablung]

God gave us animals for food and their skins for clothing (and, of course, other uses, like knife sheaths and shoes). Animals should be slaughtered humanely, although it is always a messy process, unavoidably so, but there’s also no ethical need to replace animal skins with something else. Mycelium “leather” strikes me as an interesting experiment at best, a needless and discourteous attempt to replace what God has given at worst. Personally, I see no need to wear a mushroom cap on my head. More power to those who want to try, but it is ironic (not to mention a touch hypocritical) if it requires ecologically unfriendly means and methods to produce. 

Edited July 27, 2024 by Mablung

[AlZilla]

2 hours ago, alfordjennifer said:

Absolutely! Mycelium leather is an innovative and sustainable alternative to traditional animal leather. It's made from the root structure of mushrooms and offers several benefits. It's eco-friendly, as it requires fewer resources to produce and is biodegradable. Mycelium leather is also surprisingly durable, lightweight, and flexible, making it a great choice for a variety of applications. While it may not have the same long history as animal leather, it holds up well in terms of quality and performance, and its environmental benefits make it a compelling option for those looking to make more sustainable choices.

Maybe in your 2nd post, you'll share with us some pictures of the projects you've made with this mushroom leather.

[Aventurine]

God didn't give us mushrooms  ?

I look at mycelial leather like the first attempts at any other commercial material -- like rubber, or light bulb filaments, or rayon.  Bound to fall short at first, but that doesn't mean they won't be great in the long run.  The way the current marketing of mycelial leather far exceeds its real virtues makes me roll my eyes though.

 

Edited July 28, 2024 by Aventurine

[Mablung]

18 hours ago, Aventurine said:

God didn't give us mushrooms  ?

I look at mycelial leather like the first attempts at any other commercial material -- like rubber, or light bulb filaments, or rayon.  Bound to fall short at first, but that doesn't mean they won't be great in the long run.  The way the current marketing of mycelial leather far exceeds its real virtues makes me roll my eyes though.

 

Course He did. But the objection to leather is, generally, an ethical one that lacks basis. The fact God also gave us mushrooms is a red herring in that respect.