Scoby Sculpture

Sculpture made with microbial cellulose. The cellulose is grown from Scoby (symbiotic colonies of bacteria and yeasts).

Growing the cellulose takes 1-3 weeks to grow in Kombucha tea brew. The time spent in the brew influences the thickness of the cellulose.

The fresh cellulose is visceral, moist and adheres easily. Building and layering is easy as each layer of cellulose sticks together.

As the cellulose dehydrates, striations and vein-like markings appear in the material. It drys and becomes taut, translucent, wrinkled and paper-thin. After several months the cellulose is leather-like.