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Has anyone found out how the mycelium is treated after harvesting it? Does it need to be 'killed' before being used? Is the leather like texture embossed onto i

Has anyone found out how the mycelium is treated after harvesting it? Does it need to be 'killed' before being used? Is the leather like texture embossed onto it or are there mycelia that develop similar structures all by themselves? There do not seem to be any obvious drawbacks. Could it actually be that we discovered a new type of material for building things or clothing that had been overlooked so far?

jjeaff 5y ago
I don't know anything about this mushroom leather, bit I do know that a lot of real leather also has texture stamped onto it. Real, "full grain" leather (the only kind that includes the external surface layer of the hide, is rather smooth. You have to look pretty closely to see the texture, though you will see some imperfections like scars if they aren't sanded away in processing. Most of the pebble like texture or wrinkled texture you see on leather products is stamped.
ampdepolymerase 5y ago
Anything biodegradable (in the composting sense) almost always does not last long absent significant chemical treatment. If you think current faux-leather technology is a step down from the real thing, then mycelium based products will be even worse. There is an inherent trade-off between biodegradable and long lasting products. What we can do is make products that are recyclable. In other words, engineer materials to only break down with a specific brand of artificially engineered enzymes that are not found in the wild. Unfortunately we are still a couple years away in terms of proteomics advancement to be able to do de novo synthesis with such precision.
- rdlecler1 5y ago
  This is a false statement. Animal leather is also biodegradable. Durability of both comes from tanning.
  - ampdepolymerase 5y ago
    I did say with the caveat of chemical treatment.
    - ben_w 5y ago
      While true, you also said mushroom leather should be even worse than the real thing; I wouldn’t know for this specific product, but once you allow for chemical processing all bets on relative ranking are off.
robbedpeter 5y ago
https://bcgctest.files.wordpress.com/2018/03/gs_2017_mycoworks_finalreport.pdf https://bcgctest.files.wordpress.com/2018/03/gs_2017_mycowor... This has an interesting set of tanning processes, but it's funny how SEO saturated this topic is. There are some video results that are probably useful, but 99% of my searches are turning up commercial garbage, and nothing to do with actually making mushroom leather. Iirc from a podcast, sodium carbonate is used to soak amadou mushrooms for a felt-like material, which Paul Stamets uses for his hat. You'll probably need to learn the jargon and terms of art specifying the exact types of mushroom fabrics and materials that can be produced. Good luck!
- _Microft 5y ago
  Good find, thanks!
rdlecler1 5y ago
We’re an investor in MycoWorks. The mycelium (root structure) is killed in the process. It can then be tanned as you would tan normal leather. MycoWorks is working with Hermes which tans the leather in their own tanneries. Animal leather is also embossed actually and they emboss the mycelium leather the same way. It’s an incredible fabric that looks and feels like animal leather, but it can also be grown thicker and to shape. It’s very versatile. An incredible product.
- _Microft 5y ago
  Thanks for your answers! Maybe you could answer this one as well? The size of the mushroom material is most likely only limited by the size of the vessel that the fungus is grown inside, isn't it? That is, it becomes possible to produce larger pieces than they could be made from animal skins/hides?
  - 55555 5y ago
    Indeed. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/strange-but-true-largest-organism-is-fungus/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/strange-but-true-...
- causi 5y ago
  That's quite fascinating. Are any products making use of this aspect available? A form-fitting leather phone skin would be quite luxurious I imagine.
- Mumps 5y ago
  Thanks for chiming in! Tanning, historically, is quite a chemical-rich and polluting process. Is the tanning process similar for myco leather?

jjeaff 5y ago

I don't know anything about this mushroom leather, bit I do know that a lot of real leather also has texture stamped onto it. Real, "full grain" leather (the only kind that includes the external surface layer of the hide, is rather smooth. You have to look pretty closely to see the texture, though you will see some imperfections like scars if they aren't sanded away in processing. Most of the pebble like texture or wrinkled texture you see on leather products is stamped.

ampdepolymerase 5y ago

Anything biodegradable (in the composting sense) almost always does not last long absent significant chemical treatment. If you think current faux-leather technology is a step down from the real thing, then mycelium based products will be even worse. There is an inherent trade-off between biodegradable and long lasting products. What we can do is make products that are recyclable. In other words, engineer materials to only break down with a specific brand of artificially engineered enzymes that are not found in the wild. Unfortunately we are still a couple years away in terms of proteomics advancement to be able to do de novo synthesis with such precision.

rdlecler1 5y ago
This is a false statement. Animal leather is also biodegradable. Durability of both comes from tanning.
- ampdepolymerase 5y ago
  I did say with the caveat of chemical treatment.
  - ben_w 5y ago
    While true, you also said mushroom leather should be even worse than the real thing; I wouldn’t know for this specific product, but once you allow for chemical processing all bets on relative ranking are off.

robbedpeter 5y ago

https://bcgctest.files.wordpress.com/2018/03/gs_2017_mycoworks_finalreport.pdf https://bcgctest.files.wordpress.com/2018/03/gs_2017_mycowor... This has an interesting set of tanning processes, but it's funny how SEO saturated this topic is. There are some video results that are probably useful, but 99% of my searches are turning up commercial garbage, and nothing to do with actually making mushroom leather. Iirc from a podcast, sodium carbonate is used to soak amadou mushrooms for a felt-like material, which Paul Stamets uses for his hat. You'll probably need to learn the jargon and terms of art specifying the exact types of mushroom fabrics and materials that can be produced. Good luck!

_Microft 5y ago
Good find, thanks!

rdlecler1 5y ago

We’re an investor in MycoWorks. The mycelium (root structure) is killed in the process. It can then be tanned as you would tan normal leather. MycoWorks is working with Hermes which tans the leather in their own tanneries. Animal leather is also embossed actually and they emboss the mycelium leather the same way. It’s an incredible fabric that looks and feels like animal leather, but it can also be grown thicker and to shape. It’s very versatile. An incredible product.

_Microft 5y ago
Thanks for your answers! Maybe you could answer this one as well? The size of the mushroom material is most likely only limited by the size of the vessel that the fungus is grown inside, isn't it? That is, it becomes possible to produce larger pieces than they could be made from animal skins/hides?
- 55555 5y ago
  Indeed. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/strange-but-true-largest-organism-is-fungus/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/strange-but-true-...
causi 5y ago
That's quite fascinating. Are any products making use of this aspect available? A form-fitting leather phone skin would be quite luxurious I imagine.
Mumps 5y ago
Thanks for chiming in! Tanning, historically, is quite a chemical-rich and polluting process. Is the tanning process similar for myco leather?