Shortlist
Recipes that flex around what you have.
Filter by time, group and setting. Difficulty tags tell you how much prep is involved.
48 recipes
Gelatine bioplastic
A cast flexible film made by dissolving gelatine with water and a plasticiser, then drying on a flat non-stick surface. Supports optional fillers, pigments and foraged powders without losing clarity.
Agar bioplastic
A vegan alternative to gelatine, using agar agar as the film-former. Sets firmly on cooling and dries to a tough sheet. Well-suited to foraged fillers.
Starch bioplastic
The classic kitchen bioplastic: starch, water, vinegar and glycerine, cooked to a clear gel and poured thin.
Pectin bioplastic
Extracts pectin from peel and pulp, then gels into a firm, glass-like sheet. Naturally slightly coloured by the fruit.
Alginate film
A quick-setting sheet made by pouring alginate solution and spraying with a calcium salt to set it on contact.
Casein plastic (milk plastic)
Heat milk, curdle with vinegar, drain, and press the curds. Dries into a dense, bone-hard plastic like early 1900s Galalith.
Chitosan film
Transparent antimicrobial film from shellfish shells dissolved in weak acid. A more advanced process but entirely home-feasible.
Salt dough
Flour, salt and water kneaded into a dough, baked until hard. Forage adds texture, colour and smell.
Cornstarch clay (cold porcelain)
A smooth, white, air-drying modelling clay made by cooking cornstarch with white glue, oil and lemon juice.
Paper clay
A putty made from pulped paper and a starch paste. Dries to a lightweight, carveable solid.
Peel clay
Fruit peel blitzed with a binder into a sculptable putty. Each fruit gives a different tone and scent.
Sawdust dough
A fragrant wood-scented dough bound with flour paste. Prints the grain of whatever surface you press it into.
Earth clay (from dug soil)
Clay panned from your own garden or a building site. Purified, rested and ready to model.
Cob (earth, sand, straw)
A traditional building material mixed from clay-rich soil, sharp sand and straw. Scaled down for small objects and garden ornaments.
Acorn dough
An acorn flour dough, leached of tannin, bound with flour. Produces a pale buff material with a warm toasted smell.
Kombucha (SCOBY) leather
A pellicle of bacterial cellulose grown in sweet tea, then rinsed, flattened and slowly dried into a thin leather.
Coffee leather
Coffee grounds bound with gelatine or agar, cast thin and dried slowly into a pliable sheet.
Fruit leather sheet
Fruit pulp dried slowly into a flexible edible or non-edible sheet. With pectin it turns glossy and firm; without, soft and supple.
Apple pomace leather
The leftover pulp from apple juicing pressed and dried into a thick, warm sheet.
Banana peel leather
Ripe banana peel blitzed, strained, seasoned with glycerine and dried slowly.
Tannin-and-iron ink
The classic iron gall ink. Tannins meet iron salts and darken to a deep grey-black that oxidises further with time.
Berry ink
A simple drawing ink from berries, vinegar and salt. Beautiful but rarely lightfast.
Soot ink
A black carbon ink from soot or fine charcoal, bound with gum arabic or flour paste.
Charcoal drawing sticks
Thin willow twigs cooked slowly in a sealed tin until they become charcoal.
Onion skin dye
One of the reliable household dyes. Brown onion skins give golden tones on wool and cotton.
Avocado skin dye
A soft rose-pink from avocado skin and stone. Surprising to first-timers.
Red cabbage pH dye
A pH-sensitive dye that shifts from pink to blue to green as acid or alkali are added.
Bark and hull tannin dye
A brown-spectrum dye from bark, walnut husk, or acorns. Naturally self-mordanting thanks to its tannin load.
Flour paste
Plain flour whisked into cold water then cooked to a smooth paste. Used for papering and gentle bonding.
Wheat-starch paste (bookbinder's)
A finer, clearer paste for conservation, bookbinding, and fine papercraft. Made from wheat starch only, not flour.
Casein milk glue
Curdled milk mixed with baking soda becomes a strong, water-resistant glue, traditionally used on furniture.
Sticky rice glue
An Asian traditional glue made by cooking glutinous rice until it yields a translucent starchy paste.
Pine resin adhesive
A hot-melt adhesive from pine resin, beeswax and a dark filler. Traditional for tool-handles, fletching and canoe seams.
Eggshell composite tile
Finely ground eggshell cast into a binder to make a smooth, marble-like tile.
Shell aggregate (coastal composite)
Mussel, oyster or cuttlefish shell crushed and mixed into a binder for a speckled, sea-scented panel.
Sawdust / coffee puck
A dense wood-like puck made from fine powder pressed with a hot binder. Close to pressed MDF but compostable.
Paper pulp brick
Recycled paper pulp pressed into moulds and dried into lightweight bricks or boards. A home insulation or craft base.
Leaf-mulch board
Autumn leaves blitzed with a binder and pressed into a soft, fibrous board.
Nutshell composite
Ground nutshell (walnut or hazel) pressed with a starch binder. Tough, dense, subtly marbled.
Beeswax polish
A soft wax polish for wood, dried bioplastics and leather. Rubs on warm, buffs to a gentle sheen.
Soy wax finish
A vegan counterpart to beeswax polish. Lower melting point and milder scent.
Milk paint
A traditional paint of curds, lime and pigment. Matte, deep, fully natural.
Egg tempera
A medieval paint of egg yolk and pigment. Dries quickly, fine detail, long-lived.
Linseed oil finish
A drying oil finish that polymerises on exposure to air, producing a tough, water-resistant film on wood and some bioplastics.
Recycled hand-made paper
Waste paper pulped and set in a deckle to make fresh sheets. Absorbent, deckle-edged, suitable for printing and drawing.
Plant fibre paper
Paper made from retted plant stems. Stronger and more textured than recycled paper.
Mycelium composite (home-scale)
Mushroom mycelium (from a grow kit) binds sawdust, hemp or straw into a solid, plastic-free shape after a week or so of growth.
SCOBY growing kit
Grow your own SCOBY to use for R016 leather. Sweet black tea, a starter culture, warmth and time.