Kraft-Tex — an innovative and fascinating material

Let me introduce the new material I’ve been experimenting with: Kraft-Tex from C&T Publishing *.
It’s made of 57% #cellulose, 33% #latex, and 10% “other” ingredients (the exact formula is, of course, secret), including dyes and water.
It’s designed to be eco-friendly, vegan, durable, and recyclable… quite a promise!

It’s basically a kind of super-strong paper (the word “kraft” means “strength” in German) that can be washed, tumble-dried, ironed, sewn, dyed, painted, punched, or embossed… and that gradually develops a texture and feel similar to leather as it’s washed and used.
Of course, it won’t ever feel exactly like real leather, but I still prefer it to Piñatex (and always to imitation leather, which I use reluctantly)…

It’s available dyed or undyed, prewashed or not, depending on what you plan to use it for.
→ Unwashed, it’s as stiff as thin cardboard (think heavy Canson paper, but smoother and even firmer) — perfect for giving structure to accessories like wallets, or even for the body of a bag, provided you don’t mind its smooth surface.
→ Washed, with its leather-like appearance, it’s ideal for outer use. In fact, it was originally developed for making jeans labels…

Here are a few more pictures: after two washes and tumble-drying, it’s ready to be sewn and already being incorporated into a new bag design that you’ll discover soon!
I’ve also been using it as internal structure for new products coming to the shop (just waiting on some zippers to finish them!) :)

Have you ever heard of this “washable paper”? Do you like it or not?

[*: Other brands make similar versions with slightly different compositions — there’s even apparently a French one made of 50% cellulose and 50% latex, but I haven’t been able to test it yet, so I don’t know if it has exactly the same properties.]

#craft #handmade #madeinfrance #madeinloire #krafttex #ecopell