Bacterial Cellulose - Challenges and Decisions

Couple years ago I have started experimenting with the bacterial cellulose grown with kombucha SCOBY.

The main obstacle in the process always has been time.
The thin film starts forming on top of the water quite quickly. However, it takes a long while for the bacterial cellulose to grow thick. Note that during the drying period it looses over the half of its volume.

This bacterial cellulose was grown for 28 days. However, you can see how thin it was when dried. It was impossible to remove it from the surface without adding water.
On the bright side, the spirulina dye worked pretty well.

Production by the natural fermentation process strongly depends on many parameters, and it is difficult to ensure even structure, constant thickness and mechanical parameters.

To conclude, I think, for the moment, bacterial cellulose will be a side project. Considering the time limitations, I can not rely on this material at the present moment.
However, I can not wait to experiment further in the future.