Tea Bags In Art Making

I was asked how I use tea bags (one of my favourite things these days), and thought I would answer that here. The above image is the paper from a used tea bag that I dried out, dumped out the tea, and ironed it flat. I then stamped on it with permanant ink, and used drops of ink from non permanant ink pad refillers to add a bit more subtle colour. I then coated it with a layer of matte medium.... and then it was ready for use - on a card, for a decorative page in a book etc.

The cover of this book was made from a page out of an old book that I put a bit of gesso on, and then I layed a few tea bag paper down on the cover and glued it in place with matte medium. I then stamped with permanant ink on top of that, and covered the whole thing with Dorlands Wax. (oh yah I added some very rustic embroidery to it as well)

Inside the book the first page is a tea bag decorated using the method I talked about with the first picture. It is quite sturdy once it is coated with matte medium.

And Lastly here are a few cards I made by stamping and inking and adding a bit of paint to used tea bag paper.

A few of the people that I work with now help me out by giving me their used tea bags.... it sounds kinda crazy, but I love it.