Tea Art

I'm sure most of my loyal readers (all, what, three of you?? Seriously, people, comment!) will wonder what I mean by "Tea Art."

This is something that my best friend Andy figured out. She came over for tea one day, and while I was spooning the tea into the teabags, she thought, "Wow, these teas not only smell good, but they're BEAUTIFUL to look at too!"

So many of the teas that you get from tea bags look like ... well, like dried oregano. Sort of a greyish-greenish colour, chopped up into little pieces, and very "BLEH" looking.

But the tea that David's Tea sells, if you look at the pictures of the tea itself, they're very beautiful. That's why I always post a picture of the tea leaves in my posts. Because not only do they TASTE good, they look good too! If it's a fruit tea, there's actually chunks of the fruit in there, not just "flavouring." When you order a berry tea, it's not "berry-infused leaves" or "artificial berry flavour added" (though there MAY be some of that), but you get actual, honest-to-goodness BERRIES in your tea. There are some teas that you don't even need to put in the steeper, because you can EAT THE TEA!! (I think Forever Nuts is one of those...)

I digress.

So, Andy was walking around a craft store one day when she found some picture frames on sale. These were "recessed" picture frames - the kind where there's a space between the picture and the glass, with a 3D mat. She had a brainwave. Combine the frame with some tea and spray glue, and you've got beautiful art!

I know it seems slightly sacrilegious to put glue over something that is perfectly drinkable. But.... it's PRETTY! And you really only need about twenty-five grams of the tea, which is enough for art, plus a cup to drink.

(These are two of Andy's Tea Arts - Pom Power and Vanilla Oolong)

I went to the same craft store, bought the same frames (although I didn't get mine on sale. Boo!), and brought over some of my tea, and we made tea into art. When we were finished, we drank tea, of course.

The trick with doing this kind of art is making sure you don't use TOO MUCH glue. It makes your art look very tacky if you use too much. If you're particularly sensitive to spray adhesives, you might want to wear a dust mask, or do this outside (though NOT on a windy day!!).

So, here's the "Recipe" for tea art:
1) Buy yourself a frame that can enable three-dimensional art. Also invest in spray glue and tea.
2) Cover the table with newspaper.
3) Take the frame apart into its components - the back piece, the mat, and the frame
4) Make a "template" for the spray glue. Basically, take an 8.5x11" piece of scrap paper (cardboard would work too), put the mat in the centre, and mark VERY LIGHTLY with a pencil around the INSIDE of the mat.
5) Cut the square you've marked out of the middle of the 8.5x11 paper.
6) Take the back of the picture (you know, the paper with the picture that comes with the frame, boldly proclaiming "your picture here" or somesuch. Mine had Gerber Daisies...), and turn it over so the white side is up.
7) Align the template with where the picture is (you may have to hold it up to the light), and place on newspaper-covered table.
8) Spray on a light layer of adhesive.
9) Take off the template, and put the mat around the area where the spray glue was (it should fit neatly over the area).
10) Put a layer of tea on the glue.
11) LIGHTLY spray the tea with glue
12) Add another layer of tea.
13) Lightly spray the tea with glue.

If it is looking a little sparse at this point, you MAY get away with a third layer of tea. It depends on what kind of tea you're using, and how strong the glue is. But trust me, when I say lightly, I do mean LIGHTLY. I used too much glue on mine, and it looks kinda dumb if you look at it too closely. *pouty face*

When the glue has dried (about 15-20 minutes), put the art in the frames, and VOILÀ! Tea art to hang on your wall!

(For those wondering, I used Jessie's Tea, Kiss my Lips, Glitter and Gold, and Pom Power.)