Tea Dye

I love using old books for my collage fodder, and the older and more yellow/tan it looks, the better. However, it is usually pretty hard to find books like that around here. Usually if I just paint over the paper pieces it doesn't really matter, but once in a while I want the old paper pieces to show. So what do I do. Well, I could buy Distress Ink and/or Stain. But to be honest I don't like the result much, and the price is not for my budget either. So instead, why not use tea. Plain and simple tea.

There are so many different instructions for tea dye to be found online and it can get really frustrating when you try out several ways and nothing works. So I decided I would share with you a true and tried version of the instructions.

The tea I use is just plain tea. I believe the brand is Medova, but you probably can not get that in the US as it is a European brand. It is similar to a breakfast tea. So just choose a regular plain black tea. Add a couple of cups of water to a small pot and add 3-4 tea bags. Or brew the way you normally do. Let the tea steep for a couple of hours while the tea water cools. Leave the tea bags in the water.

Use book pages that are slightly porous, it will help the tea get absorbed into the paper.



If you can, I suggest you stand outside. If not, then maybe add some paper towels to a baking pan so you do not get tea all over your table/desk. I stood outside with mine and used my composter as a table. I took a couple pieces of paper towel and put the paper I wanted to dye on top of the paper towels.



I then took the tea bag and used it as a sponge to "paint" the tea onto the paper. I then hung the paper on my clothes line with a couple of clothes pins. If you wait just a few minutes and let the tea sit a little in puddles on you paper before hanging it, you can achieve some cool color looks on your paper.
Hang your paper. Let it dry, and then repeat until you get the darkness of tea stain that you like.



On this piece of paper I painted with tea three times. I think it turned out very nice and it looks almost like really old book pages.



As you can see in this picture I left a small puddle to soak before hanging it and it turned out like an old water stain. Just what I was looking for.

I suggested above to stay outside doing this as it will get messy. You should probably also wear gloves as it will stain your fingers really badly. And of course being outside you can easily hang the papers on a clothes line. It will drip so don't hang the paper indoors.

When I did these paper the other day it started out really nicely with about 90F degrees and no wind. By the time I was done the wind had picked up badly and I was having a really hard time working with papers outdoors. I am sure the neighbors had fun watching me.

I did try out various techniques before I decided this one was the best. Like dipping the paper in a pan of tea. It could work, but when I took the paper from the pan, the tea either rolled right off the paper, or the paper had become too saturated and fell to pieces. I also tried adding tea to a fingertip sprayer and sprayed the paper while it was hanging. I could not saturate it enough to actually leave any color in the paper.

You can also use this technique to add a little age to some ribbons and string. Take the ribbon you want to dye and crumble it in your hand then dip into the tea. Make sure you saturate it plenty, then hang it on the clothes line while still crumbled. Do not straighten the ribbon. When it is crumbled you will achieve more color in some areas than in others and it will look just like something you pulled out of Granny's attic.

DISCLAIMER: Tea stains! I am not to be held reliable for any stains on tile, clothing, or any other places you didn't want it.

Have fun!