How Tea-Printed Art Is Made | Teascarf Brooklyn
Every scarf begins the same way: tea, paper, and time. Watch the process, start to finish.
It starts by steeping tea in bags and arranging them to dry on paper to create patterns. An absorbent pad under the paper helps draw the water from the teabags, leaving tea and color deposited on the paper surface.
The paper dries slowly. The colors are ephemeral and fragile. I press the design with a hot iron to flatten the warped paper and intensify the pattern, then photograph it before it begins to fade. I never add coloring or dye; it removes some of the beautiful subtlety from the print.
A digital acid printing process transfers the designs to natural fibers like silk or wool. The fabric is pre-coated with a solution that prevents the dye from dispersing, then the acid dyes permanently bond to the fibers on a molecular level, creating deep, rich colors.
Advanced printing technology makes it possible to print mirror images simultaneously on the front and back of the heavy silk-wool blend I use for the scarves. Once printed and washed to remove the coating, the fabric is cut to size and finished by hand with a rolled hem.
Each scarf and pillow cover is neatly folded and gift-packaged individually in an organza silk drawstring pouch for delivery.
