Tea Dying

Posted by Mary Welling-Bonney Dec 11, 2007

What we refer to as tea dye is actually deceiving. It implies that we use tea and that is not always the case. There are a number of methods used to tea dye. None are wrong or right they just give different results. If you find yourself with some time on your hands and a project in mind, you may want to experiment with different ingredients and methods to get your desired results.

You can dye with tea. It can be instant, loose or tea bags. I don't care for the perfect look. That is just my preference. If something is aged it isn't apt to have aged in every spot exactly the same. So it looks more authentic to have irregular markings. If you put tea, any tea in hot water and stir it around you can pretty well be assured it will evenly coat your fabric. If you bunch up the fabric to dry, it will pool in spots and be irregular. You can also add powdered tea to the wet fabric after an overall tea dye. I have put tea bags on wet card stock tags to age them and baked them in a 250-degree oven for about 20 minutes. It gives a really nice effect.

Check back on 12/15 for part two