3T Tuesday : Tea Stained

~ photo heavy post ~

Howdy, and welcome to a new series I am working on.   I always have tips, tricks, and techniques up my sleeve.  And, now, I have a platform to share them with you! {smile}  I am calling this series: Triple T Tuesday!  I will be sharing tips, tricks, and techniques for paper crafting, and baking; my two passions.  {smile}

For my first edition of triple T, I am sharing a tea stain technique.  Let's get started!

When 'color'ing or staining, please keep safety first.  Use pot holders for hot pots, allow hot tea to drain off embellishments on a paper towel on top of a paper plate.  Use tongs or a fork to remove items from hot tea.  And remember to keep children and pets away from the stove when working with hot liquids.

1.  Grab your supplies: pot to boil water in, tea bags (I use 5 regular size), and then the embellishments you want to tea stain: cotton trim, lace, seam binding, and clothes pins.

wooden clothes pins, cotton trim, cotton lace, and seam binding

  

2.  Boil your pot of water, and add the tea bags.

allow the pot to boil for a minute or two.

3.  add your embellishments:

4.  watch the pot.  Different materials take-on the color differently.

When working with wooden clothes pins, they will cause your pot of tea to foam, but don't worry, the foam subsides in a minute.

Boil wooden clothes pins for 5 minutes, and then turn the heat off, leaving the clothes pins in the hot pot.

5.  use tongs, or a fork to remove your embellishments:

Remember, that fabrics have a washed color pattern from the tea staining, but it makes the fabric look antique, or vintage. {smile}

I took the lace and cotton trim out after 2 minutes in the boiling tea.  I wanted a light kraft color.

I allowed the seam binding to boil a bit longer.  For some reason, seam binding, can be stubborn about taking on color.  Always remember, *the longer you leave the embellishment in the boiling tea, the darker the staining.  

Wooden clothes pins take quite a bit longer.  I left the clothes pins for 2 hours.  But, remember, check them periodically.  

To speed up the drying process of my fabrics, I dried my materials with a heat tool.  {smile}  I couldn't wait!  But remember, your heat tool is hotter than a hair dryer, so be careful!

6.  After drying, look at how pretty my materials look with their new antique 'color'.  {smile}

 Thank you for stopping by!  I hope this was helpful!  And remember, if you are tea staining, always use more material than your project calls for.  That way, you aren't tea staining on a daily basis {smile}.  I always tea stain trims in one foot lengths, and seam binding in one yard length.  I only needed a couple of clothes pins, so I added a few more in the pot.