re-purposing used tea bags into a fish

What do you do with your used tea bags? I dry mine out and collect them of course.

Doesn't everyone?

Ok, I'm not normal.

I just love the tea coloured stains - I've used tea to dye things before, and used flattened tea bags on the dress I made recently.

Anyway, the tea bags and a trout seemed the perfect match for an art project. For Art From Trash of course. This is another of the projects I created at work with the help of one of the guys.

First I drew a trout on a large piece of paper (from a roll so it was long enough). Traced this onto some thin MDF and cut it using a jigsaw.

Since it was going to be a considerable size and moving it in a car would present a problem, I kept the trout in two parts. I glued strips of wood to the back of both pieces at either end. These served two purposes - the ensured the trout hung out from the wall a bit instead of sitting flat against it, adding dimension. It also gave me somewhere to attach hinges, making this a foldable piece of art!

Practical as well as pretty!

My assistant helped me paint on the face, tail and fins by adding all the spots. Then we began the long process of gluing on the tea bags together.

I left the strings on them on purpose - I think the movement of the strings in a breeze gives the illusion of movement.

In order to blend the 2D painted surface into the rich texture of the tea bags I used flattened bags which let the painted colours show through.

Add a hole for the 'fishing hook' and it was ready to hang.

Once we'd finished I sprayed it with clear varnish for protection. While that was still tacky I sprinkled it with some very fine aurora borealis glitter - cause, you know, trout shimmer!

This is the finished trout. 

 And here it is at Art From Trash.

Yep. That is a sold sticker! It sold pretty much straight away, and I've had enquiries as to whether it has any siblings.

It was a great success at the show.

z

the 'don't toy with me' dress

I'm going stir crazy. Yesterday it took me an embarrassingly long time to butter my toast...

I'm eating oatmeal for breakfast ever day cause its easy to make one handed. I got bored of it but its back to oatmeal again. At least I make it nice. You know how you can get all those flavoured instant packs now? I make my own. I still buy the instant packs but I buy plain. I make it with water, then add milk, cinnamon, nutmeg. brown sugar and slivered almonds. yum.

I watched the entire 1-5 seasons of Game of Thrones. Wow.

I've gotten square eyes and a couch shaped butt. Can't wait to get moving and working again. 

Meanwhile I called the hospital... they said they'd contact me with a followup appointment but I hadn't heard from them. They forgot me... Now I'm waiting for them to follow up. Again.

So, meanwhile, how about I share another wearable art from trash entry made at work in one of my groups!

This one was an easy one.  We bought this tiny sized strapless little black party dress from the tip shop. I think its about a size 8...

Then we chose toys from our collection (we need more toys! please donate your old, broken, unwanted ones!) and put them on the dress using fabric glue. That way the group could do more since their sewing skills aren't so great.

Even toys are heavy, so I found I had to add straps to keep it up. We made the straps blend in with the dress by extending the toys up on one side.

Here is the finished dress again. Not bad for a bit of discarded stuff.

It'd sure stand out as unique at any party!

z

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steampunk faerie jacket

Today I'm sharing the work wearable art entry in the Art From Trash competition. This steampunk jacket was made by a ladies art group I work with.

It started with a jacket from the tip shop and a ton of odds and ends.

We collected anything we thought would work on the jacket and basically hand stitched it all on to get the look we were after.

We really wanted a bustle and that was added using layers of tulle from the discard bin.

We used stud earrings and other small bits of jewelry on the bustle to give to added interest.

One of the sleeves was cut short and re-finished with black velvet lace and beads.

We decided to run the decoration down one lapel and down one side of the back, bringing it together on the lace sleeve.

All the 'junk' we sewed onto the jacket is quite heavy so we had to make sure it was balanced. 

It turned out well and the ladies were all proud of being part of the project.

z

faerie dress or something like that using tea bags

I've wanted to share this dress for ages, soon as I finished it really, but had to wait till after the art show. I'm doing it now with some hesitation... typing with one finger takes ages and seems to block my creative thinking.

However, here goes. I'll give it a try.

So.

I wanted to make something special for the 2016 Hobart Art From Trash competition. I wanted to use lots of fabric scraps, lots of whites and natural colours. I wanted to use tea bags.

My dress was inspired by dresses like this:

and this:

in my frocks or art board on Pinterest. Aren't the just FABULOUS? Wow. If I was younger and slimmer this is how I'd dress!

Anyway, I went through all my scrappy bits. I had tons of cotton fabric pieces in various shades of white so I began the dress by sewing together pieces and then sewing used tea bag fabric to the bodice.

Here's a glimpse of the front before the tea bags. I dyed some of the lace, ribbons and fabric with tea to tie it all in together better.

Since I'm no seamstress, I had a few glitches along the way ... mainly figuring how to fit the dress in such a way that it would be adjustable to different sizes... and to make it so it could be worn by a real person, not just a mannequin in an exhibition.

Lacing up didn't work

A belt worked better, but still wasn't quite right.

The armpits were too big and messy...

In the end I could avoid it no longer. The dress needed darts at the bust. That helped shape the bodice.

I also kept the lace-up idea - using it on each side of the front, under the breasts, and the back. Mismatched buttons and jute string are decorative but also useful in fitting the dress at the waist.

The dress itself has a few scrappy layers on the skirt, but in order to make it richer, I added an 'overskirt' using a thick, tea dyed satin ribbon. The ribbon adds an extra layer of fabric and ties at the front like a belt.

I dressed it up with an old, discoloured wooden bead necklace which I hung rusty items on.

I'm in love with it. But it is for sale if anyone is interested in it for display or to wear!

Thus ends a long post with many photos and not so many words!

z

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