Used tea leaves/tea bags

For a high school art assignment, my sister used slightly evaporated (thus condensed) tea as a form of ink on watercolor paper.

I know you can use tea to dye fabric for crafts, but I bet you already have that tip. Interesting project you've got going! Best of luck with it.

To reduce bags under eyes-- I assume you have that, too?

Similiar to art projects, we've used tea bags to discolor new paper to make it look old and worn, like old letters... but I bet that's already been noted as well.

Maryn

I've seen tea leaves in candles. Some had the crunched up leaves from a tea bag, and whole leaves inside or around the edges of candles. I bought one, but I don't remember how well it smelled. It was interesting watching the white wax turn a slight yellow green from the peppermint.
I've seen leaves in soap too. They look pretty in glycerin soaps, but work well in milk soaps too. Peppermint has the same problem of changing white milk soap to a yellow green around it though.

Tea bags (and strong tea) used as a meat tenderizer--high in tannin, you know.

Oh, and to fake a peat bog, I used tea bags, or rather the tea from them, for a class demonstration.

Tea brack is a traditional food at Scottish teas.

I'm positive you already have this one but just in case......they use to use teabags and still do for poultices for drawing out poisons in the body (teeth, boils, splinters,...etc) Just saying it for the sake of saying it...don't use cold teabags for teething babies if your that desperate and want a homeopathic cure, rub alcohol (as in whiskey) with your finger (not in the shot glass unless mom needs the shot glass part) on the gum. Come to thinking about old wives remedies and new mothers......we had an old doctor's remedy for baby's colic and it worked very well........a glass a wine and a rocking chair......mom drinks the glass of wine while rocking the baby......both mom and baby feels better. (Don't even start on the hate letters I didn't say you should be breast feeding and drinking alcohol but in the olden days...........well, nuff said). [for those wondering what the heck I'm talking about they used to prescribe a glass of beer for mother's having pb's with breast feeding--helped with relaxation and let-down of the milk]

When my daughter had her wisdom teeth pulled, the dentist told me to boil a tea bag, cool it down, and let her bite down on it over the hole where the tooth had been if we had trouble with bleeding from the socket. I think (don't quote me) that he said the tannin in the tea promoted clotting.

Ok I won't quote you but you're right. In that situation its ok because you aren't using it for any length of time. I'm sure he told you to remove it once the bleeding had stopped but for babies that are teething you would use it to much and it actually builds up and makes them really sick.(I'm talking seriously ill). Adults and bigger kids bodies have the kidney function and body mass to rid themselves of the poison. It also depends on the teabag---herbal teas can get you into some real messes.

SEE I told you I knew a little about alot of nothing in particular (or probably important...but occasionally I can be entertaining......now if I could just make my books more entertaining.......well still living and learning the craft).

Maryn said:

Fabric dying, but not just for crafts.

In Ye Olden Tymes, when women of a certain build could not buy bras that fit in any color other than white, my mom and I used tea to dye ours a less-nunlike ecru. (Conventional dyes like Rit faded quickly, and bled on everything in the wash load.) We even experimented with flavored teas (popular now, rare then). The cinnamon one came pretty close to what Bali was calling 'blush,' and Constant Comment was a match for 'nude.'

Maryn, who does indeed get constant commend when she's nude (haha)

Click to expand...

Maryn,

That brought back some fine memories!

And some of us had fundamentalist type mothers who would not allow us to wear anything but white . . . Hence, my sister and I made good use of tea bags.

Also,

loose tea leaves work well in your sink drain . . . they act like coffee grounds and reduce the sewer odor.

and tea leaves in bath water. realxing to say the least, but leave them in a cloth bag, or you'll have a fine time cleaning the mess.

Children's author Peggy Parish once used loose tea leaves in a cake, to see what it would do to the cake's appearance, for an idea she used in one of her Amelia Bedelia books. (I actually heard her mention doing it, during a lecture I attended.)

Try tea-soaked eggs, Chinese styles. Delicious. (Use only oolong tea and hard boiled eggs)

smallthunder said:

I hadn't heard this one before -- But how do you use them without stopping up the drain?

Click to expand...

I could have swore that I responded to this . . .

Just run water as you pour the used tea leaves down the drain . . . the should be crumbled (not whole pieces) so that they will go down.

Also, you can use tea leaves in bath water. Makes things rather relaxing. Rose and mint are just fine.

mdmkay said:

Ok I won't quote you but you're right. In that situation its ok because you aren't using it for any length of time. I'm sure he told you to remove it once the bleeding had stopped but for babies that are teething you would use it to much and it actually builds up and makes them really sick.(I'm talking seriously ill). Adults and bigger kids bodies have the kidney function and body mass to rid themselves of the poison. It also depends on the teabag---herbal teas can get you into some real messes.

Click to expand...

Yup, the dentist specified using black tea. He suggested something ordinary like Lipton or Red Rose, and yes, she was supposed to remove it when the bleeding stopped. I just wasn't sure what the mechanism of action was that caused the bleeding to stop.

Used tea leaves can go into the compost bin. If you don't have a compost bin, bury the leaves in the garden so they can enrich the soil directly, or add them to potting mix.