Tea Bag Artist

Along with a little imagination, the potential of your used tea bags and the dangly string is endless.

Wendy Mills, who lives in Balingup and loves to recycle, has produced a wide assortment of wonderfully delightful art from used tea bags.

Pieces of her art can be viewed at the ‘WA Smallest Art Gallery’ in Balingup.

All the tea bag is used, the tea leaves are used to create texture in a painting, the tea bag string is layered to create a 3D effect of tree trucks and the tea bag is cut, flattened out, layered, and painted to produce a feathering effect.

Subjects of her art are many and various; using these elements she is producing art such as mosaic art portrait pictures, landscape pictures, fauna and floral pictures, with her favourite subject being birds, Wendy has even created a dress from the tea bag bags.

Wendy tells us about her passion with this art form. “The pictures and sculptures I produce come from the sheer joy of creating them.

“I’m not even a tea drinker, but I have family and friends who collect their used tea bags for me to repurpose.

“The pictures and sculptures I produce by recycling used tea bags gives an insight in to how we can put to a use everyday items we usually throw away.

“I coated the dress and little sculptures with a lacquer to make these unframed display items very durable.”

Viewing Wendy’s art is an inspiration on what can be done with very little.

Wendy has always kept herself busy with different art and craft techniques, and is always willing to share her knowledge when conducting workshops.

WA’s Smallest Art Gallery’ can be found at 33 South Western Highway in Balingup.