Easy Ways to Collect or Create Tea-Themed Art

Ever since artisans developed beautiful serving and drinking vessels to enjoy tea, they have found their way into collections of both users and curators of museums and cultural centers. Artists soon incorporated tea drinking vessels and tea drinking in their paintings and illustrations, folding screens, and scrolls. These artworks became coveted and, in their way, confirmation that tea drinking became a vital part of world culture.

Many of the best examples of Tea Art are in museums and private collections, however, if you love art featuring tea ceremonies, tea accessories, or people enjoying a refreshing cup, we have gathered a list of affordable sources to collect tea in art plus a few ideas to create some tea-themed art yourself.

Prints

Whether you just want a single painting or prefer a collection of fine tea art, it’s all possible, and on a modest budget. While it would be lovely to have the original painting depicting a beautiful tea setting experience, the originals are more likely to be found in private collections or in art museums.

Nonetheless, these paintings, and others by artists both classic and contemporary, are available as prints or posters at various online sources. In this way, you can curate your own gallery of tea art to add to the enjoyment of your tea-drinking experience, and at a modest investment. Check your favorite fine art reproduction online source or visit fineartamerica.

Jewelry

Tea-themed jewelry is both wearable art and makes a unique collection. You’ll find them in fine metals like sterling silver and gold, contemporary materials like titanium, plastic or fabric or hand-painted ceramics and every medium in between. Choices are legion, too, from bracelets, pins, earrings, necklaces or charms. Local and national artisans are crafting them for your pleasure this very moment. Check out local art festivals, farmer’s markets that host artisans or bead shows or visit jewelry shops. From Tiffany’s to mom-and-pop stores, they’ll have something to intrigue you.

Books

Perhaps you were first introduced to tea in book illustrations of tea with scenes of tea with the Mad Hatter’s splendid tea table in Lewis Carroll’s “Alice's Adventures in Wonderland” and the sequel, “Through the Looking Glass.” Tea-themed books are a charming (and addictive) collectible (as well as tins based on those books!). While we cannot advocate tearing out pages of valuable antique books, there are, literally, millions of illustrated books that are modestly priced and offer up gorgeous colored illustrations or pen-and-ink drawings that lend themselves to framing to decorate the walls of your own tea drinking room or area.

Crafts

For both crafts people and vintage shoppers, tea-themed paper ephemera is a fun medium to collect. Antique or thrift shops are often a fount of thrills for the tea-art paper collector who may find vintage tea party invitations, greeting cards, and tea-themed stationery.

If you’re really lucky, you might find a trove of Tea Cards which were included in packages of tea during the 19th century not unlike baseball cards in packets of bubblegum. If fresh paper items are more your choice, most art museums have gorgeously-produced postcards, posters, and notecards made from the original paintings they own, and often you’ll find unexpected treasures of art with tea details like elegant people sipping at the table in a Monet image to the haunting woman with her tiny Yixing teapot in an Edward Hopper painting. Museum catalogs, viewable online, will offer even more choices.

Tins

Tea tins are easy to collect, and they’re free when you buy your favorite teas. Instead of tossing them when you’re through, repurpose them or choose the most unusual ones to create a collection on your kitchen shelf. Some ideas for collecting include tea tins with Christmas or other holiday designs, ones in your favorite colors, or ferret out antique ones in vintage kitchen shops or thrift shops. If you’re really ambitious, you can decoupage with your found tea ephemera wood or metal tea tins to repurpose for other purposes. Adagio’s wood chests and tins are a great starting point, and you’ll enjoy refreshing tea while you create!

Home-made

Rather create art than collect it? You can do both. Check vintage shops and thrift stores for old magazines, photos, and postcards of tea accessories and, especially people drinking tea. You could incorporate into tea-theme collage. For the more ambitious DIY, consider decorating a folding screen with your favorite tea-themed paper ephemera. Perfect for decorating your tea-serving area and helpful in hiding dishes until you can clean up. For more ideas on making art with tea images, or collecting the art of others, check out Pinterest, Etsy, YouTube or your favorite craft source.

You can also create tea art with teabag tags. Use them to make book marks, gift cards, or in collages. Because they’re paper, they take well to markers, paint or ink. Even the spent tea bag can be incorporated in collages as micro envelopes to hold messages or images. And, don’t toss undrunk tea. It dyes paper and fabric beautifully.

A quick visit to the local fabric shop should dazzle DIY sewers with a plethora of ideas. Fabrics with prints of tea paraphernalia will have you designing napkins and tablecloths, aprons and placemats. Or, maybe a patch quilt? Scarves? Dress or skirt? Curtains? Let your imagination roar. Make sure to check the notions counter, too, especially for tea-themed buttons and button clips which cover plain buttons and transform the ordinary blouse or shirt into wearable art.