Teabags too Charming to Compost

Last January, New York-based artist and graphic designer Ruby Silvious began a daily ritual of recycling her morning tea and creating miniature paintings on spent teabags. Too charming for the compost pile, her retro style works are the inspiration of her newly published book 363 Days of Tea, a vivid record of each day’s memories.

Silvious, who describes herself as a recycle artist, empties the tea bag of its contents each day and leaves it on a paper towel to dry. Some bags she opens into an elongated rectangle with torn edges. Others are emptied without dismantling the structure of the bag, leaving the brand tag and staple. Silvious at first used tea paper from her own daily tea, but as word spread of her creative endeavor, she received a variety of tea bags donated by friends and family.

Silvious is from Tacloban City, Philippines, and currently lives in New York’s Hudson Valley. Learn more: www.rubysilvious.com

363 Days of Tea
296 pgs | $26.95
Mascot Books

I am a certified tea specialist, dedicating to educate the art of preparing tea. I received the Tea Art Master credential from China (National Vocational Qualification Level 2: Tea Art Technician) in 2014, and TAC Tea Sommelier from Tea Association of Canada in 2015.