Okay, this was an experiment. On watercolor paper..

The blacks and browns are done with India ink but the blues, reds and bits of yellow is a stain made with loose tea. I used three different herbal tea types for that.

Basically I sprinkled the tea on the paper and moved it around to about where I wanted it and then used a misting bottle with water to moisten the tea to extract the colors. After waiting FOREVER for that to dry, I brushed off the tea bits and then did the inks. (It also smells like berries!)

Art ©2012 Arphalia.