Introduction

Have you ever wondered why leftover tea can dye fabric into different colors and textures?

In this “One Tea, One Cloth — Tea Dye Mini Lab (20 minutes)” you will use two teas and two fabrics to run a small “science + craft + art” experiment on one shared timeline.

You do not need any chemistry or textile background; just follow the pictorial card and demo video step by step to see how longer time, added acid and different fabrics shift the colors.

At the end you will mount twelve swatches on a record card, photograph it and upload to an open color wall as your own contemporary record of traditional craft.

What you will need 

I will prepare a full materials kit for you; you only need a few personal items.

The kit includes: strong Tea A and Tea B, six labelled cups A1–B3, six 5×5 cm cotton and six 5×5 cm silk swatches, 30 ml vinegar (acid), a dropper, a simple A5 record card, sticky dots and a QR card.

You only bring: a phone (or a timer and a camera), one pen, some clean water, and optional disposable gloves if your skin is sensitive.

Step 1 – Meet your kit & set up (0–2 min)

Open the kit and line up the six cups in two rows: A1, A2, A3 in one row, B1, B2, B3 in the other.

Place the record card and paper towels to the side, and set two phone timers for 5 minutes and 10 minutes.

Take a quick look at the one-page flow chart and cup labels so you know which cup will go to which box on the card.

Step 2 – Soak all fabrics (2–5 min)

Pour Tea A into cups A1, A2 and A3 (about 20–30 ml each), and Tea B into B1, B2 and B3.

Put one labelled cotton and one labelled silk swatch into each cup with the labels facing up.

All six cups start dyeing at the same time; gently swirl them and watch the color climb into the fibre.

Step 3 – Lift the 5-minute group (5–6 min)

When the 5-minute timer rings, take one cotton and one silk out of A1 and out of B1.

Lightly rinse or spritz with clean water, then blot firmly with paper towels.

Stick the four swatches flat onto the A1 and B1 boxes on the record card, keeping labels visible.

On the card, briefly note the tea name, fabric, and what you see at 5 minutes (for example: light, yellowish, soft).

Step 4 – Add acid & lift the 10-minute groups (6–14 min)

Between 6 and 8 minutes, add about 2 ml of vinegar (around 40 drops) to A3 and B3 and swirl gently.

When the 10-minute timer rings, first take cotton and silk from A2 and B2, process them the same way and stick them onto A2 and B2.

Then immediately take cotton and silk from A3 and B3, process them and stick them into A3 and B3; this is your “10 minutes + acid” group.

Next to each box, write one or two keywords about the color change, such as deeper, warmer, or more edge bleed.

Step 5 – Compare, reflect and share (14–20 min)

Now you have twelve swatches: two teas × two fabrics × two times plus acid treatment.

First compare, across each row, 5 minutes vs 10 minutes vs 10 minutes + acid for the same tea, then compare cotton and silk vertically.

Use the self-checklist on the back of the card: did you finish the three comparisons, and did you write at least one time effect and one pH effect?

Finally, photograph your card, scan the QR code to upload it to the open colour wall, and tick which variable you want to try next time (time, alkali, pattern, other tea or other fabric).

Resource sharing & next steps

You can browse other people’s color cards on the blog or course site and compare how different teas, waters and methods change the results.

If you wish, you can use the same structure for extra experiments with alkali, patterns or new teas, and upload those new cards to the same open database.

In this way, one small 20-minute experiment in traditional tea dyeing can slowly grow into a shared contemporary open color wall built by many people.