#DoodlewashMay2021 prompts: Blue Skies & Eating.
I was drinking some Dried Butterfly Peaflower Tea this morning and wondering what to do about the May Doodlewash prompt, since I was already a day behind. And remembered that Dried Butterfly Peaflower Tea makes a beautiful blue dye and thought Duh!

You can get the tea in powder form, which I’ve never tried. I have some empty tea bags I use, which I fill with a couple tablespoons of the dried flowers. After I drink the tea I use the bag to dye some paper (it will dye quite a bit). I through away the flowers, but keep the tea bags to use in other mixed media work.

WARNING! Butterfly Peaflower is used as a natural clothing dye. It will wash off your fingers (eventually), but may not come out of clothing, furniture or carpet!

If not drinking the tea, you could just use a few of the dried flowers. This is what they look like before they are wet.

I used two pieces of paper for this tutorial. One is Hahnemühle Agave (3 x 4 in) and the other is a piece of Hahnemühle Hot Press Collection paper, cut from a larger piece (approx 4 x 6) inch. Just to add a little interest, I decided to set the smaller piece on top of the larger so some of the white of the paper would be left.

I start smashing the bag onto the paper. You can see how much liquid there is.
I didn’t worry about liquid seeping between the cards. It’s more interesting if some of it does.

If you smash one of the flowers onto the paper you’ll get bits of darker blue in the shape of the flower. If you crumble little bits of the blue petal you can get little specks of blue. You have to smash them though.

Timing counts for some effects. If you leave the teabag string (or other absorbent objects) on the paper at the right time, you’ll get a lighter color under it.
You can let the tea dry for a while, and then add more color by smashing the teabag or flowers onto the paper again. You can repeat this over and over to get interesting shapes on the paper. Since I was working small, I only did this a couple of times. I did color more than one set of papers.

Now I got carried away and forgot to capture what the dye jobs looked like before I added pen and gouache. I did still have another set that I did though, so you can get an idea. The scan on these came out a bit more purple than they are in real life.
Once the paper was thoroughly dry, I used technical pen and permanent marker on the larger piece.

Did you know that dragons like to eat toasted marshmallows?

On the smaller 3 x 4 inch card I used gouache to paint my blue skies with flamingoes.
Oh, and if you were wondering – the tea has a very light and delicate taste. It’s hard to describe. It’s not grassy, not floral, not tea. Lol. Sorry, I can’t do better, but if you do buy some and don’t like it, at least it’s still an art supply!
100% Pure Butterfly Pea Flower Tea
Tinkee Tea Disposable Filter bags
Zebra Pen Zensations Technical Pen, Assorted Point Sizes, Black Ink, 3-Count
Zebra PM-701 Stainless Steel Permanent Marker
Hahnemuhle The Collection Watercolor Pad 140lb Cold Press 9X12
I love your “stream of consciousness” teaching style! So inviting! I remember you sharing this tea dye with us in class. Definitely Tea to DYE for! 🙂 I love your dragon roast his own marshmallows! And your flamingos in their blue tea sea!
Thanks a million, Judy! I’m creating a bunch of backgrounds to play with on those occasions when I’m stumped for things to do.
That was one of yje moat fascinating tutorials, yet, Sandra! I’ve never tried Butterfly Pea Flower Tea! I love your results! Amazing!
Great piece and tutorial, Sandra! I love the way the splashes and soaks dried and suggested what they were! Love the almost-hidden marshmallows. He is having a great time!
Thank you so much, Val! Were you there the day I brought some of the tea in? I hope we are able to start having our painting sessions again. I miss everyone!
Looks like lots of fun! And I love the color the tea produces.
Thank you so much, Sharon!
I really like the results you got. I had never heard of this tea before – I like the colors it gives you.
Thank you so much, Alice! I need to get some lemon so I can play with the pink and purple, too!