The Tea That Became Art: An Upcycling Story

By Natalie Criscione

Looking back on our lives, we often realize that there was a moment no matter how imperfect, of awareness or choice, without which we would never be where we are today. Although we are all presented with such moments every day, we often turn away from them or fail to even notice them in the first place. But, what if we were open to a moment’s possibility? Where would it lead us? How does one become aware enough to look beyond what is known? To grapple with “what if”? What does it mean to live in that kind of present? In both her life and art, Ruby Silvious explores what it means to be present to such possibility.

“It was not like magic happened immediately,” said Ruby. Magic was not what she was looking for. In fact, it was quite far from her mind. Yet, when Ruby Silvious and her sister sat down for a cup of morning tea in 2013, they noticed something they hadn’t before: the possibility for a new art canvas. Tea bags. Not new tea bags, but used tea bags. An unlikely canvas, to be sure. They dried out their tea bags and emptied them of their tea leaves. Although the bags were stained and the edges uneven, Ruby and her sister saw something promising in the nontraditional canvas. “We just thought, the stains could be beautiful; the stains could be poetic,” said Ruby. Hence began Ruby’s journey of exploration. For the next couple of years, she tried out various media (watercolor, markers, gouache, and acrylics) on the tea bags, incorporating the tea stains into her finished piece. As Ruby began to further experiment on the tea bag canvas, she made some discoveries: “black tea has the best stains and rooibos tea has cinnamon-y

Though Ruby had always been drawn to creative activities as a child in the Philippines, and later in the United States, she worked most of her adult life in administrative positions and did not consider herself an artist. Art was her hobby, something she did in her down time. Attending art workshops was a way to be part of her community and learn a little something, too. Art was just something she loved and hoped to someday share with others through local exhibits in the Hudson Valley area. But Ruby’s path and role as an artist took an unexpected turn when she lost her job at the end of 2015, and decided to devote herself full-time to painting on tea bags and other nontraditional canvases. The following year, her daily experiments led to the publication of 363 Days of Tea for which she challenged herself to create something important to you, we’re one of the best places around to shop. Co-ops form strong relationships with local, small-scale producers, which means you can find products that aren’t typically available at traditional supermarkets. At Honest Weight, we work with over 285 local farms and 319 local producers; that list is always growing. And because we get daily deliveries, it means fresher, lower-impact food that hasn’t travelled across the country for days. various nontraditional canvases, her tea bag art developed an online following. That is when the magic happened—it took on a life of its own. Ruby’s tea bag art went viral and, within art communities and tea communities throughout the world, so did she.

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