Tea Quails

I don't really have progress pictures of this collage because it was a two steps forward and one step backward journey for several months. At one point I ended up scraping off the entire background and starting over. I actually had to scrape it in sections because I knew if I did it all in one go I would be totally devastated. So I scraped a little, sanded it down, and added in the new background one small section at a time.

I just couldn't walk away from this piece though. I spent so much time bringing the quail to life, giving them personalities, and getting to know them. Each foot is comprised of hours of fiddling. I cut so many feet I started keeping them in a basket. Whenever I felt up to it I would try out new feet on the quail. Apparently one wrong foot can throw off the whole personality of a quail.

Here is a snapshot of what the disaster phase looked like:

This is also my first piece that is made only with recycled tea bags, tags, and boxes. 100% tea packaging materials!

Prior to the pandemic, a local tea shop saved me all their packaging. They did this really cool thing where you could buy single bags to try. So they went through a lot of boxes. I hope they are fairing ok during this bizarre time. I need to pop back in during a slow time and stock up on some hard-to-find teas I love like anything Taylors and PG Tips.

Here is a list of all the teas I used:

Ajiri black tea with ginger 
Ajiri black tea with lemon myrtle (my favorite black tea)
Harney and sons decaf ceylon
Harney and sons Egyptian chamomile
Harney and sons green with citrus ginkgo
Harney and sons raspberry
Pukka after dinner
Pukka lemon ginger and Manuka honey
Stash chai green
Stash orange spice
Taylor’s assam
Taylor’s mango and cardamom
Taylor’s sour cherry
Tazo decaf chai
Tazo lotus
Twinnings earl grey
Yogi muscle recovery (Yogi boxes are the prettiest. This was one of my favorite teas but has been discontinued.)