Teabag Folding

I recently discovered a simple craft which I would like to share with you.

I was teaching a family learning class, and one of the students had accidentally picked up a pile of teabag folding paper along with her course work. I'd never seen it before, so I asked her what it was. Everyone was fascinated by Karen's demonstration, so I soon abandoned my planned lesson and we were all folding teabags instead.

Teabag folding is supposed to have originated in the Netherlands when a lady began absent-mindedly folding the paper wrappers from her teabags. OK, most of us buy our teabags in a box, but some fancy teas are sold in individual wrappers (see photo).

Teabag folding is a bit like origami, but there are a few differences. In origami, usually only one square piece of paper is used to make a design. In teabag folding, several separate squares (8 for most designs) are used. The squares (or tiles) used in a design each have the same kaleidoscopic pattern. Each square is folded in a particular way, and then they are interlocked or glued to a backing sheet. The squares used in teabag folding are small, about 2 inches square (although I have also seen circles and other shapes used).

You can buy good quality teabag folding paper (also called teabag tiles) in craft shops and of course online.

However, there are lots of designs available on the internet which you can download free and print yourself, which is great if you're just starting out, as you won't be so concerned about wasting the paper if you make a mistake.