| Tea Bag Folding: A Cornucopia Of
Style The increase in health awareness and organic living has helped
spark the resurgence of tea drinking across the globe. In the United
States alone, tea sales almost tripled from less than two billion
dollars in 1990 to over six billion dollars in 2005, according to the
Tea Association of the United States.At present, you will surely find
a variety of tealeaves, such as oolong, rose, vanilla, jasmine, mint,
and even fruit teas, including lychee, lemon and mango, in local
supermarkets and coffee shops. Even tea bags have evolved from the
common rectangular shape to the new circular or pyramid-shaped tea bag
that is infused with long tealeaves instead of dust, which are
indistinguishable tealeaf particles.Along with the rise in the
popularity of tea drinking over the years is the emergence of tea bag
folding. Tiny van der Plaas, a woman from Holland, was the one who
created this tea bag envelope inspired paper craft. She came up with
the idea of tea bag folding, which is commonly known as Miniature
Kaleidoscopic Origami, when she started to fold up a fruit tea bag
envelope while thinking of a novel way of creating a birthday card for
her sister.Tea bag folding basicsTea bag folding can be compared to
origami, a popular Japanese paper craft, in the sense that both
hobbies make use of paper to create various designs. However, tea bag
folding creations are usually just used to decorate cards and are made
using small matching paper squares. In contrast, the Japanese origami
cannot only be used as decorations for cards and gifts, but also to
produce paper replicas of different animals, flowers, and almost
anything under the sun.In the past, only tea bag envelopes were used
for this paper craft technique. As more and more people all over the
world learn of this paper folding art, however, paper manufacturers
have started to produce specialty papers exclusively for miniature
kaleidoscopic origami. Tea bag folding aficionados all across the
globe have also modernized this paper craft art by coming up with more
magnificent and intricate geometric designs and innovative and unique
materials.Kaleidoscope papers come in various colors and designs, such
as flowers, stars, musical instrument, snowflakes, dragons, spirals,
and even soccer balls.
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