Artist paints out of this world Star Wars inspired scenes on used tea bags
The Star Wars fan who grew up watching the franchise and has a particular fondness for movie Return of the Jedi, took about three to four hours to create each miniature depiction, of which there are 30.
Mrs West's Tea3PO tea bag (Caroline West/PA)
'I wanted to see exactly how many different things I could capture on such a small canvas and show you can even fit a whole galaxy on a tea bag,' Mrs West, who is based in Waterlooville, Hampshire, told the PA news agency.
'I grew up watching the original Star Wars movies and they're just so iconic, they were ground-breaking at the time and as May the fourth was coming up, I thought it was the perfect time to pay tribute.'
The art process began with Mrs West drying out used Yorkshire Tea tea bags.
From left to right, Mrs West's Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader tea bags (Caroline West/PA)
She then cut them up, scrapped out all the tea and ironed them flat.
The edges were taped, the tea bags were placed on backing paper, a base layer was applied and then she used acrylic paint to create the different scenes.
She said she particularly enjoyed painting the lightsabres as they are a 'real symbol of the whole franchise' and replicating Princess Leia challenged her in a 'good way' to go out of her comfort zone.
Mrs West busy at work painting (Ella Sandy/PA)
'For the lightsabres, I tried to give off the impression they were glowing by layering white paint with coloured paints multiple times,' Mrs West said.
'When you were a girl and the films came out, I suppose we all wanted to be Princess Leia so I really enjoyed painting her, especially as I haven't really done portraits or faces before.
'The Death Star was more challenging as there was quite a lot of detail to fit in.'
Mrs West's Death Star tea bag (Caroline West/PA)
She had fun creating names with tea puns for the artworks, with R2tea2, Brewbacca and Tea3PO, plays on the names of the characters R2-D2, Chewbacca and C-3PO, some of her favourites.
She meticulously planned for the series to make sure what she depicted was as recognisable as possible.
'I looked at pictures of iconic characters and watched movie scenes to make sure I captured things which would really resonate with fans and were things I thought I would realistically be able to paint,' she said.
Mrs West's Kylo Ren tea bag (Caroline West/PA)
'I've also made sure to do some characters from the newer movies, like Kylo Ren.'
Originally delving into tea bag art in August 2023 and focusing on UK landmarks including Stonehenge and Tower Bridge, Mrs West has said it is such an 'amazing feeling' to have branched out to painting things she once thought were never possible to capture on such a tiny canvas.
'I just think the more you do, the more your confidence grows and you realise you can do the things you thought you couldn't,' she added.
Mrs West's Brewbacca tea bag (Caroline West/PA)
'Sometimes I think, 'hang on a minute, I'm making a living painting on tea bags' – it's such an amazing feeling.'
Mrs West's Star Wars inspired tea bags are fan art and a limited one-off collection.
Mrs West's art can be viewed on her website: https://www.carolouiseart.com
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