Tea is so much more than just a hot drink

Tea bag art - creative recycling at its best - has become increasingly fashionable.

Tea bag artists, such as Mari Omori, take used tea bags and fashion them into bizarrely intriguing sculptures and installations. Some artists even use tea to paint with.

Omori, who is based in Texas, says credit for her success lies with her Asian heritage and subsequent love of a good cup of tea. A lot of the used tea bags in her work come from cups of tea she has drunk and the etiquette that often accompanies sharing tea with guests in Asian cultures informs her work.