Today we will talk about methods of “aging” paper and documents. Why at all? to make old, yellowed pages out of new, snow-white paper? Here's why: antiquity has been and will always be in fashion. And, of course, the old, vintage style is in fashion now.
“Aged” paper will fit perfectly into an antique-style interior. One only has to make and “age” in this way several letters, genealogies, etc. and hang them in suitable frames. They will look very realistic and appropriate. What if you do the same with several books and add them to the interior?
Products made using “aged” paper look very stylish. You can often find paper that looks pretty tattered in scrap projects. Aged paper is also widely used in decoupage, scrapbooking and other types of arts and crafts.
Aged paper is used for creative purposes, for example, for a vintage gift. Agree, this is such a gift Christmas mulled wine set It will look much “richer” with a recipe written in handwritten font, printed on aged paper with yellowed, jagged edges.
You can age documents, newspapers or books in the same way. On aged paper you can write wishes, invitations, recipes, print out maps leading to ancient treasures, etc. These works look amazing. How to age paper at home ?
Methods for “aging” paper
There are several ways to obtain aged paper.
- Wait until the paper comes to this state naturally (provided that you are not in a hurry and you have several dozen free years at your disposal).
- Buy antique or “aged” sheets (if you have extra money and a specialized store nearby).
- “Aging” paper at home. This is the method that will be discussed in today’s article.
But to give an antique (“aged”) look to a letter, postcard, invitation, recipe, etc. not so difficult at home, without resorting to the use of any special complex tools. You can achieve this “antiqueness” in several ways.
With coffee
We will need:
- three teaspoons instant coffee(you can take the cheapest one);
- the paper itself (office paper, not too thick cardboard or whatman paper);
- candle;
- sponge;
- scissors;
- hot water;
- wide capacity.
Nothing supernatural, all this can be found in any home.
Prepare the paper that needs to be “aged” for work. An emblem, drawing or text must be applied to it with a LASER printer in advance, since it is difficult to print text on already aged paper (the paint does not adhere well). It is better to make printouts with a reserve, in case we spoil one or two.
Dilute coffee in 250 ml. hot water and pour the resulting solution into a wide container. Cool it, dip a piece of paper for a few minutes (depending on the quality of paper used) and dry it.
After the sheet has dried, drop a few drops of the same solution onto it; for a more vivid effect, you can apply a few granules of instant coffee to the sheet and blot them with a damp cloth. Dry the sheet again.
Blot the paper with the coffee solution again. Then we burn the edges using an electric stove or a candle. We work with the candle carefully, trying not to burn the edges, but only lightly scorch them.
When the paper is dry and only slightly damp, fold it in half, and then in half again. We carefully pass the folds of the paper folded in four between the cutting blades of the scissors; you can also use pumice. If the paper does tear a little, don’t worry, this will only add “age” to our product.
An already dry sheet can be scratched with a needle, and then these places can be rubbed with the edge of burnt paper (the scratches will appear and be more clearly visible).
This is what we got. Who can say that just recently this was a printout on pure white, perfectly flat office paper?
With tea
We will need:
- three to four tea bags;
- boiling water;
- sponge;
- the paper itself.
Brew tea bags in half a liter of boiling water and leave to brew.
We take out the cooled tea bags and use them to apply tea onto the paper in any way you like, or, as in the case of coffee, place the sheet with the text in a wide bowl of tea.
You can rub the leaf with a tea bag to enhance the scuff effect. After the paper is completely saturated, simply remove excess liquid with a sponge or paper towel and send the sheet to dry in the oven (a few minutes at 200 °C).
Using potassium permanganate
Potassium permanganate can be bought at any pharmacy, and it is inexpensive. In addition, you can look for this drug at home; the gardener probably has it or in the home medicine cabinet.
We will need:
- potassium permanganate;
- wide dishes;
- hot water.
Simply dilute a small amount of crystals in ½ cup of cold water and stir thoroughly until the potassium permanganate crystals are completely dissolved.
Dilute this solution with hot water and pour it into a saucepan.
We dip the paper into the hot solution; it instantly turns brown. “Aging” of paper in this way occurs very quickly. You can immediately take out the painted paper and send it to dry (just spread the paper on a flat absorbent surface - cardboard, newspaper, etc.). Use special tweezers or gloves to avoid staining the skin of your hands.
To make an original invitation, postcard, note for a loved one, friend, or as an addition to a gift, you don’t have to be an artist and draw elegant drawings, you can simply make high-quality aged paper. You can achieve a good result even with your own hands and without extra effort, especially since there are many ways.
Aging with tea
The effect of aged paper can be achieved using regular tea bags. To do this, you need to pour 4 tea bags with 500 milliliters of boiling water and leave it to brew. After it has cooled completely, you need to remove the tea bags and use them to apply tea to a sheet of paper. You can also pour the tea into a shallow but wide bowl (a baking tray with sides) and place a leaf in it. The sheet should lie completely and not bend anywhere. To enhance the scuffed effect, you just need to rub a tea bag on the paper. After the paper is completely saturated, the remaining liquid should be removed using a paper towel or sponge. After these procedures, the sheet must be dried; to do this, place it in an oven preheated to 200 degrees for 3 minutes.
With coffee
Using regular instant or ground coffee (grounds), you can age both a regular sheet and paper with text. Printing on aged paper is quite difficult, so you should use ready-made (with text) paper for the process.
You need to dilute 3 teaspoons of coffee in 250 milliliters of hot water. The solution must be poured into a wide container with sides and left until it cools completely. Then, for 3-4 minutes, a sheet of paper should be dipped into the resulting liquid and then dried. For a better effect, you can drop a few drops of the solution on a dry leaf or apply a small amount of coffee granules on it, after which they should be lightly blotted with a damp cloth. To imitate bruising, a wet sheet must be carefully turned, then straightened and dried.
In the microwave or oven
When exposed to heat, the paper begins to darken, so to age it, you must first dip the sheet in water at room temperature or a tea (coffee) solution. Then you should “bake” it until the color changes (5-7 minutes) in the microwave on low or 5-10 minutes in the oven at 200 degrees. After this, the paper can be ironed additionally with an iron, but even without this, the thermal effect of the oven or microwave does not deform its surface too much, so you can do without ironing in order to preserve the wrinkles that are natural for old paper.
Depending on the baking time, the color of the paper will vary. Its distribution is quite even. As shown in the photo, the darkest color is the result of the longest heat exposure.
With the help of fire
This method is used mainly if the paper needs to be given the appearance of having survived a fire. This effect can also be combined with the above methods and fire treated paper previously aged with coffee or tea. The aging process will be carried out with the help of a candle, but this should be done over a sink in order to quickly extinguish the sheet in case of fire. The candle must be placed steadily in the middle of the sink and lit. The sheet must be held above the fire at a height of at least 10 cm. The paper cannot be kept in one place for a long time, otherwise it may ignite.
Only the edges of previously aged paper can be treated with fire; this combination will add a shabby look to the paper.
Application of milk
To give paper an old look using milk, you will need a product with high fat content, or more precisely, the color of the paper will depend on its percentage. If desired, the sheet can be gently crumpled, then straightened out and a sufficient amount of milk applied to both sides with a brush. You can also use a spray bottle for application. After it has been thoroughly saturated with liquid, the sheet should be placed on a flat surface to dry. After that, the paper must be ironed using an iron, and the temperature should be high. During this aging process, light brown spots will appear on the sheet.
With the help of the sun
The most natural, but rather long-lasting method of aging is the solar method. For this purpose in hot weather summer days should be placed, and it is best to hang the sheets in a place where the sun will affect them all day. The first result will be visible after a few days. The advantage of this method is the uniform aging of the paper sheet, its integrity and less damage. This sheet will last longer.
Coloring
For this method you will need 1% brilliant green (5-8 drops) or iodine. To prepare the solution, add the required amount of the selected substance to a container with 200 milliliters of cold water, the number of drops depends on the desired color (iodine does not give a brown color, as a result, you will get a slightly purple tint). The solution should be mixed, but if this is not done, there is a chance that beautiful stains will be visible on the sheet. Pre-crumpled paper should be immersed in liquid for 1 minute or immediately removed to obtain drips. Then the sheet should be laid out on a flat surface to dry. When the paper is completely dry, it must be ironed.
Coloring can be done in a similar way using potassium permanganate. The color will be purple. Also, these three substances can be combined in different proportions, thereby resulting in paper of unusual shades.
Those who like to do scrapbooking or create vintage items from paper do not use regular paper for their work, as it will ruin the whole idea of the original craft. But since it will always be very expensive to purchase an old one (and it is also unknown whether it is really old or just someone did a good job), it will not be superfluous to familiarize yourself with several ways on how to make old paper with your own hands.
How to make old paper at home?
There are several simple and affordable ways to make paper, drawing, newspaper look old. For example:
- with coffee;
- with tea;
- using milk;
- under ultraviolet light.
Definitively vintage appearance imparted using fire, iron and other auxiliary factors.
How to make old paper out of paper quickly and inexpensively?
For the effect of antiquity to be natural, nature spends many centuries, but an ordinary artist sometimes does not even have a few weeks, so the proposed methods imply aging as quickly and inexpensively as possible. Many people know from their own experience how to make old paper in the sun - newspapers and sheets left in the sun quickly turn yellow. If in the summer you hold, for example, a painting under ultraviolet light for several days, then all the signs that gave it newness and freshness will completely disappear.
Another easy way to create old paper at home is to use milk and an iron.
In addition to them you will need:
- baking tray;
- cotton swab;
- clean blanket.
The essence of the technology is simple: a previously crumpled and leveled sheet of paper is moistened with milk using a cotton swab. After this, the sheet must be dried with an iron. It is laid out on a clean bedspread so that greasy stains or some kind of dirt do not “smooth” onto it. The finished aged sheet will look the same and will lose its new appearance.
Using coffee or tea makes it even easier to age paper. A strong brew is made from tea or coffee - the stronger the brew, the darker the result will be - paper is dipped into it and then sent to dry. To improve the effect, you can first crumple the leaf and only then dip it into the tea leaves. The photo shows how to age paper using tea, and the video shows how to age paper using coffee.
How to make antique paper 100% authentic?
For this purpose, the skill of using a lighter will come in handy. Picturesque scorch marks along the edges, and perhaps even in the center of the sheet, a sort of burnt outline, will make an indelible impression on the one for whom the scorch is being prepared. To more accurately depict the contours that need to be burned, you can use a pencil to draw lines.
From such sheets it is quite possible to spin scrolls, which are used as invitations to weddings and other events. To make the scroll truly antique, you will need to decorate it with a wax seal, although wax can also be used. Perhaps by experimenting, you will be able to discover your own way of sealing ancient scrolls.
Just before you spend a lot of time, coffee, paper and effort, you should mentally evaluate the success of your idea. Perhaps those invited do not have a craving for vintage and will perceive the invitation as a way to offend them or to save money on postcards. After all, not everyone knows how to make old paper, so only those who have tried to do similar things themselves will be able to understand the depth of the efforts.
For creative people, such a topic will probably not cause any surprise, because they constantly invent, create and prepare something, so that using aged paper is in the order of things for them. Someone may have questions: why age it? Is it bad to write on regular paper?
All this, of course, is true, but sometimes ordinary white sheets really are not suitable, especially if you decide to prepare some thematic scrolls, manuscripts, design, or just started some kind of decorative works. Another common phenomenon in which you cannot do without such paper is.
This is a type of creative activity that results in the creation of specially designed family albums or photo collages. For such creativity, photographs, newspaper clippings or any other images are necessarily used that, using tactile and visual techniques, convey some event or story from your life.
It could be a wedding, a child’s birthday, a trip to the seaside or to another country; the topics covered are very diverse, but for decoration they often use paper decorated in a certain way.
So, there are a fairly large number of ways that allow you to obtain paper that seems to have lain on a dusty shelf for several centuries or been kept in the secret libraries of great kings. If you still don’t know how to age paper with your own hands, then pay attention to this article; we will tell you some of the most effective and interesting options.
We use tea
How amazing and healthy drink! Tones, quenches thirst, fills our body useful substances, has healing properties...And also knows how to age paper! So, what do we need to turn new leaves into leaves that have turned yellow from time to time? We write down:
- tea leaves – 5-10 tbsp. spoons (the stronger your tea leaves, the brighter the aging effect will be. For a slight yellowness, 5 spoons are enough);
- boiling water – 250 ml;
- a sheet of white paper in A4 format;
- container for soaking sheets;
- clean surface for drying.
To give the paper the most antique look, you can first crumple it and straighten it, or you can make just a few creases. Next, let's deal with our tea: pour boiling water over the tea leaves, let it brew for 10-15 minutes under a closed lid.
After this, filter through a strainer and pour into the prepared container. It is better that it looks like a small bath, and the leaf can fit in it without being bent. The next step is aging. Dip a sheet of paper into the tea leaves and leave it there for just a couple of minutes.
After the time has passed, we carefully take out our sheet, and then carefully lay it out on the prepared surface. After it has dried, it can be ironed on top.
In order to give our sheet the most realistic look, you can sprinkle a couple more drops of tea leaves on it. If you want to get paper that has “survived the fire”, resulting in dark spots appearing on it, then simply burn its edges with a lighter or candle. Ready!
Aging with coffee
Probably, as a result of this particular method, the most realistic result is obtained, which can easily be confused with ancient scrolls or papers that have survived more than one century. So what we need:
- natural ground coffee– 5 teaspoons;
- boiling water – 200 ml;
- A4 sheet of paper;
- soaking container;
- drying surface.
First, let's prepare the paper - crumple it well, crumple it, and then straighten it out. Brew coffee: to do this, boil it in a Turkish coffee pot, then leave for another 10 minutes under a closed lid. After the time has passed, you need to strain the coffee thoroughly, then let it sit for a few more minutes so that all the sediment sinks to the bottom.
Pour the coffee into the prepared container and place the paper in it. Again, leave it for 3-5 minutes, no longer, otherwise it will simply become limp and you will not be able to pull it out of the water in one piece. All that's left to dry is to lay the sheet out on a flat surface, dry it and, if desired, iron it again.
Aging with milk
If everything is clear with coffee and tea, at least the shade is the same, then how can ordinary milk add age to a piece of paper? Quite possibly. This artificial method is less popular than the previous ones, but in vain, with its help sheets of paper acquire a special shade of antiquity. So what we need:
- milk, preferably homemade and full-fat – 150 ml;
- a sheet of white A4 paper;
- paint brush;
- drying surface.
First, you need to prepare the paper: to do this, we cut off the sharp corners of the sheet, turning them into rounded ones, and so that they do not look too neat, you can go along the edges with sandpaper; the rest of the sheet, by the way, can also be touched.
You can age paper even more in a simple way: take advantage of bright sunny days! The prepared leaf just needs to hang in direct sunlight for several days, most importantly, make sure that it does not get caught in the rain. If you want to get realistic ancient scrolls as a result, then first cut whatman paper into long but rather narrow strips.
They need to be aged according to the same principle as we described above. Then we roll them into tubes, as scrolls should, and bring the edges to a burning candle, letting them light up. When you see that they are fairly scorched, immediately extinguish the fire under a powerful stream of water.
We must wash all the scrolls to get rid of excess ash, dry them, and then send them to “warm up” in the oven. The last stage is the application of decor - words, necessary text or monograms that would correspond to your theme. Such scrolls are often used for themed weddings, parties or quests.
6 ways to artificially age paper!!!
1. To artificially age paper, you will need the following materials:
- paper;
- regular instant coffee (5 tablespoons);
- newspaper for lining;
- a tray or large deep plate;
- sprayer;
- water.
Spread 3 layers of newspaper on a straight surface. IN hot water dilute the coffee. Then add a little ice or wait for the coffee to cool to an acceptable temperature - the water should be warm, but not hot. Pour the coffee onto the tray.
Now let's move on to experiments!
Dip your paper into a plate of coffee for half a minute. After this, remove and spread on newspapers to dry.
Before the paper is completely dry, sprinkle it with crushed coffee granules.
In this way, you can age not only paper, but also tags, lace, fabric, etc.
2. The simplest thing is to put it in the sun so that it burns out, it takes on a very respectable appearance.
3. The easiest way. Dip the paper into tea drink and hang it to dry...
6. "another method was dug up... by rusting!))))
I wet the paper, tormented it and placed it on a metal surface that is prone to rust (for me it’s an old oven tray). By the time it dries, it’s already such a beauty rusty on paper))))"