How to Make Old Paper

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This article was co-written by Nicpe Bpin. Nicpe Bpin is a crafts expert and CEO of Stencil, a homemade crafts store in Phoenix, Arizona. Nicpe specializes in interior design, crafts and DIY projects. Nicpe holds a bachelor’s degree in animal science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and spent 15 years in the field of science before changing careers. Nicpe holds a certificate in interior design from the New York Institute of Art and Design. She opened Stencil in 2017 to teach customers how to make their own crafts for home and life.

There are 8 references cited in this article that you can see at the bottom of the page.

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Are you working on an art project or are you looking to create an impressive background for a poem? You may need to make the paper look old. There are many methods on the internet that teach how to old paper, but we have found that the crumpled and watered method is the best. If this doesn’t make the paper look as old as you’d like, you can try the staining and “baking” method, using flame and heat, or burying it in the ground to make your paper look like it’s been stained with time. time.

Table of Contents

Crumpled and sprayed with water

Crumple the paper. Crumple a piece of paper in your hand into a fist. The tighter you grip the paper, the more wrinkled your paper will be. ^{[1] X Research Source}

Unfold the paper and spray water or tea or coffee on the paper. Pour the solution you want to use into the spray bottle. Unfold the paper and spray until damp spots appear and the desired color is achieved.

Note that the solution you choose will give the paper a different look. Water will not color the paper, but will transform it. Tea will give a light brown color, and coffee will give a darker color.

Shape the damage marks on the paper. Now the paper will be easier to shape when it is damp. Try ripping off the edges of the paper, puncturing small holes with your fingernails or creating tiny wrinkles in the paper ^{[2] X Research Source} . These details simulate the vestiges of time; If you want the paper to look older, the more traces of damage you will have to create.

If you want the paper to be darker and have deeper wrinkles, crumple and moisten the paper again. Be careful not to tear the paper in half.

Spread out the paper and let it dry. Spread the sheet of paper on a flat surface such as a table or cabinet. The paper will dry completely in a few hours.

Or you can dry it with a hair dryer to quickly dry the paper.

Stain and “grill”

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Select and prepare the solution. To age paper, you can use coffee for a darker color or tea for a lighter color. You can also adjust the color of the paper during tea or coffee making. ^{[3] X Research Sources}

When making coffee, you can make it darker or lighter by using more or less coffee.
For tea, the color of the paper will depend on how long or fast the tea is brewing. The longer the tea steeps, the darker the color will be, and the lighter the color will be if you only steep the tea for a short time.
Allow the solution to cool before proceeding to the next step.

Spread the paper on the baking tray. Make sure the paper must fit inside the baking tray, the edges of the paper do not stick out.

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Preheat oven to 90ºC. Preheat the oven at this point to reach the desired temperature when the paper is ready to put in the oven.

Pour the prepared solution onto the baking tray. Pour into a corner of the tray, do not pour directly onto the paper. Pour just enough so that the solution coats a thin layer on the paper. You don’t have to worry that the solution will collect underneath the paper; The paper will absorb the solution that remains below.

Use a brush to spread the coffee/tea onto the paper. Now is the time to use your creativity to create patterns on paper. You can spread the solution evenly across the paper if you want a uniform look. Otherwise, you can spread unevenly to create vibrant and striking vein patterns. ^{[4] X Research Sources}

If you prefer to create more vivid traces, you can sprinkle coffee grounds on the paper, let it sit for a few minutes.

Use a paper towel to absorb excess water. Make sure no puddles are left on the paper or in the baking tray. However, you don’t have to try to dry the paper completely, just make sure there’s no residual solution that hasn’t been absorbed.

Edit the paper. Before you put the tray and paper in the oven, you can add a few touches to make the paper look even older while it’s moist and easy to shape. Tear off the edges of the paper or use your fingernail to make a few small holes; you can crumple up these tiny pieces of paper and place them elsewhere on the paper to create parchment-like nodules. Alternatively, you can use a fork or something similar to press down on the paper to make marks.

Place the tray in the oven for about 4-7 minutes. It is best to place the tray in the middle of the oven. Pay attention during baking. When the edges of the paper begin to curve up, it is OK. Finishing time depends on the oven.

Remove the paper and let it cool. Put on kitchen gloves and remove the tray from the oven. Wait 10-15 minutes for the paper to cool before you start writing on it.

Use fire and heat

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Pick up the paper on the sink. This is an important step to prevent accidental burning of the paper; you just catch the paper on the sink and pour water on it. In this method, you should only write on the paper after you have done it, so as not to lose effort if the paper accidentally burns too much. ^{[5] X Research Sources}

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Find candles or lighters. The effectiveness of these fire sources is the same, so you can use whatever is available. Avoid butane lighters because the flame from butane gas is too strong for this job.

Heat along the edges of the paper. Leave the edges of the paper about 2.5 cm above the flame. Move the flame along the edges of the paper, heating it back and forth around the paper. This step makes the paper darker, looking old as if damaged by time and the environment. Do not stay too long in one spot on the candle. ^{[6] X Research Sources}

Do not heat for too long in one place; You can burn a whole sheet of paper. ^{[7] X Research Sources}
When heating the flame along the edges of the paper, be sure to keep it away from your hands to avoid burns.

Burn small holes in the paper. If you want to create more traces, you can burn a few places on the paper. Place the paper about 2.5cm above the flame and start heating. Notice the appearance of brown and black spots. Remove from the flame when the paper has reached the desired color.

If you want to make holes in the paper, wait a little longer. The heat will puncture the paper and a small flame will appear. You need to quickly blow out the fire.
If the paper catches on fire too quickly and can’t be blown out in time, simply drop it in the sink and flush it with water.

Burying paper in the yard

Dig a hole in the yard. This hole should be large enough to bury a tennis ball. Don’t destroy your yard unnecessarily! ^{[8] X Research Sources}

Crumple the paper into a handful and place it in the hole in the ground. Sprinkle some water over the paper handful (no more than ¼ cup). You can rub some soil on the paper before doing this step; The mud will cause the paper to become dirty and smudged.

Put the ground up. Make sure to cover the paper grip with soil. Soil will gradually wear down and damage the paper, so you need to make sure the soil is covered around the paper handful.

Pick up the paper in 3-14 days. The waiting time depends on whether you like the old paper more or less.

Advice

The paper will look older and more refined if you burn it while the paper is still damp from water stains.
Practice the fire method with several other sheets of paper before working on the official paper.
Make sure not to pour too much liquid; otherwise, the paper may be torn.
If you want the paper to have dark creases, fold the paper before you dip it in the solution or spray it on the paper.
If using coffee to age the paper, you can add a few drops of red wine to the coffee. The two substances have different properties, so the coffee will spread, while the wine will settle in the “small wrinkles”, creating a very old-fashioned effect.
Spray a clear coat of varnish after the paper has dried to create a finish.
Freedom to combine methods. For example, you can stain the paper, bake it, and then bury it for a few days.
Soy sauce works quite well, although it can create a darker stain than you would like, so you should dilute the soy sauce with water. It’s best to use soy sauce with the baking method.
Don’t use a ballpoint pen or a pencil with a light color because the stroke will not be visible, it is better to use a blue or black ballpoint pen to prevent the writing from being smudged.

Warning

If using the wet dip method, don’t try to dip multiple sheets of paper at once. The pages will stick together. Instead, you should dip each sheet separately with the same tea.
Do not soak the paper for too long, or it will start to crumble.
Do not place the paper too close to the flame, or it will catch fire and burn.
If you are under 18 years old, you need to have an adult supervise you when using fire.
If the paper has ink written on it, do not immerse it in the solution; otherwise, it will be blurred and very difficult to read. Use a ballpoint pen or pencil.
When grilling, do not use a grill or anything without a solid bottom, otherwise bright spots will appear on the paper at the location of the grill.

Things you need

Paper
Tea or coffee bags
Aerosol
Rub
Baking tray or pan
Tissue
Griller
Candles or lighters
Hairdryer

Steps