TIPS

This page is really for general tips associated with books and libraries, however, the main feedback seems to have been in ways to make paper look old.

There are several ways to make paper look old, here are just a few.

WARNING - several of these suggestions put paper into an oven or uses naked flames;  please watch this process very carefully to ensure it does not catch alight. An adult should always be present.

1:  Get a square pan big enough to hold your paper.

2:  Make coffee and tea with no sugar or anything else. Mix those two.

3:  Pour the liquid into the pan.

4:  Lay paper flat in pan.

5:  Soak for about 1 minute.

6:  Remove, spread on a flat surface.

7:  Put in microwave for 10 minutes.

Done - effect: old, yellowish, wrinkled.

Jing Han

1. Put lemon juice around the outside. (this goes browner when in the oven).

2.Make a cup of tea without milk or sugar. Use the tea bag and the tea to stain.

3. Put in the oven for ten minutes.

4. take out and burn the edges after damping down the middle part so it doesn't catch alight.

5. Put in the oven again for five minutes

You now have an old document.

Natalie Markwell

• A quick and effective way of making paper look old, is to "paint" The paper with a wet teabag until you get the desired darkness, put paper on a plate, and microwave for 1 minute. Then use matches to brown and char edges. To make old brown spots, hold a match about 2-3 inches below the paper until smoke spots start to appear. Also brown and char edges with matches, and then wrinkle paper by carefully scrunching it into a ball.

Mary Kingswoood

• Use a wet tea bag  and soak for about 1 or 2 minutes.

Chloe Bacon (9 years old)

• I discovered while experimenting for a project that if you soak paper in just enough lemon juice to get your paper wet and to slightly cover the bottom of the pan for about ten minutes and put in the oven at 350 for about ten more minutes the paper looks old and it gives the edges a slightly charred look.

  Krystle

• Soak paper in pan big enough to hold it and add 9 tea bags (less if you like) to the water.  After soaking, cook until given the look you desire.          

Lauren and Laura

• First, you put the paper facedown on a metal cookie sheet with rims. Pour coffee on top (be sure you don't leave any white spots) and put in oven. Once most is evaporated, take it out and dump the rest of coffee out. Bake it for a few more minutes till its crispy then take it out.

David McNeill

• Spread milk all over the paper and put it in the oven at 360 degrees for a half a hour to a hour.

Tracy Burnau

WARNING - Keep an eye on the paper during this process in case it catches light!

"g-dogg"

Fred Sallach

Rebecca Booth

• Make 1 pot of dark coffee with no sugar or milk. Combine it with 5 or more teabags and then leave the coffee to settle for about 2 hours to 2 hours and a half. Then take a paintbrush and paint over the paper with the coffee and tea and then let it dry over night between 2 white pieces of paper.

Roselyn Chang

Contributed by Lauren E. Reichart

• Another method on a similar note has been received from Harjit Saimbhi -

1. make a coffee, with no milk

2.pour on the paper which is in a tray

3.pour out the coffee

4.get a hairdryer and put it on full blast

5.dry evenly

Hey presto, old paper

• If you want to add those little brown age spots, sprinkle individual grains of instant coffee onto the paper whilst damp, these will spread giving the really authentic looking mark.

• Also, ripping the edges all the way around can help to give it an aged look. 

Courtesy of Natalie

• A hint to making a paper look old would be to drip lemon juice on the edges of the paper and put it in the oven.

Ashleigh

• After soaking it in tea put in the dryer for 1 minute or 30 seconds to make it look crumpled or crumple it by hand.

Annalyn Donaldson

 

• I heard that using an iron will help age paper as well.

George Rye

• Another way to make paper look old is to put it over a candle.  But that is very dangerous as it could turn into a pile of ash! (you end up with dark spots too.)

Michael Moloney

• I put my paper into a cookie sheet and soaked it in tea for 10 minutes or so. After, I put another cookie sheet, slightly smaller, on top of the paper so it wouldn't warp. Then what worked well was putting the cookie sheet over the stove (covering 2 flame...things) 5 minutes and one side of the paper and 5 on the other and it dried it nicely.

Anon

Again be very careful when putting the tray on the stove or over a flame.  

May also not be suitable for some ovens.

• If you are looking for alternative words or are at a loss for the right word to fit a thought a Thesaurus is invaluable.  This is a collection of synonyms on a grand scale.

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NOW OVER TO YOU!!!

Can you think of a good tip you would like to see here (or anywhere else for that matter)?

Send it to us at june@hintsandthings.co.uk and we will add it, mentioning your name of course.