Giving paper a aged look can be tricky. Why, because aged paper has a subtle yet very specific yellowish color. Manly this is caused by time, oxidation. If you try and use the usual paints and dies the color will often come out to yellow, to brown or just to intense to look real.
So what do you do? Well there is one substance that I know of that stains paper just right to make it look believably time worn. It is a exotic substance made from a small bean that has been carefully cultivated and is prized by people around the world, especially those that have a hard time waking up in the morning!
Coffee, ya your morning Joe.
As we all know coffee stains as well as it perks us up, so why don't we put it those staining powers to work for us.
There are two ways I recommend to use coffee to "age" paper. One means you get to have your coffee and craft with it too. The other...not so much.
The first and easiest way to age your papers with coffee is to brew a fresh pot and then take the grounds and sprinkle/ spread/ dump them all over your nice paper. And then don't touch it. Really just leave it there. Really...HEY! I said don't touch it. He he.
Okay once it is dry you can brush off all the grounds. You will be left with a piece of paper the has a aged and parchment look to it.
The second method is my little twist on using coffee as a dye. What if you want a even aged look to your paper or maybe just around the edges or in a certain area. Or you just don't want the time and mess involved with the grounds. Here is what you can do.
Fill a paper coffee filter with about half a cup of ground coffee. Fold the sides up so that it looks like a little bag and wrap it closed with a rubber band.
Next take your little bag of coffee and soak it in a cup to two cups of 90% rubbing alcohol. Just watch. The alcohol is making a coffee extraction. Cool huh! Let the coffee steep in the alcohol until it is nice and dark ( maybe a half an hour or so ). Now you can poor it into a spray bottle and you have a control able, store able, portable, coffee scented, aging dye for your papers.
Just spritz it on to your papers and let dry, or use your heat gun to dry it. You will love the effect and the easy control the spray bottle gives you.
And don't worry about it going bad, because it is a alcohol extracted dye it will have a long shelf life.
Who said aging wasn't fun!
Pics will be added soon.
