Old Worlde Aged Paper

 

I found this wonderfully simple tutorial for aging paper to come up with some easy and serendipitous surface designs.  Great textures!

I worked in the kitchen with a very strong cup of coffee, with 3+ heaping teaspoons of Folger's instant coffee.  [I'm not a coffee drinker, so yes, I bought the cheap stuff.]   I used a tray as my work area, painting on the coffee.  Then I laid the wet sheets of paper on a cookie sheet and baked them in a 200-degree oven until dry.  This worked great!  I kept going until I ran out  of the coffee.

I used 3 types of paper :
     Watercolor Paper
     Regular old copy / printer paper
     Hand-Laid Stationary (which I use in my hand-made journals)

The watercolor paper was so thick, it was hard to manipulate.  I think if I continue to work it (crumpling and crinkling it), it will become more like fabric.  Probably best to "work" the watercolor paper BEFORE applying the coffee.

Here are some of my favorite pieces from the session :

 

On watercolor paper.

Salt added to wet coffee painted paper.  It created the star patterning as it dried.

The full sheet with salt patterning at edges.

Some of them even came out looking like old leather.

What an enjoyable way to spend a Sunday afternoon in the kitchen!