Mak­ing Old Paper

If you’re aim­ing to infuse a sense of genu­ine antiquity into your present­a­tion mater­i­als – wheth­er it be an old-style let­ter con­tain­ing cards, akin to those used in the Gipsy Curse, or per­haps a cal­en­dar resem­bling an ancient leath­er-bound tome – here’s my proven meth­od for excep­tion­al results.

Begin with the most eco­nom­ic­al recycled paper you can find. News­pa­pers, now avail­able in note­pad form, are a great option, as is hand­made paper, which can also provide excel­lent results.

To give the paper an old-world charm, I use AQUACLOU liquid wood stain, eas­ily found in the paint sec­tion of any hard­ware store. This stain is avail­able in a range of col­ors, allow­ing you to choose based on how aged you want the paper to appear. I often choose beech, a some­what light­er tone, for a subtle aged effect.

When apply­ing the wood stain with a sponge, make sure to cov­er both sides of the paper. Embrace your artist­ic side by adding a few irreg­u­lar spots – the object­ive is to cre­ate a con­vin­cingly aged look. Recycled paper is par­tic­u­larly suited for this tech­nique due to its super­i­or absorbency. While the paper is still damp, crumple it into a tight ball to ensure thor­ough saturation.

Then, care­fully unfold the paper and tear it to achieve your desired edges. If you’re going for a rough, torn look rather than clean-cut edges, do this while the paper is still moist, using a ruler as your guide.

The trans­form­at­ive step comes next: smooth out the damp paper by iron­ing it on a medi­um heat set­ting. This not only dries the paper thor­oughly but also embeds the creases, enhan­cing the antique appear­ance. You’ll end up with paper that both looks and feels authen­tic­ally aged.

This arti­fi­cially aged paper is now ready for use and can be fed into a laser or inkjet print­er, just like stand­ard paper. You are now equipped to cre­ate a vari­ety of props with a con­vin­cingly vin­tage look. This meth­od ensures that each piece of paper not only car­ries an authen­t­ic aged appear­ance but also retains the func­tion­al­ity for mod­ern print­ing needs. Wheth­er it’s for the­at­ric­al props, unique present­a­tions, or cre­at­ive art pro­jects, this tech­nique offers an easy and effect­ive way to pro­duce old-look­ing doc­u­ments that still meet con­tem­por­ary requirements.