Aging
Besides the aging of the paper right from the beginning, You will get an even better result by doing additional aging when You Diary /Inserts are all done. Just remember that some of these methods is based on water, so the text and drawings must be made with waterproof ink.
Below IŽve collected aging-methods from varios Grail-Diary makers, and should You have a brilliant method, please mail me, and IŽll set it up here
Marc: I know this might sound
strange, but since nothing alters paper the way that direct sunlight does:
taking the inserts into the solarium really makes them look old after a couple
of times.
Indy Magnoli: The best thing I've
found to match the aging in the diary is to apply strong coffee with a spray
bottle. After spraying close the book to make an "ink blot" type mirror image
and then either dab it dry with a soft cloth (don't let this cloth get
saturated with coffee, otherwise you'll end up putting cloth patterns onto
later pages) or continue onto the next page without dabbing dry. If you leave
the pages wet they may tend to buckle, but if you're not to heavy handed with
the spray and keep the book under weight when you're done, you should get zero
warping of the paper. When I've aged each spread individually, I close the
book and spray the heck out of the closed book. This I always wipe dry.
Using the method can produce some very authentic mildew looking stains. And
the smell of coffee when you open the diary always brings a smile to my face.
Brendan:
I've also found that dry, powdered brown paint works
well. I repeat: dry, powdered paint, the kind you mix with water to make
regular paint. You can buy it in a bottle at most art stores. It looks like
dirt.
Sprinkle a small, light amount of the powder on the page, then blot it gently
(do NOT smear) with a tissue. Then tilt the page so that the excess powder
falls away (you might have to tap or blow on the page to get all the trace
amounts of powder off). Wherever you have blotted, you should see a convincing
mottled, brown speckle effect that is very convincing. For best results, be
very patient, and do this sparingly. If you put it on every page it will look
fake, like you did it on purpose. If you look at the Archives book and other
authentic prop sources (not to mention genuine old books) you'll see that some
pages don't look that aged at all, while others are very weathered.
Coffee and tea can work, but be careful... even if you avoid warping the pages
you can still smear your ink, not to mention make your book smell suspiciously
like a Starbucks (whether this is appealing or not depends on the individual,
I guess!) Anyway, I used my powdered paint technique on my own Magnoli diary,
and I don't mean to toot my own horn, but Cooler King of
TheIndyExperience.com declared it the best diary replica he had ever seen. Here's a pic... looks
pretty decent, right?
Doeindy: Tea and Coffee/Sun Light (really good)/Dry dusted paint/Oven heat (Don't go mad thou)/Lightly Charcol your finger tips, and rub it in.
Misek2000: Aging the paper of
your diary takes a lot of time. The method i use frequently now is instant
aging. The coffee and tea mixtures did not give the result i needed. I think
it depends on the kind of paper used.
Mine is off white and a little water repellent.
The product used is LEMON JUICE.
I use a spray botlle to apply. Iron the paper with the iron on the hottest
mark (Cotton or linnen). The lemon juice will discolor ,depending on the heat
an time it will turn light to dark brown.
The paper can still be used for those who like to use the printer for text and
graphics.On my paper sometimes small drops are formed , on the pages i don't
like them i use a cloth to spread them. Different result can be obtained in
this form of instant aging.
Also the combination with the tea concentrate is possible,the darker spots
will blend more in the background because the paper is absorbing and spreading
the lemon juice more even.
Laurent: I'm using the same method everyone does, ie coffee and ink, but I'm letting the book dry close, it takes a long time to dry and moisture develops by itself on the pages. But most important, you need to observe the way real books age. What takes this brownish color is always the edge of the pages since the rest is protected when the book is closed (ie most of the time). Stains in the inside appear when the book is opened in bad situation (rain, when the diary falls, when it is badly held and manipulated). Every stain tells a special story.
Continent: Particularly
successful document forgers have used ammonia to artificially age both the ink
and the pages.
After you have drawn or written in the journal, get a large airtight box such
as a beach cooler. Avoid using styrofoam because it may react badly with the
ammonia. If you don't have a cooler large enough, a cardboard box will do,
just enclose it in a large plastic garbage bag.
Next, fill a wide, shallow pan or dish with household ammonia and place in the
bottom of the box.
Using rubber bands or string, tie down the open journal to the inside of the
lid. The book should be open, and when the lid is placed on the box, the pages
should hang suspended over (but not touching) the ammonia in the pan.
It is the fumes from the ammonia that ages the paper and ink, not the ammonia
itself. You may have to experiment with different types of ink and paper in
order to get the desired effect. Fountain pen ink is probably the best choice,
but different brands or colors may yield different results.
After the book is finished with the ammonia fuming (a day or two, perhaps?)
and has rested for a day or so, make a STRONG pot of tea and
gently apply the tea to the ends of
the pages of the closed book with a rag (a sponge will oversaturate the pages
and paper towels will leave a residue). Once again, do this
gently and while the book is closed
tight, or else you may warp the pages.
An alternative to the tea method which is more time consuming but less likely
to result in warped pages is to purchase some bronzing powder from the makeup
counter at the drug store. With a small, soft makeup brush, apply a light
coating of the powder to the top, side, and bottom edges of each page, front
and back. It is a good idea to have a second, clean brush to remove any excess,
always brushing out towards the end of the page.
Work slowly and methodically after experimenting with ink and paper and you
should end up with an authentic-looking piece. However,
BE CAREFUL!!! . Household ammonia is
still a dangerous chemical and its fumes can rapidly overcome you, especially
if they mix with the fumes of another chemical. Always work in a well
ventilated area and take frequent breaks to get some fresh air .
Karin: Spray your page
lightly with water - then sprinkle instant coffee granules on the page. Don't
get too heavy handed with either the water or the
granules. Let the page dry. Shake or blow the granules off the page, do not
brush off as you may break up the granules and leave smears.
This gives the appearance of 'foxing' (which are those little brown spots you
usually get inside the covers of old books and can sometimes be found on
the pages as well)
You could also mix rock salt with the coffee granules to get an interesting
effect of light and dark spots as the coffee bleeds into the paper and the
salt soaks it up. Looks good but I would recommend experimenting on a blank
piece of your paper first (obviously) as not all papers work the same.
You could also whitewash the page. Dilute white acrylic paint to an ink-like
consistency. Paint the surface with a sponge brush to soften the
colours. Altering the strength of the paint solution will change the results.
Ideas for aging the inserts or giving them a worn look:
After printing out and making up your insert:
* crumple it up, flatten it out and then iron it.
* rub steel wool or very fine sandpaper along the edges
* soak in a coffee or tea solution then bake it in the oven to dry
indiana Holt :Ok first it
requires a sauna leave it
there for about two or three hours.I by the otherhand leaved it there for
about a day since I am so lucky that a friend of mine has a sauna in his
basement.ok after the paper is all soft and wet spray it with a mixture of
brown sugar/salt and tea.
lay under preashure.after 6 or 7 hours.after that I tape the hole book(cover
down)to the inside of a cardboard box.(YOU NEED A BIG ONE)take a pan and fill
it with the strongest amonia you can get.put the box with the diary over the
pan,of course now the book hangs over the pan with the leaves down.leave it
there a while and check every hour or so to see if you get the aging you
want.I know I did.
Indiana Holt : I never use
the old way of aging anymore.in the older days I age before binding....what
a JOB! it took so much time to get one diary done.I stopped pretty soon after
seing that this was a dead end project for me.
I bind the diary and then age it.I use a special blend that invented and
became very happy with.I spray it,dabb dry.spray some more,close the book.
dabb dry it again.when everything is done( after7 hours of aging it by hand) I
leave it out wet under preasure in an old basement that is extrmely moist and
really just an awfull place for paper to dry in.( I love that place)
anyways..the special aging blend I have made reacts to the moist and beginns
to develope real moist stains and gives a really nice vintage look to the
aging when it's done....I leave it their for about 3 weeks...so yes! I must
have pattience with this diary project,but in the end it gives that really
nice look of what you see on film. (EditorŽs comment: good method, however
this requires "yellowish" paper from the start - starting up with pure white
paper will hardly get a good result.)