Any ideas for artificially aging parchment?

[Drawmack]

I've found some stuff:


http://www.geocities.com/thepwpa/news/crafts/agedpaper.html
http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byform/mailing-lists/bookarts/1997/08/msg00218.html
http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~roy/magictalk-wisdom/discussions/aging_paper.html
http://www.worldzone.net/art/kezviola/paper.html
http://malephika.formmailer.net/ancient_paper.html

Some of these look really cool. Everything from discoloring paper to using photoshop to create the aged paper. There is even one on here that is used to make cloth-like paper for bindings and such. Imagine showing up to the game with your books looking like they've been in a dungeon for 200 years.

 

[seasong]

I don't usually do this stuff, simply because it takes too much time, but when I did:

I'm not going to go into tea bags and starches. Others have done an excellent job. So I'll just satisfy my inner pyromaniac, and talk about edge burning...

Edge burning: It's difficult to get burned paper that looks authentic - too often, it looks like someone just burned the edges and a hole on the left side.

If you want paper that looks like someone rescued it from a fire, cut about a third of the paper off, and then burn only along the side you cut off. I prefer to avoid cutting the bottom third - do something not quite so trite, and cut out the middle third, or a diagonal 1/6th of the upper right and lower left corners.

A candle is better than a match - the flame is steady, and you're not rushed. Hold the paper away from the flame, and slowly get it closer until the paper starts to brown. Keep it at that distance to brown a sizable chunk of the paper (maybe another 1/6th), and then get it close enough to burn the outermost edge.

Hold the paper so that the burning part is the highest section. You've already shaped the "burn", you don't need to let it get out of control.

On holes in the middle: If there's a hole, it's because the fire was touching the paper in the middle as well, before it was rescued. Make the hole as wide as the lost edge. Or, alternately, use the candle to simply brown several dots of fire in the middle of the paper, to represent nearness to the flame.

If you want to simulate an entire manuscript that was in a fire, I recommend baking. And having a fire extinguisher handy.

Put the "surviving pages" of the manuscript in a stack, lay on a cookie sheet, and bake at 350 degrees for 5 minute intervals. Keep an eye on it; when the outer sheets start to brown, crack and curl, it's done. Then use a candle to further brown the outermost sheet, and maybe some actual burns to give it the "rescued from fire" look.

Remember - the centermost pages of a thick book may survive a fire simply by being asphyxiated by the surrounding ashes, so you don't have to overdo it.