We all have to do it at some point… the horrific history projects!! These can seem to be quite difficult to do. Here’s an old technique I used this week for my history project.
My history project consisted of “Diary Entries”, written by a Spanish sailor in the 16th Century. Obviously if they were written back then they wouldn’t be the lovely white paper we have now! So, here’s a tip I used to make my diary entries look really old, using tea-staining!
Here we go . .
Pre-heat your oven to 90°C (or the lowest possible heat setting).
Print out your pieces of paper first. It is better to do this first because no way will crinkled, tea-stained sheets work well in a printer!
Put teabags in a microwaveable jug and add plenty of boiled water. Use one teabag per two or three pages as a guideline.
Get a soft pastry brush or wide paintbrush. It is best if the pastry brush is NOT silicone – it will not spread the liquid as well.
Put the microwavable jug, with the teabags in it, in the microwave on full power for one minute. When it is done, squeeze the teabags against the side of the jug using a teaspoon to get as much tea out of them as possible.
Put your individual pieces of paper onto baking trays. Make sure they are completely flat. If you have lots of paper and very little baking trays, you may need to repeat this procedure multiple times! Pour a small bit of the tea into the middle of one of the sheets of paper. Use the brush to push the water all around the piece of paper, reaching all the way out to the edges.
Leave these to soak for one minute, then repeat step 7 again on the back.
After one minute, put all the baking trays in the oven, with the wet paper on them. Take them out after 5-6 minutes, turn them over and put back in for another 1-2 minutes. BE CAREFUL – THE TRAYS MAY BE HOT.
Repeat the whole process again (steps 6-11) if needed. If you run out of tea, make sure you use new tea bags.
You have now tea-stained your work!
