007 said:
Alright, now that I've ordered the kit and found myself a journal that i like, does one age the pages of the book before or after writing and drawing in them? And do you find that the lemon juice/sugar water and iron method seem to work the best? I read somewhere, I think it was on Indygear, that one can use dry powdered paint, but it seems as if this would rub off?
I've tried 'em all, and this is what I think works best/easiest. It is done AFTER putting the text and drawings in the book. (Make sure you use a water-resistant ink!)
1) Mix up some acrylic paints and water to get a very thin mix of what looks like coffee with a LOT of cream in it. This is what will go on first. Put this in a cheap spritzer bottle.
2)
DO THIS PART QUICKLY. Spritz a pair of pages
lightly with the paint (you still want quite a bit of white showing through), close the book to make the pages' patterns mirror images of each other, then dab off (don't rub) the excess paint with a cotton cloth. Dabbing it off keeps the paper from getting saturated and wrinkled and it also keeps the splotches more natural-looking.
3) Keeping the book open with paper clips or rubber bands, let this set of pages dry. Continue your way through the book this way.
4) Mix up a second batch of acrylic and water. You're looking for a slightly darker color this time, but not too dark. Sometimes, I add a bit of reddish color to it just to change it up from the first color.
5) Spritz, close, and dab off, just like before, but in an even lighter coat. You want the pages to be mostly the lighter color with small splotches and dots of the darker color in irregular patterns. Again, let each set of pages dry completely before moving to the next set.
6) Now weather the outer edges with the two colors of mix. Don't use too much. A little goes a long way, and too much will wrinkle your edges.
7) Finally, weather the outside cover of your book in the same way. (You may want to roughen up the edges and corners of your book with some high-grit sandpaper first.) Again, don't use too much paint mixture. Too much here could possibly loosen the glue used to hold your cover material on the backing board.
Hope that helps!
Wayne