Actually I just prefer to buy one. I have this addiction with paper and office supplies. There is something about notebooks especially. When they are brand new and all the pages untouched. I have stacks of them and I doubt I will ever write enough by hand to fill them up. Yet I can’t help myself. When I am on my way to the office supply store I always prep myself first. I repeat my mantra over and over again: do not buy shit you don’t need, do not buy shit you don’t need, do not buy shit you don’t need. The idea escapes me the moment I enter. I get washed over by the graphics, colors, journals, fancy pens, watercolors, markers and even a simple thing like glue.
So yes. I do not age paper often and prefer to drug myself with the stimuli the office supply store offers. But last year a friend had her birthday, she writes poetry and I figured a homemade notebook would make a nice gift.
The procedure is very simple. You need regular A4 white paper, a sponge/brushes and some coffee. Tea would probably work to and an oven doesn’t hurt (if you want to rush things). If you want you can first print some stuff on the paper. Maybe write a poem or just add a simple image here and there on the corners of the paper.
Then soak up the coffee with the sponge and cover both sides of the paper with it. You can then sprinkle some extra coffee on top.
I use the oven. I have no patience and space to let them dry on its own (+4 cats=mess). The temperatures can be low (100 C is enough – but you can go higher). The longer you burn it the more brown will the edges be. If you printed something on it before applying coffee that print will spill and fade (I personally like the effect).
After baking:
Here are some pictures of the notebook I made last year:
You can use coffee as paint too + it smells nice. The coffee aging is nothing new or special. You can find similar procedures online, but figured if I had to do this now (need it for a pirate map), might as well share it.