Tea Staining Your Paper

[rocketeerandroll]

I do bookbinding as a hobby and have had much luck in adding a wonderful "antique" look to regular paper through tea staining.

 

I thought I would leave some tips for people wanting to do this at home.

 

Tea bags are best when not diluted with too much water, because essentially you are painting the pages. Use 1/4 of cup of hot water and start dipping. Don't leave the bag in for too long, soak it just enough to gently plop down on the paper and cover with gentle streaks.

 

It's best to lay down several layers of cardboard box cardboard for this project. The more you have the better. Pages can be "painted" on both sides. You have to be careful not to break the bag by keeping it filled with enough water so you are perpetually dipping, but you want the residue to get onto the paper. You can add more water to the glass you are using as needed, but not having a lot when you dip helps with preventing the dilution.

 

Next, layering. I usually layer the sheets over each other in a large semi circle. You can layer and layer, it will dry out and it is rare that the pages will tear or stick to each other when they dry. But just be sure and keep an eye out for that.

 

Wait a day for the pages to dry completely. The next step is flattening them out again. They will be somewhat wrinkled. Take the sheets, all in one stack, and weigh them down on a flat surface. I use actual weights (I use them to intermittently work out in the backyard) but you can just as easily use a few heavy books. Depending on the weight, the flattening process takes one or two days. Unless you happen to have a book press handy and then it can be considerably reduced from what I've heard. Those cost about a hundred bucks, and I don't have the real desire to get one to find out.

 

I have had the most luck with the following teas for paper that is both pleasing to the eye, and has an antique, turn of the century pirate-era look to it.

 

rooibos - first and foremost the greatest color I have seen. Really gorgeous deep reddish tinted golden yellow.

 

honey chamomile - lighter golden yellow, still very pleasing.

 

hibiscus - had some really nice pinkish-golden yellow paper come from this.

 

I have not had great luck with green teas. Black teas tend to be rather brash, sort of giving paper a light charcoal look. Not really what I'm going for but if that's what does it for you feel free to experiment!

 

I hope you enjoy this tutorial.

[TMLee]

Interesting !!!!

 

I might try this.

 

But any pics ?

 

How extensive is the staining? Edges only ? Or more?

 

Thanks for sharing

[The Good Captain]

Interesting. Tea was one of the methods we used to use to 'distress' or 'antique' black & white photographic paper (better on fibre-based not resin coated). This was because no matter what could be done to the emulsion or image, the paper base was always too white.

Nowadays it happens when I drink clumsily when writing!!!!!

[rocketeerandroll]

Interesting !!!!

 

I might try this.

 

But any pics ?

 

How extensive is the staining? Edges only ? Or more?

 

Thanks for sharing

 

I usually try to "paint" the entire side, then I turn it over and paint the other side with the bag.

 

You can just as easily try just to do the middle, the bottom or top, but I like the whole look because otherwise it looks slightly off. Splattering is another method you can do, and I have seen a few artists online at other forums using that for various drawings, blotting tea as a kind of watercolor on art papers before painting on the main subject of fill in the blank.

 

No pics at the moment. Sorry.