Distressing Technique: Age and Old

Everyone asks me about how to age paper... to give that old vintage look... corroded, distressed. This tutorial shows you how with water color and your paper.

I have this I'm going to be distressing...

Dab your paint brush in some water...

Take it to the tray, brush out excess water back and forth, I prefer this over tissue paper, as tissues take in way too much.

I start making my color now.. I want a tea stain look.

I mix the mustard, the rust and the brown.

Taking in some more water there...

Mixing it there.

Trying to wear out excess... you won't want to blot your paper completely!

Going to run the brush over...

gently..

you see the edges?

a little more here.

Now the 'torn' distress look.

Begin tearing off the edge of your paper/scrap do it in a way only the first layer of paper comes apart.

I did it all around.

Distressing it

Voila :)

Instead of Watercolor, you can try these alternatives:

- Peanut Butter. YES! Peanut butter, smooth on some peanut butter over the edges of your paper to give it the stained and aged feel. The only draw back is, you'll be inviting fungus and ants.

- Lemon Juice and a candle... Take a cotton ball, dab it in a bit of lemon juice. Distress the edges or area you want to age. Light a candle. Over the flame, gently 'toast' your paper, keep it about 1.5-2 inches above the flame to prevent flames to your paper. You'll see the lemon juice will begin to colorize into a caramel tone.. works wonders :) If you want to 'burn' the edges, hold the paper edges at an angle, close enough so that the flame begins to add soot to the edges and they turn auburn/black. Don't over do it, you'll end up setting your studio on fire!

Instead of tearing the edges, you can try this:

- Dampen your sheet of paper in water, by gently blotting it in a tray or plate. When the paper begins to dry, take a tooth brush and begin brushing against the edges. You'll achieve a fuzzy look. :)

- Instead of blotting the paper in the tray with water, you can take a spray gun. Dampen your paper, and begin brushing away the edges for the distressed look :D