It's the end of the school year, so you know what THAT means......school projects!!
J had to make a "mountain man journal" for his Utah Studies class.
He wanted it to look old, so here is what we did:
J had to make a "mountain man journal" for his Utah Studies class.
He wanted it to look old, so here is what we did:
First we "aged" the paper. I used a 9x13 cake pan and filled it 1/3 full with coffee. Really super strong coffee. I just bought the cheapest instant coffee I could find and mixed it with the water in the pan. (I used a LOT of coffee - I wanted it dark....) Then we took regular printer paper, wrinkled it up a
little bit and dipped it in the coffee. We let it drip off a little and then put it on a cookie sheet
(one piece of paper at a time) and then into a 200 degree oven for a minute to dry out.
This worked really well. We made a bunch in just a short amount of time.
little bit and dipped it in the coffee. We let it drip off a little and then put it on a cookie sheet
(one piece of paper at a time) and then into a 200 degree oven for a minute to dry out.
This worked really well. We made a bunch in just a short amount of time.
I used a little chalk around the edges of the paper to give it a little more depth.
You can find these in the scrapbooking section of your favorite craft store.
We ran a test page through the printer - it worked!! After I thought about it, it would probably be better to print on the paper FIRST and then age it. Oh well. Live and learn. We printed the pages without too much trouble. A couple of pages got a little tear on the edges, but we decided that it just enhanced the aging :)
We printed the pages in order. J did not want to stack the pages, he wanted them folded in half and
set in the book side by side. We had to enlist my husband to help with the binding process.
First, he laid out strips of black duct tape.
set in the book side by side. We had to enlist my husband to help with the binding process.
First, he laid out strips of black duct tape.
Then he stuck the first and last pages of the journal to the duct tape.
Be sure to leave enough room in between the pages for the rest to fit in.....
Be sure to leave enough room in between the pages for the rest to fit in.....
My husband cut a notch in the tape where the binding will be, then they folded the
extra tape over the first and last pages...
extra tape over the first and last pages...
and added another piece to make a straight edge.....
We stuck the rest of the papers in between the first and last and pressed them into the "binding."
That's it!! Do you know the best part of this project??
J got 10 extra credit points for all the hard work!!
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