Aging Paper in the oven

I've spent more than a few nights baking paper in the oven, let me tell you! It's really easy and you can come up with some really cool stuff.

For my first try I just used left-over coffee and grounds. I crumpled up some regular white printer paper, ripped it into eight rectangles, and soaked it in the cold coffee inside of a baking pan. I set the oven on its lowest setting (200 degrees F on mine) then drained out the extra liquid. I left some coffee grounds and shallow puddles of liquid to make darker pieces. Then I just baked it for 20-ish minutes, keeping an eye on it to make sure it didn't burn. Eventually the ends will start peeling off the pan and you'll know it's done.

Since then I've also used black tea and red wine and I think all three colors look awesome.

Three different baked papers, along with papyrus and normal white paper for color comparison

In the picture above:
A. Papyrus
B. Coffee paper
C. Red wine paper
D. White printer paper
E. Black tea paper


I've also tried adding spices (cumin, oregano, cinnamon...anything 'leafy' or dark colored) and laying leaves (I used rose leaves from an arrangement my fiance had bought for me) on top. All I found was that the spices are really hard to scrape off after they're baked on so I wouldn't use them again. As I was typing this I suddenly thought that adding rock salt might make some awesome patterns (like when you add it on top of a watercolor painting).

I even tried burning the ends of the paper but it just smelled nasty so I gave up on that after the first sheet ;)

The red wine was just kind of a whim. I know, I know: what was I thinking even having left-over wine in the house?? I don't really drink it, though; Bailey's and cream is more my speed! Since I was on a paper-baking streak I decided, "what the heck," and treated it just like the coffee paper: soak it, drain it, and bake it. It seemed to take longer to dry out in the oven so it got more browned around the edges and higher parts than the other papers, while remaining a subtle purple color in the crevices.

Let me know if you have any questions or advice! Maybe one day I'll learn the art of bookbinding so that I can fill my own book with some fresh, home-baked paper!