Aging   

Besides the aging of the paper right from the beginning, You will get an even better result by doing additional aging when You Diary /Inserts are all done. Just remember that some of these methods is based on water, so the text and drawings must be made with waterproof ink.

Below I´ve collected aging-methods from varios Grail-Diary makers, and should You have a brilliant method, please mail me, and I´ll set it up here

• Marc: I know this might sound strange, but since nothing alters paper the way that direct sunlight does: taking the inserts into the solarium really makes them look old after a couple of times.
   

• Indy Magnoli: The best thing I've found to match the aging in the diary is to apply strong coffee with a spray bottle. After spraying close the book to make an "ink blot" type mirror image and then either dab it dry with a soft cloth (don't let this cloth get saturated with coffee, otherwise you'll end up putting cloth patterns onto later pages) or continue onto the next page without dabbing dry. If you leave the pages wet they may tend to buckle, but if you're not to heavy handed with the spray and keep the book under weight when you're done, you should get zero warping of the paper. When I've aged each spread individually, I close the book and spray the heck out of the closed book. This I always wipe dry.
  
  Using the method can produce some very authentic mildew looking stains. And the smell of coffee when you open the diary always brings a smile to my face.

• Brendan: I've also found that dry, powdered brown paint works well. I repeat: dry, powdered paint, the kind you mix with water to make regular paint. You can buy it in a bottle at most art stores. It looks like dirt.
  
  Sprinkle a small, light amount of the powder on the page, then blot it gently (do NOT smear) with a tissue. Then tilt the page so that the excess powder falls away (you might have to tap or blow on the page to get all the trace amounts of powder off). Wherever you have blotted, you should see a convincing mottled, brown speckle effect that is very convincing. For best results, be very patient, and do this sparingly. If you put it on every page it will look fake, like you did it on purpose. If you look at the Archives book and other authentic prop sources (not to mention genuine old books) you'll see that some pages don't look that aged at all, while others are very weathered.
  
  Coffee and tea can work, but be careful... even if you avoid warping the pages you can still smear your ink, not to mention make your book smell suspiciously like a Starbucks (whether this is appealing or not depends on the individual, I guess!) Anyway, I used my powdered paint technique on my own Magnoli diary, and I don't mean to toot my own horn, but Cooler King of TheIndyExperience.com declared it the best diary replica he had ever seen. Here's a pic... looks pretty decent, right?

• Doeindy: Tea and Coffee/Sun Light (really good)/Dry dusted paint/Oven heat (Don't go mad thou)/Lightly Charcol your finger tips, and rub it in.

• Misek2000: Aging the paper of your diary takes a lot of time. The method i use frequently now is instant aging. The coffee and tea mixtures did not give the result i needed. I think it depends on the kind of paper used.
  Mine is off white and a little water repellent.
  
  The product used is LEMON JUICE.
  I use a spray botlle to apply. Iron the paper with the iron on the hottest mark (Cotton or linnen). The lemon juice will discolor ,depending on the heat an time it will turn light to dark brown.
  The paper can still be used for those who like to use the printer for text and graphics.On my paper sometimes small drops are formed , on the pages i don't like them i use a cloth to spread them. Different result can be obtained in this form of instant aging.
  Also the combination with the tea concentrate is possible,the darker spots will blend more in the background because the paper is absorbing and spreading the lemon juice more even.

• Laurent: I'm using the same method everyone does, ie coffee and ink, but I'm letting the book dry close, it takes a long time to dry and moisture develops by itself on the pages. But most important, you need to observe the way real books age. What takes this brownish color is always the edge of the pages since the rest is protected when the book is closed (ie most of the time). Stains in the inside appear when the book is opened in bad situation (rain, when the diary falls, when it is badly held and manipulated). Every stain tells a special story.

• Continent: Particularly successful document forgers have used ammonia to artificially age both the ink and the pages.
  
  After you have drawn or written in the journal, get a large airtight box such as a beach cooler. Avoid using styrofoam because it may react badly with the ammonia. If you don't have a cooler large enough, a cardboard box will do, just enclose it in a large plastic garbage bag.
  
  Next, fill a wide, shallow pan or dish with household ammonia and place in the bottom of the box.
  
  Using rubber bands or string, tie down the open journal to the inside of the lid. The book should be open, and when the lid is placed on the box, the pages should hang suspended over (but not touching) the ammonia in the pan.
  
  It is the fumes from the ammonia that ages the paper and ink, not the ammonia itself. You may have to experiment with different types of ink and paper in order to get the desired effect. Fountain pen ink is probably the best choice, but different brands or colors may yield different results.
  
  After the book is finished with the ammonia fuming (a day or two, perhaps?) and has rested for a day or so, make a STRONG pot of tea and gently apply the tea to the ends of the pages of the closed book with a rag (a sponge will oversaturate the pages and paper towels will leave a residue). Once again, do this gently and while the book is closed tight, or else you may warp the pages.
  
  An alternative to the tea method which is more time consuming but less likely to result in warped pages is to purchase some bronzing powder from the makeup counter at the drug store. With a small, soft makeup brush, apply a light coating of the powder to the top, side, and bottom edges of each page, front and back. It is a good idea to have a second, clean brush to remove any excess, always brushing out towards the end of the page.
  
  Work slowly and methodically after experimenting with ink and paper and you should end up with an authentic-looking piece. However,
  BE CAREFUL!!! . Household ammonia is still a dangerous chemical and its fumes can rapidly overcome you, especially if they mix with the fumes of another chemical. Always work in a well ventilated area and take frequent breaks to get some fresh air .

• Karin: Spray your page lightly with water - then sprinkle instant coffee granules on the page.  Don't get too heavy handed with either the water or the
  granules.  Let the page dry.  Shake or blow the granules off the page, do not brush off as you may break up the granules and leave smears.
  This gives the appearance of 'foxing' (which are those little brown spots you usually get inside the covers of old books and can sometimes be found on
  the pages as well)
  
  You could also mix rock salt with the coffee granules to get an interesting effect of light and dark spots as the coffee bleeds into the paper and the
  salt soaks it up.  Looks good but I would recommend experimenting on a blank piece of your paper first (obviously) as not all papers work the same.
  
  You could also whitewash the page.  Dilute white acrylic paint to an ink-like consistency. Paint the surface with a sponge brush to soften the
  colours.  Altering the strength of the paint solution will change the results.
  
  Ideas for aging the inserts or giving them a worn look:
  
  After printing out and making up your insert:
  
  * crumple it up, flatten it out and then iron it.
  
  * rub steel wool or very fine sandpaper along the edges
  
  * soak in a coffee or tea solution then bake it in the oven to dry

• indiana Holt :Ok first it requires a sauna leave it there for about two or three hours.I by the otherhand leaved it there for about a day since I am so lucky that a friend of mine has a sauna in his basement.ok after the paper is all soft and wet spray it with a mixture of brown sugar/salt and tea.
  lay under preashure.after 6 or 7 hours.after that I tape the hole book(cover down)to the inside of a cardboard box.(YOU NEED A BIG ONE)take a pan and fill it with the strongest amonia you can get.put the box with the diary over the pan,of course now the book hangs over the pan with the leaves down.leave it there a while and check every hour or so to see if you get the aging you want.I know I did.
  
  

• Indiana Holt : I never use the old way of aging anymore.in the older days I age before binding....what a JOB! it took so much time to get one diary done.I stopped pretty soon after seing that this was a dead end project for me.
  
  I bind the diary and then age it.I use a special blend that invented and became very happy with.I spray it,dabb dry.spray some more,close the book. dabb dry it again.when everything is done( after7 hours of aging it by hand) I leave it out wet under preasure in an old basement that is extrmely moist and really just an awfull place for paper to dry in.( I love that place) anyways..the special aging blend I have made reacts to the moist and beginns to develope real moist stains and gives a really nice vintage look to the aging when it's done....I leave it their for about 3 weeks...so yes! I must have pattience with this diary project,but in the end it gives that really nice look of what you see on film. (Editor´s comment: good method, however this requires "yellowish" paper from the start - starting up with pure white paper will hardly get a good result.)