How do you tea stain a piece of paper?

To achieve an antique look, you can stain paper using bags of tea. Black tea provides the most-dramatic aging effect, though herbal and green teas also work.

1. Steep the tea

   Bring a pot of water to a boil. For every cup of water in the pot, place one tea bag into the water. Remove the water from the heat. As the water cools, the tea steeps.

2. Write on your paper

   Select a sheet of paper. Before you do anything else to the paper, add any writing or printed content you choose.

3. Wrinkle the paper

   Crumple the paper into a ball, then flatten it out again. Doing this makes the paper look more antique.

4. Apply tea to the paper

   There are two ways to do this. One is to pour the tea into a sheet pan and lay the paper in the pan, allowing it to soak for a few minutes until the tea has permeated the paper. Alternatively, you can use a paintbrush or the tea bags themselves to brush tea over the paper.

5. Dry the paper

   Lay the paper on a flat surface, and let it dry. If you are drying more than one sheet, make sure that no sheet overlaps another, as this can cause unwanted tearing.

6. Singe the edges

   To enhance the antique look, you can singe the edge of the paper with a lighter if you choose.