Stained Paper – Ink, Oil, Paint, Tea and Coffee

Aside from creating the look of ancient treasure maps, these various tea and coffee stained papers can be a great backdrop to draw, paint or collage with. Full of variations from opaque spots, watercolour trails, ink blots, and textural layers, you’ll be surprised at how different each stained paper will look.

You’ll need:

• Tea-bags and/or coffee granules
• Plain paper (e.g. printing paper)
• Tray (a deep sided tray e.g. a roasting tray)
• Hot water

Optional:

• Ink (preferably black)
• Acrylics
• Watercolours
• Vegetable oil

If you don’t have a drying rack; baking paper, cling film and tin foil are good surfaces to leave the paper to dry on – and because of their different textured surfaces, they’ll leave slightly different patterns.

Once the paper is completely dry, you’ll need to press it flat – heavy books work as a good weight to flatten them with.

COFFEE/TEA STAINED

To have one smooth overall colour method:

1. Tea (tear open three tea bags) or Coffee (two teaspoons) and spread the contents across the bottom of the tray. Pour in hot water till it’s deep enough to submerge the paper. Stir the granules well.
2. Then place the paper in, pushing down from the edges to the middle – fully submerging it. Leave for three minutes.
3. Carefully lift the paper out by its corners, stir the water, and turn the paper over – leaving it submerged for another three minutes.
4. Take out and leave to dry.

Variations:

• Try placing an extra spoon of coffee granules onto the water – they will momentarily float – then gently place the paper onto the water’s surface before lifting it back off to dry. This will grab the floating granules and create a marbling/waterfall effect.
• Before step 2: A mix of coffee & tea will create a darker shade to the paper.
• Change step 2: The longer you leave the paper in the tray, the darker the stain.
• When drying, place some coffee granules (sprinkle/clump/cluster – your choice) on top of the paper.
  – If you leave the granules to sit on wet paper they’ll slowly melt into very dark patches
  – Otherwise, if you add some water on top of the granules, they’ll spread together producing various shades.

PAINT-STAINED PAPER

You can do this with both acrylic and watercolour paint.

Method:

1. In a deep-sided tray make a coffee/tea mix in hot water and stir well.
2. Put the paint directly into the hot water – intersperse where you place it. How many different colours you choose is up to you.
3. Place the paper into the tray and push down till you feel the bottom, move side to side up and down – to help the paint stick to the paper – leave for three minutes.
4. Pull the paper out. The paint should now appear like blotches, but before leaving it to dry, let the paint/water run across the paper and back into the water. This will create fine streaks of paint.
5. Lay the paper to dry flat.OPTIONAL:

• Put the paint directly onto the paper before putting it into the hot water– this way you choose where the colours are placed, and once put into the tray, the paint will melt away in places.

OR

• Wet the paper, then place drops of watered-down paint across its surface. Due to the paper being wet, the paint will slowly bleed outwards.
  – Otherwise, don’t dilute the paint and put it directly onto the paper – which will cause it to very slowly spread outwards, with the paint remaining thicker in some places than others.

INK TEA-STAINED PAPER

(Works best with dark colours)

Method:

1. In a deep-sided tray make a coffee/tea mix in hot water and stir well.
2. Add a couple of drops of ink to the water – personally, black ink works best – do not stir, but swirl with the end of a paintbrush/cocktail stick.
3. Gently lay the paper across the surface of the water, and leave it like this till you can see the ink stain coming through – it will have set by then.
4. Turn the paper over, leave it for another three minutes in the tray. Do not push the paper down, but instead let it lay on the surface.
5. Gently take out and leave to dry.OPTIONAL:

• While the paper is still wet place a couple of extra ink drops onto it, this will cause it to bleed outwards and appear like the roots of a tree

VEGETABLE OIL

Method:

1. In a deep-sided tray make a coffee/tea mix in hot water and stir well.
2. Pour a few droplets of vegetable oil onto the surface – mix well. This causes the oil to split into much smaller “bubbles” of oil.
3. Lay a piece of paper on top of the water’s surface and then push down to submerge it. Leave for a couple of minutes, then pull out and leave to dry.
4. Where the oil sticks to the paper a clear transparent circle will form – stopping the coffee/tea stain from sinking in.OPTIONAL:

• Combine this with paint, by adding a few watered-down droplets to the tray. Again you’ll see “circles” of separation.

I hope you’ve had fun experimenting with these various techniques of ink, oil, paint, tea and coffee. Each creating that stained paper perfect for decoupage, paper canvases to create artwork onto, or maybe just for craft scrap. 

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