Ancient manuscripts can be very decorative, but they are usually very expensive and hard to find. You can get an original ancient document for your living room by following a few simple steps.
Steps
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Find a picture of a manuscript you like. It can be a page from a 4th century Gospel, an Egyptian papyrus, a Qumran scroll... Make sure the image is not copyrighted and that you can use it freely.
- Choose a piece of paper suitable to the style of document you want to forge. Thick, yellowish paper is usually more convenient.
- Print the image on the selected sheet of paper (make sure your printer allows it!).
- Cut out the image with a pair of scissors, so that only the text remains (eliminate the borders of the original picture).
- Crease the sheet of paper into a ball. Then dip it into a bowl of cold water in order to slightly blur the printed text.
- Unwrap the wet sheet and break it freely with your fingers into several uneven pieces. Discard some of them randomly.
- Dry the remaining pieces of paper in the oven. Be careful not to burn them!
- Dip the pieces of paper into a bowl of olive oil. Dry them again into the oven.
- Put the dry pieces on a table, in order to reshape the original document. Remember that some fragments are missing, so there’ll be some holes.
- Make some “age and moisture stains” with coffee and some soft cotton. Don’t bother if the text blurs. It will render your manuscript more realistic.
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Stick the pieces of your ancient manuscript onto a sheet of dark cardboard. Cover it with a glass and frame it.
Warnings
- Do not try to sell your ancient manuscript to a museum. You could get into trouble.
- An oven must always be used under adult supervision.
- Do not try your manuscript to look "perfect". If it is "too good to be true", everybody will realize it's a forgery.
Things You'll Need
- A picture of an old manuscript (not copyrighted).
- A sheet of a thick, yellow paper and a sheet of cardboard.
- A printer.
- A pair of scissors, some fingers.
- Water.
- Olive oil.
- An oven.
- Coffee.
- Glue.
