We do this for our kids every now and then but with tea instead of coffee.  We take the paper, draw a pirate map on it, crinkle it up, rip a few corners and then antique it.  Voilà...authentic pirate treasure map for the kids to take on an advernture.  Sometimes we then laminate it so it lasts longer and holds up to rolling it up and unrolling it 20 times a minute.

Cool tutorial ! Great idea !

Maven,

I think it's a great idea.  I'm trying really hard to make things concise and complete as well as snappy and clever.  Maybe I'm shooting for too much.  I've been searching for something that gives some technical writing direction on a how-to, but I haven't found anything.  If someone was right next to me in my studio, I could teach them and show them at the same time.  I love the idea!!!

MHET, that's not a bad idea! I've never thought about writing such a thing. I'll run it by Bruno and see what he says. Maybe it could even be a feature article??

DIY-

How about doing a post on writing a really good How-To and posting it.  I am trying to improve my tutorial skills.  Hellllppppppp!!!!!

I remember I did this in third grade on a project. I used tea and i soaked it.  It came out good too but not as good as you did here(with the coffee).

I also took a match and burned a few areas and immediately blew them out and let the paper get 'singed' a little more and a tiny bit more of a used look.

Great idea here with a poem.

thanks!

great work! but the shett is a bit wavy... how may it 'ironing'???
 

Kewl!  I remember doing this as a kid, but with lemon juice, salt, and (I think) cream of tartar (NOT baking soda/powder for sure!).  Sprinkle the powder on the paper, then spritz with the lemon juice from a spray bottle or spatter with a toothbrush.  Bake in a low oven until dry.  The spots where the lemon juice stuck more would darken, yielding a parchment look.  It was a variation on the idea of using lemon juice as invisible ink that gets revealed when warmed over a candle flame.

Your method is just as good and no doubt will be a lot less smelly.  ;o)

Thing to remember with paper treated with acid (coffee and tea are acidic, too) is that the acid will continue to eat away at the paper and anything else the paper comes into contact with, so it shouldn't be used in scrap books, or enclosed with any item of value (stray humidity can pick up the acid and affect items not in direct contact) so ixnay on sealed cases/shadowboxes, too.

No first-hand experience on this, but theoretically you should be able to neutralize the acid by soaking the finished paper in baking soda solution.  Try an experiment with this before doing it to a nice project, though, to see if there are any unexpected effects (bleaching, loss of fiber strength, etc.).

Neat idea!